EDIT: We have moved: [email protected]
tl;dr below (at the end of post)
Seventeen months ago, I took Radio Lemmy offline a mere two months after its initial launch. It didn't last long, but was loved by the few who stumbled upon it and took some time out of their daily routine to tune in, contribute music to the playlist rotation, and even put on live performances. To quote former DJ Ivy from the station, "Short lived as it was, Radio Lemmy brought joy to listeners and presenters alike".
For those new to this community, the basic concept of Radio Lemmy was to be a place for people to share their favorite music with the fediverse. Listeners could submit songs to be added to the general rotation, and DJs could connect from home and do it live. We had a chat room where listeners could interact with the DJ, as well as a form to submit requests and shoutouts. We played a mix of commercial music as well as music created by fellow listeners.
It's been a year and a half since that brief stint, and with the death of Radio Free Fedi back in January, I feel that now's the time to fill in the gap; hopefully for much longer than two months this time around. Unfortunately that can't happen without your help. I learned some things from my first go-around; The main lesson being that people like to see a full programming schedule (this is where you come in):
HOW YOU CAN HELP
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What's a radio station wihout music? If you have some tunes to share, please upload them to a file sharing site like Mega, Dropbox, etc. and then PM me the link. FLAC or WAV is ideal, but I'll also accept MP3s, 320Kbps only. Do not re-encode tunes to meet these guidelines.
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Please add a short description of the genre to help me categorize your submissions. If you're submitting tunes you produced yourself, please let me know this fact and share a link to your SoundCloud/Bandcamp/etc. We are an uncensored station--so profanity is fine--as long as your music isn't hateful nor excessively profane.
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If you are interested in becoming a DJ/Presenter for the station, please follow this link to apply.
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I need live DJs as well as producers who can send me prerecorded shows. You can throw together a DJ mix if you want, or simply play from a playlist with a little mic interaction every couple tunes or so. Podcasts/Talk shows are fine as well (so long as you have something interesting to say!) I would prefer to recieve weekly content from you, but even sporatic content is better than no conent at all, so even if you only have a one time-contribution, please send it anyway!
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If you're mic shy, then you can always play a bumper every once in awhile that says something like "this is DJ such and such on Radio Lemmy!" The idea is to do anything that lets people know that they're not just listening to random tunes on shuffle.
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Shows can be a short as 30 minutes or as long as 6 hours. (Remember: FLAC or WAV preferred, 320Kbps MP3 okay. Do not re-encode tracks. I will know if you did through spectrum analysis.) If you don't have a higher quality track, let me know and we'll work something out.
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Please follow the guidelines here, and then upload what you've got to a file sharing site and PM me the link.
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Also I'll need people who can help approve tunes and get them into rotation. Basically a programming director, if you will. PM me if you're interested in that.
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Lastly, you can help by spreading the word! Tell all the music loving communities about Radio Lemmy! (but don't spam; read the community's rules before you advertise)
Keep in mind that I am doing this as a hobby, not for profit. That said, there are costs involved with running a radio station, so although I did not accept donations the first time around, I believe I am going to have to do so this time around. I'll provide details on how you can donate when we launch (remember: no preorders).
Features Available at Launch
- One radio station with two quality options (for fast/slow internet connections)
- Live DJ performances + pre-programmed blocks. No more random tunes on shuffle!
- A request/shoutout system
- Self-hosted chatrooms for listeners and volunteers (bye bye Discord!)
- Chat app available for Android & iOS
- Patreon/donations accepted
- European-based servers
Features Under Consideration
(will not be available at launch nor anytime soon)
- A second radio station if I get enough people submitting content. It will be either a talk radio station, or a second music station with a different vibe from the main stream, depending on user supply and listener demand.
- A third radio station that anyone can connect to and start immedately streaming to, assuming the airwaves are clear. A guerilla radio, if you will ("turn that shit up"). Has the potential to turn into either the Wikipedia of radio, or the 4chan of radio. I still haven't decided if this is the best idea ever or the worst...
- A video stream so you can see the DJs live in their studios
- A second video stream, public access style?
- An all-in-one Android app (not just for chat)
- A monetization/tipping system for DJs and programming directors. (I will most likely need a developer to help me write the code for this.)
