Top 20 tracks of September

Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever.

Small details

The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am.

Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording.

• Low-data mode for mobile
• Chat moderated by real people
• Request a song from any page
• Shows archived for 90 days

We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest.

The numbers

Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link.

Play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. That is the whole format.

A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it.

The playlist

A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break.

We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it.

The short version

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters.

Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off. The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest.

The setup

When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit.

A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am.

What changes for listeners

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. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks.

We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up.

• Chat moderated by real people
• No autoplay, ever
• Live sessions from Studio [0] every Saturday
• Transcripts for every talk segment

A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour.

Questions we keep getting

Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. 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. The request line gets more messages than ever, and our DJs read every single one on air. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning.

Play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. That is the whole format.

Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new.