This is a list of some of my favorite online radio stations. It’s mostly here as a reference for myself, but I believe you will enjoy it too. I’ve been maintaining this list since 2003. It has moved from a purely trance station list, to a more diverse offering. Although the electronic component is still very strong, there are some good networks listed that offer fantastic choices for every one.
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Proton radio is a free online progressive radio station, but it’s also an on-demand, paying streaming service and a record label. Over the last years, Proton seems to have become the reference as far as progressive house is concerned. The station is filled with radio programs, so pretty much everything they transmit is mixed and a tracklist is available (which is great for trainspotters like me) homepage
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Digitally Imported and its sister site Sky.fm have many, many channels tailored to sometimes very specific tastes. Which can be good thing if you get a graving for something in particular, or a curse if you want to expand your mind. The sites are rather impersonal, which turns me of a little. In fact, it’s very easy to miss out on the “shows” section. Most of the time, the channels play a random playlist, but most channels have at least twice a week a special show. Make sure to catch one of those if you want to get a real feel of what DI is all about. homepage
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In my humble opinion, friskyRadio is the best progressive radio station out there. Although Proton comes so very close, I prefer the slightly more eclectic mix that friskyRadio serves. The musical choice is a little more risky, which I like. So if you’re looking for progressive house, try both frisky and Proton ans see which one you like most. homepage
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You might not know Mrs. Fudge’s Prog radio station, but it’s time to change it. The station is broadcasting a mix of DJ mixes. All of those have been handpicked and range from popular progressive Essential Mixes to unknown dj’s recorded in a club somewhere. All of those mixes have in common that they are of pristine progressive trance quality. If you like the genre, try it out sometime. At least, if the site is online, which is my sole negative point. homepage
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ETN.fm is the last of the major trance/progressive stations that has survived up and downs in the economy. With lots of shows, you can certainly find something you like. Two things you should certainly check out: first, they have two channels, a trance and progressive channel that allow you to tweak what you’re hearing and secondly, they offer all shows for download, for free, which is great if you missed something or want to relisten to a good one. homepage
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SomaFM has a very unassuming frontpage, but if you look a little deeper, you’ll find a wealth of very personal radio stations. SomaFM offers about 20 radio stations in a very wide and eclectic range of musical styles. Although the stations are of the random music type, it’s immediately clear that the music has been very carefully and lovingly selected by very dedicated people. homepage
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Nectarine is a bit the odd duck of the bunch. When in need of something completely different, Nectarine has been my go-to station for a while. Nectarine features music that has been composed and arranged by hobby musicians, but the quality it at least as good as anything you’ll find on the other stations. It has a major chiptune collection, so get ready to revive the 80s video games. Furthermore, there is a very social voting system to manage the playlist. homepage
A little background on this list: The original idea of this list was to create a structured (xml or other) list that would be usable in different settings.
- For one, I would really love some kind of nicely laid out, tv-guide-like guide to all shows on all of those great stations. With the right tools, this process could be fully automated.
- Another idea was to incorporate it into some kind of standalone hardware. A small form factor PC or a streaming device, so that I always had the music I liked at my fingertips. The Squeezebox comes very close to what I would like.
- A final idea, mostly from a time before iTunes and podcasts, was to rip parts of the streams and automatically fill up my MP3 player. I use my flash-based MP3 player almost exclusively for workouts and having it filled automatically with some great new music still sounds really cool to me.
None of those ideas have materialized yet, I’m not sure if they ever will. But in the meantime, enjoy the list. And feel free to submit new stations, I would especially like to hear of radio stations outside of the trance/progressive genre, just to broaden my musical scope. I prefer stations that offer mp3 streams, that can be played in a standalone player, but that’s not necessary.