About

ArrayFM is an independent, listener-supported station for people who make things. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off.

The playlist

We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not.

Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming.

• No autoplay, ever
• Late-night mixes with no talking
• Shows archived for 90 days
• Podcast feed updated nightly

Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in.

What we learned

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not.

Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression.

A station is only as good as its worst transition.

We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you. Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one.

On air and off

Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters.

If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. The request line gets more messages than ever, and our DJs read every single one on air.

curl -s https://arrayfm.example/api/now-playing | jq .track

Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever.

Questions we keep getting

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off.

When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red.

Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it.

What comes next

Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”.

We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

• Weekend throwbacks from 08:00
• Late-night mixes with no talking
• Live sessions from Studio [0] every Saturday
• Podcast feed updated nightly

The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off.

Small details

The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest.

We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about.

The music never stops. That is not a slogan, it is a technical requirement.

The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you.

Why we did it

Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark.

Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”.

curl -s https://arrayfm.example/api/now-playing | jq .track

Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone.

The long version

A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers.

We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression.

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks.