For the past few weeks I’ve been working on creating my own public radio station (it’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid). Well now it’s up and running but I don’t know what to do with it. So I thought I’d see what Lemmy thinks about the concept, before I go all in and start investing in licensing fees, better servers, and more listener capacity.
If you’re interested, we’ll need curators to add songs to the rotation when no DJ is on air. It’s simple and straightforward. Just click “Suggest” on the top right of the website and enter the Artist + Song Title on the form.
We will also need DJs and presenters to volunteer any freetime you’re willing to give up and help make this happen. Click “Join” to get started.
All styles and genres are welcome. Hop on the airwaves anytime you want. Take requests, or don’t. Mix and scratch, or just play one tune after another. Host a talk show/podcast if it suits you. Up to you. You can either use your own DJ/broadcasting software, otherwise there is a Web DJ interface for those with no software/experience.
https://radiolemmy.com | Temporary URL if the first one isn’t working
Click Join to sign up to be DJ/presenter, or Suggest to submit your own song suggestions for regular rotation (no signup required to suggest a tune).
FAQ for potential DJs
Lemmy Community: [email protected]
Discord
EDIT: Thanks for all the song submissions so far! I’ve added them to the rotation. Feel free to suggest any tunes for removal as well.
EDIT 2: Looks like I’m going to have to upgrade web servers sooner than expected. If you’re having issues connecting, try the temporary URL
EDIT 3: Gonna take awhile to go through the applications. I’ll take care of as many as I can tonight. Check your inbox (and don’t forget the @ in your username when applying. I can’t reply if I don’t know what instance you’re using.)
EDIT 4: All DJ applications have been processed so far. Check your inboxes! Gonna spend the next few hours uploading more of your song suggestions. This takes awhile because I have to manually check every tune to make sure it’s suitable for airplay! Upon approval, your tune(s) will play at regular intervals. It may take a few hours for it to play for the first time. BTW, remember to use the “Submit” button. “Request” is for one time requests when a DJ is live. I’m brainstorming ideas on streamlining this so that the tune always goes to the right place.
EDIT 5: Well this blew up bigger than I could have hoped for. Gonna call it a night, but I’ll be back tomorrow to upload more of your suggestions!
Also I’m going to dust off the turntables and do a live show tomorrow @ 7-9pm EST (00:00-02:00 GMT, check the schedule on the website). Requests accepted. Catch you on the airwaves then!
Can I just say how proud I am of you fellow Lemmies for not rick rolling us.
You know that some guest DJ is going to play Rick Astley all hour long.
I think that falls under the annoying category, lol. I think we should vote that rick rolling can only be done once a month or something.
How often for What’s New Pussycat?
Every ten years
lol I’ll be monitoring shows from every new DJ. Everything is recorded. Eventually we’ll have mods to watch for trolls.
The thought didn’t even cross my mind. Now that you mention it though …
Nice, now I can share obscure indie underground music like taylor swift with the rest of the world
lol go for it. Play whatever you want, so long as it isn’t annoying or supports bigotry.
Yeah dont worry lol. Also how do you plan to deal with trolls who post annoying or hateful music?
Good question! At the moment I will be personally monitoring peoples’ broadcasts at random intervals. If I suspect foul play, I can pull up a recording of their show to check for the offending content.
Everybody makes mistakes, so you will get a warning at first. If need be, I can kick a DJ off immediately. You can report any foul play either in the Discord, or by messaging me here on Lemmy. Eventually I will have moderators to handle things, but for now it’s just me.
This is so cool!
Right? The weirdness of the songs and their diversity makes it cool.
Glad you like the variety. The goal is to play anything and everything (within reason, of course). Keep those song submissions coming!
This website is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
If I was a lawyer, I’d say that this sentence could be interpreted in a way that the audio stream is licensed as cc-by-nc-sa, too, i.e. you are sublicensing the songs to anybody. This is even more illegal than simply broadcasting music without licensing it. It’s a fun and games until RIAA comes to break your knee caps.
