ArrayFM at the Night Market this Saturday

We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break.

Why we did it

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. Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping.

Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. 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.

• Chat moderated by real people
• Community playlist every Sunday
• Keyboard-friendly player controls
• Transcripts for every talk segment

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. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis.

How it works

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 run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery. Good radio sounds effortless, but every minute on air has at least ten minutes of prep behind it.

Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. 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.

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. 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. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery.

From the request line

Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes.

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. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

The short version

The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. 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 test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side.

What comes next

Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. 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.

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. 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.

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. Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard.

Where to find us

The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. 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. We record every show, trim the talk, and publish it as a podcast by the next morning.

Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. We run on a tiny budget, a lot of goodwill and a very generous hosting sponsor. We keep the site lightweight on purpose, so it loads fast on a train, a tired laptop or a phone at 5% battery. The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation.

• Low-data mode for mobile
• Keyboard-friendly player controls
• Chat moderated by real people
• Weekend throwbacks from 08:00

Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room. The chat is moderated by humans, which keeps it friendly, weird and welcoming. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks.

What we learned

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. 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”. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off. We still print the weekly playlist and pin it on the studio wall, mostly out of habit.

Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room. 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. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. We measure success in hours listened, not clicks, which keeps us honest about what actually matters.

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

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. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

The playlist

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. 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. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers.

The short version

Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. Accessibility matters to us, so every show gets a transcript and every page works with a keyboard. 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. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Nothing beats the feeling of a track dropping at exactly the right moment and the chat exploding with fire emojis. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression.