high-quality, ad-free internet radio?

December 17, 2020 5:38 PM

I'm trying to get back into radio since I don't enjoy having to select the music with on-demand, and I don't love algorithmic or simplistic playlists (e.g. "The 80s!"). I do love fip - it's a french radio station with no advertising and seven different stations (reggae, world, electronic, jazz, etc)....

...but fip doesn't have any classical or ambient music. And maybe I'm old school but I kinda like the idea of a radio show where there might be a bit talking between tracks. But the main thing is no ads.

I've recently discovered (and am still exploring!) NTS but I'm wondering if there are any other amazing internet radio stations out there?

posted by kamelhoecker to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

You may want to investigate some US college radio stations, I enjoy checking in on WKDU in Philadelphia from time to time. Radio K in Minneapolis is also a great station. The majority of them are non commercial stations, meaning they can only run very limited forms of advertising. Even then you’re never gonna hear an ad for Clorox or anything close to the banality of commercial radio/Spotify/the rest of life. What they may run are fundraisers or informational underwriting for local businesses and usually some PSAs as well.

WKDU is very eclectic, but Radio K fits more into what you might expect from college radio (lots of indie, with ventures into the genres you mentioned). Most decent stations will have a program schedule so you can check when they have the genre you’re looking for, if their entire format isn’t that genre. Many other schools that have been around a while still have their terrestrial radio stations (that stream simultaneously) and may offer you what you’re look for (actual human curation).

These are 2 good ones that come to mind, but there are plenty of great ones across the US, many of which may offer a format that’s more exactly what you’re looking for.
posted by boredoms at 6:02 PM on December 17, 2020 [3 favorites]

Are you familiar with WFMU? A freeform online and terrestrial radio station (in New Jersey). Each show is pretty eclectic and you may find some work for you and others don't. Fairly knowledgeable & often eccentric DJs.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:15 PM on December 17, 2020 [8 favorites]

I'm always amazed and somewhat grateful that soma fm is still a thing. Many genres & stations, commercial free, been around forever in Internet years.
posted by mrg at 6:20 PM on December 17, 2020 [12 favorites]

You want WYCE.
All=volunteer programming. “Your first alternative on the dial.”
A world of music; all in one place.
posted by BostonTerrier at 6:35 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Have you tried RadioGarden? My browser is out of date so I can no longer access it, but it's a great way to scour the radio stations all over the world. Caveat: not commercial free. I found it here on Metafilter, btw.
posted by sundrop at 6:38 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

KEXP in Seattle
All good music — spanning all eras, styles, and cultures – has an opportunity to be heard, seen, and experienced.
We offer creative programming that respects and inspires your mind, heart, and spirit.
We emphasize new music and emerging artists to yield a richer, more rewarding experience.
posted by ShooBoo at 6:48 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Colorado Public Radio Open Air as well.
posted by nickggully at 7:15 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

KDHX in St. Louis is a non-commercial station. Each two or three hour block has the same volunteer DJ each week, with their own tastes or style - bluegrass, or reggae, or underground hip-hop, or Cajun, or alt-country, or Balkan folk music, or ska, or children's music that's not dumb - and it's all listener supported. They occasionally have non-ads about their underwriters, and a request here and there to chip in, but no commercials. Some of the DJs have been on the air for thirty years!
posted by notsnot at 7:43 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Honestly SiriusXM might really fit your needs. I pay about $5/month for a ton of stations, many of which are DJed by real people. No ads ever on any of the stations I listen to.

The Loft, SiriusXM, The Spectrum, Outlaw Country, Indie 1.0, Real Jazz, 1st Wave, are all great stations.
posted by MonsieurBon at 9:27 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Radio Paradise! I am prone to musical ruts and have discovered some of my favorite new-to-me artists there over the past 10 years or so. 100% commercial-free, unless you count the occasional requests to donate, as they're able to remain commercial-free due to listener support.
posted by rhiannonstone at 11:34 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: A bit of an different suggestion, but since you mentioned a French station, I'll put in a plug for Radio-Canada's ICI Musique (Radio-Canada being Canada's public French-language broadcaster, the counterpart of English-language CBC).

ICI Musique is the "general" music station and ICI Musique Classique is the classical music station. I've found quite a bit of Francophone pop that I've liked from listening to this!

I don't believe there are any commercial advertisements on ICI Musique, and you can download a free app (RC OHdio) to listen to the stations. I am in the US and there is no need for a VPN or any other kind of geofencing, at least from the US (unlike their TV content, I should note, which does require you to be in Canada).
posted by andrewesque at 6:34 AM on December 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Seconding ICI Musique. Yes, much of it's in French, but the music choice is super-eclectic. We've picked up on so many great artists you'd never hear anywhere outside Quebec or francophone countries from ICI Musique.
posted by scruss at 7:26 AM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Whoops, I meant "SiriusXMU" in my list of stations on SiriusXM!
posted by MonsieurBon at 7:31 AM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Seconding SOMAFM.com
posted by james33 at 7:58 AM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: BBC radio is great - BBC Radio 3 is their classical, 1xtra is what might get called 'urban' in the US. It's available as a channel on Apple music. ABC Classic 2 is classical music station with performances by Australian musicians, with a bunch of options on Apple music. Sadly CBC has done away with their great classical radio station. Here in the states you have Northwest but they have been having tech issues and ClassicalMPR which is also available as a stream on Apple music.
posted by zenon at 9:44 AM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Huge Second for WFMU. Note also that their archives go back 20 years (!!!), it's easy to search for artists you like to find shows to check out, there's iOS and Android apps. Long live listener-supported freeform radio!
posted by sydnius at 10:22 AM on December 18, 2020

Best answer: For ambient, try AmbientFlo. It's 24/7, lovingly and carefully curated by humans, and funded by subscribers on Patreon:

"We are not musical wallpaper or just another mood-based ‘chill out’ playlist. Ambient Flo is curated in a way that an algorithm could never do and most of the music doesn’t appear on Spotify."

I love their completely transparent artist profit share model (and would love to do something similar for dark ambient artists someday).
posted by velvet winter at 10:20 PM on December 18, 2020

Hmm, classical you say ? US public radio, aka NPR, has a *ton* of classical stations, all non commercial. A few call letters to search for: WQXR (new york), WGBH (boston).. But truly most all regions/cities in the US have a place on the dial where classical programing on an NPR affiliate resides, and that adds up to a LOT of stations. Too many call letters to list. You could use an app like tune in to search for them/try a bunch of them out real fast. Or, just stream from their websites. A google search for "NPR classical 'name of any state' " would get you a bunch as well.
posted by elgee at 10:45 PM on December 18, 2020

One more plug for SiriusXM satellite radio, which plays in your car, on your computer, and on Alexa, where I'm listening to it right now as I type this. It really does simulate the sound-and-feel of old-school radio, with a bit of patter between songs but absolutely no ads. Right now I'm listening to "The 80's" (I know, I know), where they're counting down the top 40 songs from this week in 1984, and the host is none other than Nina Blackwood.

From the wikipedia page,

The channel is currently voice-tracked by the four living original MTV VJs: Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn (part-time).

Damn it, I didn't know that J. J. Jackson died. I loved that guy, almost as much as I loved Martha Quinn. Anyways, many of the other channels (there are hundreds) have nice patter and bumpers and such. I picked up a subscription at the start of the pandemic and I'll be keeping it.
posted by fuzzy.little.sock at 3:03 PM on December 26, 2020