Good to know. I thought the “this website is licensed” part would cover it, but maybe I should just remove the license for now…
FWIW there is a system in place to track plays for music licensing purposes. I will be paying this out of pocket.
I know of a service that helps with this. I don’t know how well it will apply directly to this scenario, but I’ve seen some small groups sign up for Sound Exchange as a non-intersctive music service.
https://www.soundexchange.com/service-provider/licensing-101/Definitely provide a visible way to accept donations. No reason you should have to pay for all the costs of running this completely on your own. It’s the fediverse, spreading the load is kinda the point!
Oh don’t worry, I will. I want to eventually implement a system where people can donate to their favorite DJs and the station gets a cut to help with operating fees. But I will need developers to help me with this. In the meantime I ask for nothing but your ears.
This is a cool idea and I’ll be submitting some songs as soon as I’m back on my laptop.
But in the meantime, since this thread is full of people who apparently appreciate both internet radio and the Fediverse, you should check out https://radiofreefedi.net as well! Music from actual fellow Fedizens, it’s kind of great.
Damn, and here I thought I had an original idea. Maybe we should get together and do a collab! Their website could use some modernization.
You’re not wrong there! Yeah I didn’t mean to draw attention away from your thing, it sounds like a very different project so they’re not really competitors, just wanted to put it out there to support Fediverse artists :)
I submitted a song and also submitted a form to be a dj. I’m a musician and did a radio station on twitch for a while (I really should start that up again when I have time).
Mostly I’d be spinning synthwave, industrial, electro, future pop, etc if accepted. Stuff like that.
Sweet. I’ll process the form tonight. Keep an eye on your inbox.
EDIT: Done. Looking forward to your reply.
“Works best in Firefox”
Nice 🤩
The entire internet works best in Firefox with the exception of some shitty big tech sites I guess.
This is a wonderful idea! I’ll definitely be following this project.
Cheers to whoever suggested Insomnia (Monster Mix) by Faithless - great taste! I was about to suggest it myself!
Ngl sounds super interesting and I want to host something but idk what I’d even do.
You don’t have to do much. Just share your favorite tunes with the listeners. Hop on the mic every few songs to announce the song title if you’d like. Since we’re just getting started, I don’t expect much. I just want you on the air!
Make it so
Your FAQ for potential DJs wasn’t working for some reason. Great concept, I hope it goes well for you.
Oof. I accidentally posted old URL from before I bought a dedicated domain. Fixed: https://radiolemmy.com/faq.php
Works now, thanks. Super cool ideas.
reminds me of an irc-connected system i wrote once… used some kind of audio casting (spatial audio and some winamp casting plugin)… but you could request/search/dedicate/query current status from the website or irc channel etc
this was ~1999
whats old is new again
FWIW, it’s cause I’ve been planning this exact concept since 2002 lol. Finally worked up the courage to make it happen. I remember the days of using Winamp and running the entire thing off your own PC. We’ve come quite a long way.
Speaking of which, there is a way to request tunes from the database when no DJ is connected. it’s kind of hidden, but if you scroll down to the bottom of the webpage, you’ll see a “send an Auto DJ request” link just below the live DJ request form.
i had these tied to company intranets, so running on big ol’ internal servers… employees could dedicated songs on the company radio, and the user would get an email letting them know their dedication was playing soon, etc.
its a lot more interactive/fun with IRC though
For now the current plans are to use Discord due to its robust bot support. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use something less-corporate like IRC. No promises yet.
theres nothing more amazingly connective that irc! its so mature, and the OG bot writing. i once wrote an IRC to AIM connector that let me sit on IRC on a a gen1 t-mobile sidekick
Well you’ll be the first person I contact to help set this up should I decide to migrate to IRC.
I joined the Discord. Now, let’s see if I can spread my garbage music taste.
I’m assuming you mean the band, Garbage?
No, I meant my garbage music taste as in the classic Hank Hill “Mother of God, it’s all toilet sounds!”
Aside from the awesome concept, seeing the first song playing after clicking on your link is B.O.B. by Outkast… you got an instant fan!
