Behind the mic: a day at ArrayFM

A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. The request line gets more messages than ever, and our DJs read every single one on air.

Small details

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard.

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. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side.

• Request a song from any page
• Live sessions from Studio [0] every Saturday
• Shows archived for 90 days
• Late-night mixes with no talking

Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. The request line gets more messages than ever, and our DJs read every single one on air. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming.

The numbers

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording.

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. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes.

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

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. 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.

Where to find us

Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression.

The short version

Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. 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.

Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new.

Behind the scenes

We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. 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.

The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not.

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis.

Lessons from the studio

We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you. 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. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red.

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. The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis.

• Live sessions from Studio [0] every Saturday
• Stream in 128 kbps MP3 or 320 kbps AAC
• Keyboard-friendly player controls
• Shows archived for 90 days

Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. We keep a strict no-autoplay policy on the site: you press play, and then we never interrupt you. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers.

Questions we keep getting

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. 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. 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.

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

Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks.

On air and off

Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery.

The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one.

The short version

We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

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. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off.

The setup

We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. 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. 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. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it.

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side.