Synthwave week: the full playlist

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. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”.

Questions we keep getting

When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard.

We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link.

• Chat moderated by real people
• Stream in 128 kbps MP3 or 320 kbps AAC
• Listen on the web, in the app or on a smart speaker
• Podcast feed updated nightly

Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about.

Small details

We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not.

Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show.

If the page reloads, the song stops. So the page does not reload.

If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery.

A short history

Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up.

If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you. 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.

The short version

Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. 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.

Behind the scenes

If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. 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. The request line gets more messages than ever, and our DJs read every single one on air. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming.

Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

How it works

We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. The request line gets more messages than ever, and our DJs read every single one on air. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming.

Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side.

• Stream in 128 kbps MP3 or 320 kbps AAC
• No autoplay, ever
• Listen on the web, in the app or on a smart speaker
• Chat moderated by real people

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. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording.

The playlist

The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave.

Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. 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. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard.

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

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest.