I did something similar about a year ago, when I was unemployed.

I made an Icecast-compatible streaming server in Erlang, and an Icecast-compatible stream in Rust. Between songs, I would phone out to the cheapest GPT model and a local TTS model to get unfunny DJ banter, with an infinite stream.

I thought it would be very funny to call it "KUMM -- Playing all stickiest white-hot hits!" because I have the maturity level of a fourteen year old, only to find out that there actually is a KUMM station [1] in real life.

All the songs were from CD rips from my very large collection, and it was pretty fun to write. It was my primary music solution until I eventually got a job, it broke, and I didn't prioritize fixing it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KUMM

Did something like this for janky whole-venue music at my wedding reception back in '07. We had a low power FM transmitter connected to a laptop playing the music. We borrowed a bunch of old "boom boxes" with FM radios from friends, tuned them to our "station", and arrayed them throughout the event space. We kept the volume fairly low on each radio so we didn't have to worry about echoes.

What I really like about this concept is that it runs a mix of podcasts, news updates, and music, which is something I've been considering for a while. Playing the same mix over a number of tuned-in sets throughout a house or establishment could also work nicely.

TFA uses bluetooth, which may incur different lags on different playback devices. Another option several people have already mentioned is low-power local-only FM (or apparently AM) transmitters. These are sometimes used for in-car playback without Bluetooth from a device (phone, tablet, laptop) over a non-Bluetooth sound system, and could work within a small house. Bands and transmission power are specifically licenced for this in some locations, though of course local regs will vary.

I particularly like the idea of curating my own set of podcasts to play as I want to schedule them, adding in top-of-the-hour news (BBC, CBC, NPR, Deutschlandfunk), or a daily news programme (BBC World, PBS News Hour, The World out of WBUR/Boston), with music filling in between slots either streamed or selected from a (very large, physical media-backed) collection.

Another thought, for a commercial venue which would otherwise be subject to, e.g., ASCAP / Harry Fox performance rights organisation licencing (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_rights_organisatio...>), would be to use only public-domain / freely-licenced works.

Also very much appreciating others' similar takes on this.

(Submitter, FWIW.)

• EvanAnderson

  today at 6:11 PM

  > ... subject to, e.g., ASCAP / Harry Fox performance rights organisation licencing ... to use only public-domain / freely-licenced works.

  I know a couple people who dealt with ASCAP and BMI in the context of small businesses. The association reps sounded a lot like stereotypical mafia "enforcers", making "It'd be a shame if something happened to your business..." kinds of veiled threats even when told the venue had strict rules allowing only original or public domain performances. (Their people also kept coming back, over and over again, much like vampires.) This was nearly 20 years ago but I doubt their tactics are much different today.

Shilling for an old employer. This is a neat super simple device that takes incoming headphone and converts to FM.

Whole House FM Transmitter (https://wholehousefmtransmitter.com/)

• EvanAnderson

  today at 4:48 PM

  It's a little pricey for the hobbyist but for "normies" it looks really good. Neat product idea.

That solves the problem of keeping all the speakers in sync.

I did something similar with IP tech. I put all my MP3s on a SSD connected to a 3 W ARM SoC at home. The software stack is deefuzzer + icecast + a number of different players according to the device I'm using. A web UI to skip to the next song or to search a string and create a playlist with the result. I setup a few channels by genre. I'm listening to my radio right now. The advantage compared to a FM station is that I don't have to care about interference (I would be the bad guy) and I can listen to it wherever I am.

You could take it to the next level and build a part 15 compliant FM transmitter kit.

As an avid user of a handful of Chromecast audio devices, I endorse this solution. I also advocate adding "swearing at your Chromecast devices" to the definition of the word "castigate."

You don't even need a Raspberry PI.

You can simplify it even further. List of things you need.

1. Smartphone or DAP.

2. Car Bluetooth FM Transmitter (~$20)

3. USB to 12 V car adapter(~$10)

4. Existing FM radio.

You can set this up in 5 minutes. Connect the smartphone/DAP using BT or AUX cable. Select a free FM channel and you are ready to go.

Also, in the photos, the FM antenna is fully extended which is unnecessary as these FM transmitters put out plenty of RF power.

