radio-active 4.0.0

Play and record any radio stations around the globe right from the terminal

RADIOACTIVE

SEARCH - PLAY - RECORD - REPEAT

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Join Discord Server

Demo

Features

• Supports more than 40K stations !! :radio:
• Record audio from live radio on demand :zap:
• Get song information on run-time 🎶
• Shazam identification of tracks
• Saves last station information
• Favorite stations :heart:
• Selection menu for favorite stations
• Supports user-added stations :wrench:
• Looks minimal and user-friendly
• Runs on Raspberry Pi
• Finds nearby stations
• Discovers stations by genre
• Discovers stations by language
• VLC, MPV player support
• Default config file
• Result limit (default 100)
• Sleep Timer (pomodoro) ⏲️
• History/Recently Played stations
• Scheduled Recording
• I'm feeling lucky! Play Random stations

See my progress ➡️ here

🎊🎊 For developer's guides and detailed architecture refer to this wiki: https://deepwiki.com/deep5050/radio-active

Why radioactive?

While there are various CLI-based radio players like PyRadio and TERA, Radioactive stands out for its simplicity. It's designed to work seamlessly right from the start. You don't need to be a hardcore Linux or Vim expert to enjoy radio stations with Radioactive. The goal of Radioactive is to offer a straightforward user interface that's easy to grasp and comes preconfigured, without unnecessary complexities.

In the Spotlight

The praise from YouTube channels and blogs underscores Radioactive's emergence as a top choice for radio enthusiasts. Its simple yet powerful features, make it a must-try application for radio lovers of all expertise levels. Discover the world of radio with ease – experience Radioactive today.

1. See DistroTube YouTube channel talks about my app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7sf1RDFXpU&pp=ygUYcmFkaW9hY3RpdmUgcGxheWVyIHJhZGlv
2. Ubunlog: https://ubunlog.com/en/radio-activate-an-application-to-listen-to-the-radio-from-the-terminal/
3. LinuxLinks: https://www.linuxlinks.com/radio-active-listen-radio-terminal/3/
4. Official entry in the RadioBrowser API: https://www.radio-browser.info/users
5. ThingsAndStuff: https://wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Streaming#:~:text=com/billniakas/bash_radio_gr-,radio%2Dactive,-https%3A//github.com
6. Awesome-stars: https://arbal.github.io/awesome-stars/#:~:text=deep5050/radio%2Dactive%20%2D%20Play%20any%20radios%20around%20the%20globe%20right%20from%20the%20terminal%20%3Azap%3A
7. OpenSourceAgenda: https://www.opensourceagenda.com/projects/my-awesome-stars#:~:text=deep5050/radio%2Dactive%20%2D%20Play%20any%20radios%20around%20the%20globe%20right%20from%20the%20terminal%20%3Azap%3A

Install

Simply run: pip3 install --upgrade radio-active

I recommend installing it using pipx install radio-active

TODO:

• Create deb, rpm and exe packages
• Add it to various Linux distribution package repositories.
• Add to scoop, chocolately

External Dependency

It needs FFmpeg to be installed on your system in order to record the audio

on Ubuntu-based system >= 20.04 Run

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

For other systems including Windows see the above link

Installing FFmpeg

FFmpeg is required for this program to work correctly. Install FFmpeg by following these steps:-

• On Linux - https://www.tecmint.com/install-ffmpeg-in-linux/
• On Windows - https://www.wikihow.com/Install-FFmpeg-on-Windows

Run

Search a station with radio --search [STATION_NAME] or simply radio :zap: to select from the favorite menu.

Tips

1. Use a modern terminal emulator, otherwise the UI might break! (gets too ugly sometimes)
2. On Windows, instead of the default Command Prompt, use the new Windows Terminal or web-based emulators like Hyper, Cmdr, Terminus, etc. for better UI
3. Let the app run for at least 5 seconds (not a serious issue though, for better performance)

Demo

Scheduled Recording

To schedule a recording: radio --record-at "18:30" --uuid "96444e20-0601-11e8-ae97-52543be04c81" --filename "evening_jazz" --duration 30 This will countdown until 18:30, then record the station for 30 minutes, and exit.

Demo

Options

Options	Note	Description	Default	Values
(No Option)	Optional	Select a station from menu to play	False
--search, -S	Optional	Station name	None
--play, -P	Optional	A station from fav list or url for direct play	None
--country, -C	Optional	Discover stations by country code	False
--state	Optional	Discover stations by country state	False
--language	optional	Discover stations by	False
--tag	Optional	Discover stations by tags/genre	False
--uuid, -U	Optional	ID of the station	None
--record , -R	Optional	Record a station and save to file	False
--record-at	Optional	Start recording at a specific time (HH:MM)	None	HH:MM (24h)
--duration	Optional	Duration of recording in minutes	None	Minutes
--filename, -N	Optional	Filename to used to save the recorded audio	None
--filepath	Optional	Path to save the recordings	~/radioactive/recordings
--filetype, -T	Optional	Format of the recording	mp3	mp3,auto
--last	Optional	Play last played station	False
--random	Optional	Play a random station from favorite list	False
--sort	Optional	Sort the result page	votes
--filter	Optional	Filter search results	None
--limit	Optional	Limit the # of results in the Discover table	100
--volume , -V	Optional	Change the volume passed into ffplay	80	[0-100]
--favorite, -F	Optional	Add current station to fav list	False
--add , -A	Optional	Add an entry to fav list	False
--list, -W	Optional	Show fav list	False
--remove	Optional	Remove entries from favorite list	False
--flush	Optional	Remove all the entries from fav list	False
--history	Optional	Show recently played stations	False
--kill , -K	Optional	Kill background radios.	False
--loglevel	Optional	Log level of the program	Info	info, warning, error, debug
--player	Optional	Media player to use	ffplay	vlc, mpv, ffplay

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[!NOTE] Once you save/play at least one station, invoking radio without any options will show a selection menu

--search, -S: Search for a station online.

