It's a shame what's happened to radio • Hacker News Board

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#81

Post by Uninen » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:02 AM UTC

I've been working on a streaming platform for musicians as a passion project for the last decade partly because the analog radio shows have become a dying breed. Web-based indie radio shows are lots of fun because they're very close to the best radio shows from my own youth when most radio DJ:s still were curators and experts in the music they played. And they have the feeling of community and genuine passion for the hobby.

There's definitely still demand for quality radio shows but I guess it just makes more money if you play whatever the big studios pay you to play. But its the same thing with television as well; many indie channels on YouTube produce MUCH better content than anything you can see on the traditional TV or Netflix.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#82

Post by palmotea » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:03 AM UTC

JuniperMesos wrote: post #56

mixmastamyk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much would an additional frequency cost to add to a sophisticated radio?

I think this is a complex electronics engineering question that the people working at smartphone manufacturers probably looked at in depth when they decided whether or not they would lose money for getting rid of the feature.

> I think this is a complex electronics engineering question that the people working at smartphone manufacturers probably looked at in depth when they decided whether or not they would lose money for getting rid of the feature.

Ha!

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#83

Post by charcircuit » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:16 AM UTC

parpfish wrote: post #2

There’s a human connection element to old radio that streaming will never replicate. And I worry that it’s gone from modern automated radio too. It used to be if you were driving down the road and heard a song you liked Hearing a song you liked on the radio hit harder then playing it yourself because you knew that there was another human nearby at that moment in time that had picked it out and played it. You were phy…

This still exists today. When a new song gets released on YouTube for example a group of people close to it in latent space gets it recommended. By seeing a recommendation of a song in your feed you are part of a cohort of people with similar tastes.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#84

Post by Marsymars » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:17 AM UTC

JuniperMesos wrote: post #20

waveforms wrote: post #12

The removal of FM radio from cell phones was a big mistake. It should never have allowed. Radio is very useful in emergencies. Lately I have been getting back in to internet radio, mostly via Elisa in KDE. Here is my favorite internet stream: https://hawaiireggaenetwork.com/

I don't think I ever used the FM feature on my phone, except purely to test out whether it worked. I wouldn't make phone purchasing decisions based on whether or not it had a FM radio. A regulation requiring it in the ostensible name of safety would make phones somewhat more expensive and I'm skeptical that it would even help improve safety in an emergency significantly.

> I don't think I ever used the FM feature on my phone

One killer feature for phone-sized portable FM radios is live sports!

Some sports that have TV broadcasts but no radio broadcast will pipe the broadcast audio over an FM channel within the stadium.

Of course for sports that have a radio broadcast, you can tune directly to it.

Depending on the sport, it's really nice to get player background info, or some sports have mics on players that get piped through the radio in your ear.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#85

Post by maccard » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:25 AM UTC

olsondv wrote: post #25

parpfish wrote: post #2

There’s a human connection element to old radio that streaming will never replicate. And I worry that it’s gone from modern automated radio too. It used to be if you were driving down the road and heard a song you liked Hearing a song you liked on the radio hit harder then playing it yourself because you knew that there was another human nearby at that moment in time that had picked it out and played it. You were phy…

Or at a stop light and the car next to you is listening/singing to the same song. Never happens anymore.

It absolutely does - allegedly there’s 6 million listeners to the biggest breakfast radio show in the UK and 4 million to the second biggest. That’s 10 million in a country of about 55 million adults.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#86

Post by dvh » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC

I remember few years ago listening to a radio interviewer with popular folk singer, the interview was over the phone so host at the end said that some day this singer should visit them in studio for proper interview, to which the singer replied: "If I visit you in studio for interview, will you play some of my songs?", to which the host with slight embarrassment admitted that they are not allowed to play outside the playlist.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#87

Post by Marsymars » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC

kazinator wrote: post #27

In my neck of the woods, Vancouver, Canada, nothing happened to radio. It was shit in the 1980s and it's the same today. Wait! Except for one major improvement. There is a station CJNY ("The Journey") at 106.3 FM, which is run by Indigenous people: https://www.cjnyfm.ca/about/

Hah, one of the only tolerable commercial-ish stations in AB is Edmonton's 89.3 CIWE that broadcasts Freeform/First Nations content - also rebroadcasts to 88.1-HD3 in Calgary.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#88

Post by pasc1878 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:39 AM UTC

dvh wrote: post #86

I remember few years ago listening to a radio interviewer with popular folk singer, the interview was over the phone so host at the end said that some day this singer should visit them in studio for proper interview, to which the singer replied: "If I visit you in studio for interview, will you play some of my songs?", to which the host with slight embarrassment admitted that they are not allowed to play outside the…

It depends on the station.

The BBC often does as you say and even if the interview is down a phone line they will play a record. Some shows have the musicians playing live. Other UK stations do similar.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#89

Post by petepete » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:39 AM UTC

I'm so thankful for the BBC.

I listen to Radio 4 through the day when I'm working on things that don't need my full concentration.

It's the alarm that wakes me at 0630 and I often listen to the news before bed.

Adverts drive me insane. It's a national treasure and I'd pay the licence fee again just for R4 + Sounds.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#90

Post by veltas » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:41 AM UTC

petepete wrote: post #89

I'm so thankful for the BBC. I listen to Radio 4 through the day when I'm working on things that don't need my full concentration. It's the alarm that wakes me at 0630 and I often listen to the news before bed. Adverts drive me insane. It's a national treasure and I'd pay the licence fee again just for R4 + Sounds.

Also listened in the car but since they've recently shut down the LW tower I can't receive it anymore in the midlands, only occasionally get FM signal.