P.S. On AliExpress, you can buy both for < $15 while on Amazon it is around $30.

P.P.S. Just the USB FM transmitter is only $5 on AE. For the cost of a cup of Coffee!

• Projectiboga

  today at 5:13 PM

  This isn't an item to cheap out on. Find one with aptX HD support and decent reviews if you have any room in your budget. I use the bluetooth to FM all the time. I have a pair, one in my car and another in my travel kit for rental cars. The key is to find one with aptX HD and other newer hi-fi codecs as there are older chips still being sold with lower specs as BT has been a thing for awhile now. I just did a search are there are ones that are usb powered or wall powered. Another better method might be a real FCC certified FM transmitter that are marketed for Drive Ins and "church parking lots" and use a bluetooth receiver or a usb-dac as the input.

  • kanbankaren

    today at 5:30 PM

    You drank the aptX kool aid and forgot the fidelity loss along the signal path.

    FM broadcasts do a high pass at 50 Hz and stop at 15 kHz. The best SNR is only ~50 dB which is already achieved by plain old SBC. There is no need for higher fidelity audio codecs like AAC/aptX/aptX HD/LDAC besides the fact that most smartphones don't support aptX or aptX HD.

• qsera

  today at 3:54 PM

  Yea, I did this using a raps-pi as well. Rasp-pi is nice in the sense that it can run a web server to select/enqueue/blacklist/ and what not. I can also ssh to it to download songs and automatically add to the playlist...

  Along with the ability to blacklist and add new songs, I hope that I will eventually end up with a huge collection of only the best songs (for my taste)

For those looking for technical details, Github, "Pi FM Kitchen Radio Station" <https://github.com/trwmato/pi-fm-kitchen-radio>.

NB: Not my project, but it tickles an interest.

Here in Germany you have to be careful when setting up a homemade radio signal - it might be illegal depending on frequency and transmit power.

I personally prefer a combination of

  duckdns.org
  Beets
  Navidrome
  Audiobookshelf
  Substreamer / DSub 
  PaulWoitaschek/Voice / Audiobookshelf
  Wireguard

• avian

  today at 4:28 PM

  > Here in Germany you have to be careful when setting up a homemade radio signal - it might be illegal depending on frequency and transmit power.

  In Germany and everywhere else. The difference is how much it's enforced.

  Note that this project isn't using that horrible Raspberry Pi GPIO PWM hack that shits all over RF but an off-the-shelf low power car FM transmitter product. I guess if someone knocks on your door you can point your finger to whoever in Germany sold you that.

  • calmbonsai

    today at 5:20 PM

    At least in the U.S., it's a complete non-issue for an output power that can easily cover the size of a wedding reception as long as you're not using a wide-band transceiver.

    You'll want to be "kind" to the extant spectrum and do a responsible frequency sweep to select the "quietest band" prior to broadcasting. And you'll only want to broadcast during the event itself.

    The FCC has better things to do than to try and track down an ephemeral milliwatt infringer.

    • joxdosba

      today at 5:25 PM

      It’s a complete non-issue in all western countries unless you’re going out of your way to cause trouble.

• spogbiper

  today at 4:22 PM

  there are similar concerns in the US but you can legally send a signal a couple hundred feet in most cases

This is rad.

I have something similar, but cleaner setup, an old iPhone connected to a speaker through lightning, and it had FM radio app and also connected to my navidrome server, works very well. If I want local FM radio however, I have an FM receiver that can be plugged into that speaker too.

They make low power AM transmitters as well. I bought one for my dad so he could "stream" old music from the Internet to his old tube radios.

• dredmorbius

  today at 5:21 PM

  What's the audio quality of AM transmission?

  I've used an FM dongle to play a tablet through car speakers, which works pretty well.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260608153435/https://old.reddi...

• netsharc

  today at 3:39 PM

  > Built as part of an attempt at [...] having overseas content on the radio dial

  Old radios have the station locations (cities all over the world) as labels for the tuner: https://www.radioheritage.com/story354/

  Or: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/european-cities-rad...?

  A further (well, different) hack would be to combine this hardware dial with stream URLs e.g. from https://radio.garden/ ...