- Your ideas are welcomed! Post them here.
I'm aiming for a Q3 2025 launch. The more content you submit--and the more volunteers I have--the sooner we can be on the airwaves!
Why did Radio Lemmy originally shut down?
It was a combination of factors:
- I rushed the launch without having much of a gameplan. The programming schedule was empty most days.
- Listener retention was low due to lack of programming. People only tuned-in when a DJ was live.
- Recuriting and training DJs was a lot more work than I thought it would be. Like full-time job kind of work. It's difficult to stay motivated to keep going when you're literally working for free. As I understand it, this is the same reason why Radio Free Fedi shut down. I'm hoping I get enough people are interested in contributing on the regular that I won't have to dedicate every waking hour to the station this time around. (And inevitably I'd like to find someone who could one day be my sucessor.) Due to my day job I will not be available around the clock to manage everything. I need your help.
- Shortly before shutting down I went through a rough breakup. We were together for 5 years. We bought a house and made plans to start a family. Between that suddenly coming to an end, and everything else previously mentioned, I simply was not in the right mindset to run a radio station. It's been a year and a half now and I am in a much better place, both physically and emotionally.
Why relaunch now?
Becasue I've always wanted this. Ever since I first discovered internet radio broadcasting as a teenager in the early 2000s, I knew that one day I'd run my own radio station. And as stated earlier, with Radio Free Fedi being gone, there is a gap that needs to be filled. I already have a strong foundation for (re)launching a radio station (The basic concept figured out, code from the old website I can repurpose), so why not?
We already have The Indie Beat Radio replacing Radio Free Fedi; won't you be competing with them?
No, because we have a different niche. The Indie Beat is dedicated to playing music by independient artists across the Fediverse. Radio Lemmy is for people who want to share their favorite tunes with the Fediverse. (Grabbing the Aux, if you will.) Radio Lemmy allows both commercial and indie music. And as mentioned earlier, this will be an interactive radio station, complete with a request system and live DJs you can communicate with. There will also scheduled programming blocks for when no DJ is live on air.
In fact, I am interested in doing a collab with Indie Beat. I'm hoping they'll be willing to let me add their station to my website by the time we launch. (Hey Indie Beat staff, if you're reading this: HMU!)
What's to stop you from getting burnt out and shutting down the station again?
As of right now, nothing. It entirely depends on whether or not I can generate enough interest this time around. But with your help, I believe that we can run a successful radio station this time. I'm hoping that enough of the right people will be involved so that I can name someone as my sucessor, should I feel the need to leave again.
I'm interested in helping out. What can I do now?
It seems that you missed that part of the post. No worries; it ended up being much longer than I had intented it to be. Check out the tl;dr below.
tl;dr:
I need DJs (live and prerecorded sets), curators/programming directors, and mods before the station relaunches in Q3 2025:
If you want to submit some music or a block of programming (Podcasts/Talk shows are okay too):
- Read this first!
- Upload your song(s)/show(s) to a file sharing site and PM me the link on lemmy.blahaj.zone.
- Indvidual songs are fine, full shows preferred.
- Prerecorded shows must have a person talking evey few songs (or at least some way of letting the listeners know they're listening to a curated show. Something like "This is DJ such and such" will suffice). The more your show sounds like a profesional broadcast, the better (but amateurs are welcomed too!)
- Minimum 30 minutes, max 6 hours. FLAC or WAV is preferred, 320Kbps MP3 minimum.
- Explicit language is okay, but not in excess. Low-quality content will be rejected.
- I would prefer if you could submit content on a regular basis, but one-time uploads are fine too. The more, the merrier.
- Mods needed! PM me to apply and let me know if you want to be a community mod or chat room mod.
- I also need people who can help me sort through submitted shows/tunes and tell me which ones are airplay-ready (like a curator or program director, if you will). PM me if you're interested in that.
end tl;dr
I miss the early days of WiFi, when routers were unsecured by default. If you lived in the city or suburbia, you were pretty much guaranteed free wifi.
Back in the 2000s I lived with my grandma for awhile, and even though she had internet, I would use the wifi from a few houses down. Even though I only got 2 bars and was limited to 1.5Mbps, it was still over 5x faster than her 256Kbps DSL lone.