Why the music never stops when you click a link

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

The playlist

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. 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. 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. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

• Low-data mode for mobile
• Transcripts for every talk segment
• Live sessions from Studio [0] every Saturday
• Keyboard-friendly player controls

Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. Our community Discord is where most show ideas start and where most bad puns go to live forever. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show.

From the request line

Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. A radio station is really a promise: that there will be something good playing whenever you tune in.

We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording.

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

We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. Local artists make up almost a third of what we play, and that number keeps going up. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation.

A short history

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. 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.

Radio has always been about company, and that has not changed just because the transmitter is now a rack of servers. 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.

const res = await fetch("/api/now-playing")
const { artist, title } = await res.json()
console.log(`${artist} — ${title}`)

Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. 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.

A few thank-yous

Listeners tell us they tune in while they code, study, drive, cook and occasionally while they should be sleeping. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. Some weeks the playlist is meticulously planned; other weeks it is a group chat argument that somehow turns into a show. Our schedule is built in blocks, with softer sounds in the morning and heavier beats after dark.

A good transition is invisible: you only notice it when it goes wrong, like a page that flashes white between clicks. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. 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. 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. When a listener sends a track we have never heard, it goes straight into the next hour.

How it works

Every Friday we look at the numbers, and every Friday the numbers say people want more synthwave. Late nights are for experiments: long mixes, ambient sets and the occasional field recording. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. We learned early that a stable stream matters more than a fancy one. Behind the scenes, the playout system is a small pile of open source tools glued together with very careful shell scripts.

We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. The archive now holds more than two thousand hours of shows, all searchable by track and guest. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room.

• Late-night mixes with no talking
• Low-data mode for mobile
• Transcripts for every talk segment
• Listen on the web, in the app or on a smart speaker

The studio is small, the monitors are loud and the coffee machine has its own on-call rotation. We test new segments live, keep what works and quietly retire what does not. Our engineers obsess over latency because a stream that stutters is a stream people switch off. Our favourite metric is the number of listeners who stay through the ad break.

What changes for listeners

The mixing desk is older than some of our interns, and it still sounds better than anything new. We believe the music should never stop just because you clicked a link. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes. The station started as a side project in a spare room and a borrowed microphone. If you have ever wondered why a song sounds warmer on air, the answer is a ridiculous amount of compression.

Guests are always surprised by how relaxed the studio is, until the ON AIR light turns red. We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. Every show on ArrayFM starts with a simple rule: play the track you would send to a friend at 2am.

We do not do playlists. We do conversations that happen to have a beat.

We keep the stream running around the clock, which means someone is always awake, caffeinated and slightly too excited about a B-side. Some of our most-loved segments started as a joke in the green room. The best feedback we ever got was a single line: “you made my deploy go faster”. Morning shows are for energy, weather, traffic and the one story everyone at work will talk about. Most of our DJs have day jobs in software, design or support, which explains the jokes.