  • _whiteCaps_

    today at 3:42 PM

    A modern station list is available here: https://short-wave.info/

I miss the experience of having career professionals 100% dedicated to the music world curating a list of what I would hear. Of course, it was not perfect, there were ads, most stations played pop slop, but most of the time there was a few stations for your taste, your knew your preferred DJs times and there was a certain sense of community in being a regular fan of a show.

• solomonb

  today at 6:10 PM

  I run a LPFM radio station here in Los Angeles.

  https://www.kpbj.fm/

  There are many more LFPMs out there too!

• dredmorbius

  today at 5:26 PM

  There is Internet Radio --- livestreams of radio stations broadcast over the Internet. Many of these are terrestrial broadcasts, and many of them play music. There are also dedicated online-only Internet stations.

  This means you have access to the best terrestrial stations, as well as some (often quite niche) Internet-only options.

  I find BBC (1-4 + world), Deutschlandfunk (numerous stations), Radio Swiss Classic (available in German, French, and Italian), France Inter / France Culture, and a number of other broadcasters (usually public, and hence with little or no advertising) generally appealing, and preferable to most of what I can tune in locally (OTA AM and FM are all but dead). Tastes run to classical, jazz, and blues, though you can find other options as well.

• dewey

  today at 4:21 PM

  How much of that do you think is rose tinted glasses and nostalgia? On paper that doesn't sound too different than Apple Music Radio for example where there's radio shows with local DJs or hosts that talk, play music and have curated play lists by a human editor.

  I'm sure other streaming services have the same and curators can pick from a much larger set of music, from any part of the world. More than they ever could at a radio station where they had to order and ship CDs around.

  There's also many independent internet radio stations or music podcasts these days which can be launched for little money, don't require a broadcasting license and can be listened to from any place in the world.

  I understand the nostalgia angle, but objectively it seems like what we currently have is better and more open on all counts.

  • kanbankaren

    today at 4:45 PM

    Yep. It is mostly nostalgia as there isn't anything better than an AI curating a million songs based on our like/dislikes, but on a macro level, we are at the mercy of people who tune these algorithms.

    Are we being 'nudged' to like certain genres or musicians because they are being promoted? Of course, this could happen with a DJ or traditional FM station too, but with centralized AI, you impart that 'nudging' on literally millions of people.

  • doublepg23

    today at 4:44 PM

    > There's also many independent internet radio stations or music podcasts these days which can be launched for little money, don't require a broadcasting license and can be listened to from any place in the world.

    Indeed - radioparadise.com is a quite nice Internet Radio

  • toast0

    today at 4:56 PM

    Eh. I still listen this way. I subscribe to a streaming radio provider in my genre, and there's also a local high school station that plays my genre of music most of the time.

    It's much better than what I've experienced with spotify and similar and it's way less effort. I had built a pretty big launchcast preference profile, but it took years of active listening, and in my genre remixes are preferred over original recordings but radio on demand doesn't have them ... you need currated collections, and I'd rather not be the curator.

    I do worry about the longevity of the subscription service though... at least some of the channels are very repetitive, it feels like someone set up a currated rotation a while ago that just continues to repeat. They did the sec crowdfunding several years ago and there was a lot of related party transactions that looked too squishy for me, and after the offering expired they did the required years of reporting and its a blackbox again.

• teroshan

  today at 4:18 PM

  What fills that void for me: https://www.nts.live/

  I have a list of "Shows" I follow, with regular updates from star guests (Tim Reaper for jungle music [1] , Lena Raine for video game OST [2], ...)

  Their "NTS Guide to..." [3] is really great to peek into a new genre as well.

  I highly recommend.

  [1] https://www.nts.live/shows/tim-reaper

  [2] https://www.nts.live/shows/lena-raine

  [3] https://www.nts.live/shows/the-nts-guide-to

• rikthevik

  today at 5:22 PM

  https://cfcr.ca/

  Lots of community radio still out there! I assume bigger cities would have a solid live music and radio community too.

• sockaddr

  today at 4:16 PM

  I miss that as well but more than likely (at least in the US) that "curated" channel you use to listen to was probably owned by Clear Channel and probably the same exact content played in every other city where everyone else felt like it was for them as well.

  • doublepg23

    today at 4:45 PM

    I never experienced but I've heard universities used to have the best curated radio stations.