Really good independent radio stations
I've been researching the state of international community, independent and internet radio and wanted to share a few of my favorites so far and some cool websites I found in the process.
To start, here are some awesome lists and websites
Monoskop’s like a wiki for the arts. Extremely European focused with the occasional exception
https://monoskop.org/Community_radio
Freeform Radio Directory is the new version of the Underground Radio Directory
https://www.freeformradio.directory
https://web.archive.org/web/20230922135046/https://www.undergroundradiodirectory.com/
Brooklyn’s Pirate Radio Map. It’s like radio garden but for Brooklyn
https://map.pirateradiomap.com
If you’re comfortable with GitHub, these 2 repos have a collection that is somewhat maintained
https://github.com/mikepierce/internet-radio-streams
https://github.com/deroverda/recommended-radio-streams
This is the project I've been dumping my research into.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/setto-fm-curated-radio/id6772599175
From this point on I'm just going to nerd out and yap about the stations I hyper fixated on.
Rytmabad https://rytmabad.com
Station from Uzbekistan that features a lot of DJs from Tashkent and central asian countries. Low key my favorite rabbit hole so far. I can't find any information about the station outside their website. Like there's a DJ who wears a suit of armor and I'd love more context on why but have no leads. Their rotation seems to lean more electro from my listening experience. I've also tuned into to them playing obscure Japanese x Dutch electro / pop fusion and American emo
KCHUNG Radio & BFF.fm https://www.kchungradio.org/stream & Bff.fm
They’re both community radio stations from Cali focusing on smaller and local artists from their respective areas. BFF is like San Francisco without the tech bros and KCHUNG operates out of LA Chinatown. Actually used to volunteer at BFF and they have a lot of cool events that are worth a visit. The actual physical station is cool, it’s what I imagined San Francisco looked like when I played Watch Dogs 2
If you’re curious, BFF stands for Best Frequencies Forever.
Radio Alhara https://radioalhara.net
Another cool community radio station based out of Palestine. I’d describe the rotation as eclectic. But in like an extremely underground way. Similar to the background music at record stores
Norrrm https://www.norrm.com
Community radio from Indonesia
KJHK 90.7 FM https://kjhk.org
College radio from Kansas. Rock Chalk!
Mouthful Radio https://mouthfull.live
Community radio from New Zealand
UCT Radio https://uct.ac.za/radio/live-stream
College radio from Cape Town
The following stations are underground but big enough that you can find an article or dedicated wiki about them
NTS technically isn’t a single internet radio station anymore. I think it’s better to describe it as a collective.
They have a lot of stuff going on, infinite mixtapes and IRL events. I’m sure someone in the comments can provide an intense amount of lore
SoHo Radio https://sohoradio.com
It’s really good. I love Morning Glory and Soho Skank wid D'Oxman
Oroko Radio https://oroko.live
Similar tier of quality to NTS and SoHo
SomaFM https://somafm.com
30 streams of curated tracks. Groove Salaad is really popular but I personally like Underground 80s more
KEXP https://www.kexp.org
You can’t do a google or reddit search for internet radio without someone mentioning KEXP
WFMU https://wfmu.org
Just like KEXP, you can’t avoid it
The Lot Radio https://www.thelotradio.com
Not sure how to best describe their vibe but if you enjoy Jersey club and adjacent genres, that’s the vibe. Maybe dance is the right term
Netil Radio from the UK https://netilradio.com
Kiosk Radio from Brussels https://www.kioskradio.com
The House & Garage internet radio community is an even deeper rabbit hole.
Rinse FM started as UK Pirate Radio and then become a legitimate collection of stations.
They have like 4 stations.
Seoul Community Radio is also cool but doesn’t broadcast 24/7, only Thursday to Sunday.
Something really interesting is that if you drew a graph connecting each station and where their DJs have been, I’m pretty sure everyone would be like 2 or 3 people away from each other as some names really be everywhere. I’d love to keep going but I’ve already yapped enough