--play, -P: You can pass an exact name from your favorite stations or alternatively pass any direct stream URL. This would bypass any user selection menu (useful when running from another script)

--uuid,-U: When station names are too long or confusing (or multiple results for the same name) use the station's uuid to play. --uuid gets the greater priority than --search. Example: 96444e20-0601-11e8-ae97-52543be04c81. type u on the runtime command to get the UUID of a station.

--loglevel,: Don't need to specify unless you are developing it. info, warning, error, debug

-F: Add the current station to your favorite list. Example: -F my_fav_1

-A: Add any stations to your list. You can add stations that are not currently available on our API. When adding a new station enter a name and direct URL to the audio stream.

--limit: Specify how many search results should be displayed.

--filetype: Specify the extension of the final recording file. default is mp3. you can provide -T auto to autodetect the codec and set file extension accordingly (in original form).

--record-at: Schedule a recording to start at a specific local time (HH:MM 24-hour format). Requires --uuid, --filename, and --duration to be specified.

--duration: Specify the recording duration in minutes. Required for scheduled recording.

Runtime Commands

Radioactive features a modern, Vim-style command bar at the bottom of the screen. Instead of the old prompt, you now see a subtle : where you can type commands and search for stations.

Available Commands:

Shortcut	Full Command	Description
p	play/pause	Toggle current station playback
t	track	Show current track info
i	info	Show station details
r	record	Start/Stop recording
rf	recordfile	Record with a specific filename
f	fav	Add current station to favorites
l	list	Open favorite station selection menu
s	search	Search for a new station online
n	next	Play next station (from search/favs)
timer	sleep	Set a sleep timer
v	volume	Set volume (e.g., v 50)
sz	shazam	Identify current song using Shazam
b	background	Run radioactive in the background
q	quit	Exit Radioactive

Power Features:

• Tab Completion: Type a few letters and press Tab or Right Arrow to auto-complete commands and station names.
• Instant Suggestions: As you type, the bar shows descriptive hints (e.g., typing p shows (play/pause)).
• Universal Fuzzy Search: If your input doesn't match a command, Radioactive instantly searches your Favorites and History. Just type the name of a station and press Enter to play it immediately!

Sort Parameters

you can sort the result page with these parameters:

• name (default)
• votes (based on user votes)
• codec
• bitrate
• lastcheckok (active stations)
• lastchecktime (recent active)
• clickcount (total play count)
• clicktrend (currently trending stations)
• random

Filter Parameters

Filter search results with --filter. Some possible expressions are

• --filter "name=shows"
• --filter "name=shows,talks,tv"
• --filter "name!=news,shows"
• --filter "country=in"
• --filter "language=bengali,nepali"
• --filter "bitrate>64"
• --filter "votes<500"
• --filter "codec=mp3"
• --filter "tags!=rock,pop"

Allowed operators are:

• =
• ,
• !=
• >
• <
• &

Allowed keys are: name, country (countrycode as value), language, bitrate, votes, codec, tags

Provide multiple filters at one go, use &

A complex filter example: --filter "country!=CA&tags!=islamic,classical&votes>500"

[!NOTE] set --limit to a higher value while filtering results

Default Configs

Default configuration file is added into your home directory as .radio-active-configs.ini

[AppConfig]
loglevel = info
limit = 100
sort = votes
filter = none
volume = 80
filepath = /home/{user}/radioactive/recordings/
filetype = mp3
player = ffplay

Feature Configuration

You can enable or disable specific features by editing ~/radioactive/features.conf. If the file does not exist, it will be automatically created on the first run.

MINIMAL_FEATURE=false
RECORDING_FEATURE=true
TRACK_FEATURE=true
SEARCH_FEATURE=true
CYCLE_FEATURE=true
INFO_FEATURE=true
TIMER_FEATURE=true
HISTORY_FEATURE=true

Setting MINIMAL_FEATURE=true will override and disable all other optional features.

Configuration Paths

All the data files are stored in a folder called radioactive under your user home directory.

• Configuration: ~/radioactive/config.ini
• Features: ~/radioactive/features.conf
• Favorites: ~/radioactive/alias_map
• Last Station: ~/radioactive/last_station
• Recordings: ~/radioactive/recordings

Legacy configuration files are automatically migrated to this new location on the first run.

[!WARNING] Do NOT modify the keys, only change the values.

Bonus Tips

1. when using rf: you can force the recording to be in mp3 format by adding an extension to the file name. Example "talk-show.mp3". If you don't specify any extension it should auto-detect. Example "new_show"

2. You don't have to pass the exact option name, a portion of it will also work. for example --sea for --search, --coun for --country, --lim for --limit

3. It's better to leave the --filetype as mp3 when you need to record something quickly. The autocodec takes a few milliseconds extra to determine the codec.

Changes

see CHANGELOG

Community

Share you favorite list with our community 🌐 ➡️ Here

Your favorite list alias_map is under ~/radioactive/ directory.

Support

Visit my contribution page for more payment options.

Acknowledgements

Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

Happy Listening

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

Joe Smith ⚠️ 💻 🤔

salehjafarli 💻

marvoh 💻 🐛

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!