Online radio station recommendations please?
February 10, 2012 6:49 PM

A two part question about online radio: I'm looking for station recommendations (music info inside) and perhaps Mac App recommendations too.

I'm doing a trial of the Radium app for OSX, which I like, but it seems to only be good for finding stations I already know... so... I'd love some recommendations for online stations and streams that I should be listening to.

Musically, I like mostly alternative, such as:
- Indie: Rogue Wave, Dodos, Bombay Bicycle Club
- Pop/Alt: Yeasayer, Foster The People, The xx
- Folk: Iron & Wine, Mumford & Sons, Angus & Julia Stone
- Alt/Country: Wilco, Neko Case, Band Of Horses
- Canadian: Weakerthans, Tragically Hip, Lowest Of The Low (ok, I mostly added that last category because I'm a huge Weakerthans fan)

What stations should I be checking out online?

ALSO: is there a better app than Radium for the Mac? $25 seems a little much. Perhaps there's something better?
posted by 2oh1 to Computers & Internet (16 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
KUCI is the local college station where I used to live, and they do online radio. KUCI.org--they don't actually play some of those bigger bands you play (nothing that is on mainstream radio), but a lot of the shows and music they do play are right up your alley, I think.
posted by too bad you're not me at 6:55 PM on February 10, 2012


Oh, and you'd probably also really like Morning Becomes Eclectic (if you don't already know about it.) It's on KCRW. Good luck!
posted by too bad you're not me at 7:08 PM on February 10, 2012


I love KEXP in Seattle -- especially the weekday morning show. Actually, I got Internet radio (I use ooTunes) so I can listen on my smart phone.

KUSF in San Francisco is good too.
posted by mamabear at 7:21 PM on February 10, 2012


Seconding KEXP.
posted by snowdrunk at 7:26 PM on February 10, 2012


Radio Paradise sounds very much like what you're looking for.
posted by Lexica at 7:42 PM on February 10, 2012


WMFO (Tufts' college radio station) often plays music like that - it just depends on the show.
posted by topoisomerase at 8:54 PM on February 10, 2012


I came in to third KEXP. But, you'd also do well with http://kxt.org/.
posted by tayknight at 9:09 PM on February 10, 2012


You might like WONC - the radio station from North Central College in Naperville, IL.
posted by SisterHavana at 9:16 PM on February 10, 2012


I'm already familiar with KEXP, and yup, it's one of the few I'd already bookmarked.

The Radio Paradise suggestion is excellent. I've already had to snag a few song titles from there to look up later, and I've only been listening for a few minutes.
posted by 2oh1 at 9:17 PM on February 10, 2012


Not technically a mac app, but TuneIn has a website and portable apps that'll provide decent recs based on what you're listening to or who you search for. The paid ios and android apps also allow you to record and pause streams.

For college radio, I like kxll and kdvs. For freak folk new americana, liquid radio channel 2 cannot be beat.
posted by unmake at 9:22 PM on February 10, 2012


Wow, the Indie 103.1 stream sounds like crap online, but the playlist is excellent. Geez, are they feeding an FM radio straight into their stream? It's compressed to death and the audio is being obliterated... but the playlist!!! So good. But the audio!!! ...so bad.
posted by 2oh1 at 10:23 PM on February 10, 2012


Seconding Radio Paradise. You should also check out WXPN out of Philadelphia.
posted by shallowcenter at 2:54 AM on February 11, 2012


The Current from the Twin Cities is the greatest radio station ever, full stop. They routinely play all of the bands you listed, plus a great diversity more. Fair warning, though, today just happens to be member drive (it's NPR). Please don't judge them based on the member drive.

I'm not a Mac user so can't help you with the app question, but The Current can play in your web browser via Flash, and they have MP3 and WMA streams, both of which ought to play just fine in any of your computer's default media players.
posted by wondercow at 7:27 AM on February 11, 2012


FIP, the most effortlessly chic radio station in the world might seduce you?
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 8:07 AM on February 11, 2012


CBC Radio 3 plays rather a lot of Canadian indie music!
posted by vasi at 8:21 PM on February 11, 2012


Highly seconded on FIP! France Inter Paris and Radio Campus Paris are favorites of mine.

If you have any interest on the international end of things in general, I got some pretty great answers on a similar question a few years back.
posted by stleric at 4:34 PM on February 12, 2012


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