How to track the noise riding the radio waves

October 19, 2010 10:39 AM

What's the best way to scour the internet for radio station playlists and then have certain songs appear on a google map?

So the other day I realized certain soft rock songs are inescapable on public airwaves.

For example, Clear Channel stations seem to really enjoy Bryan Adams Everything I Do (I Do it For You) and Cher's Believe.

If songs like these aren't making halos around the Earth, they're at least blanketing western civilization. Especially the banks, grocery stores, and other centers of industry.

So what I'd like to do is have a spider search radio station playlists and post occurrences of a song on, say, a google map.

What's the best way of going about this?

I was inspired by a map of reported bike collisions in Tucson that was automated from the police blotter feed.

The closest previously I could find were: finding lack of radio waves and question on NPR's Road Trip app.

posted by beardlace to grab bag (3 answers total)

I'm also digging around to find the broadcast range of stations to show the entire area covered by a song.

I'll probably then make a separate time lapse video of Kansas, Air Supply, or whomever.
posted by beardlace at 10:40 AM on October 19, 2010

This might help. You'll probably need to match stations to geocoordinates by hand, though.
posted by theodolite at 10:50 AM on October 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also Spinitron.
posted by mkb at 11:32 AM on October 19, 2010