Hackathon radio: 48 hours live from the venue

Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

The setup

Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break.

• Transcripts for every talk segment
• Live sessions from Studio [0] every Saturday
• New shows every weekday at 06:00
• Late-night mixes with no talking

Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red.

Behind the scenes

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. 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”.

When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery.

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

We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. 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.

Lessons from the studio

We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. 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.

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”. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

The short version

Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. 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. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one.

A short history

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red.

Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. 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. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not.

What comes next

Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. 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. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation.

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery.

• Transcripts for every talk segment
• Late-night mixes with no talking
• Podcast feed updated nightly
• New shows every weekday at 06:00

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour.

How it works

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks.

We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. 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. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour.

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

Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. 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. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery.

How to tune in

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever.

The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”.

The short version

We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it.

Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes.