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Comment by shalmanese | Hacker News Reader

One thing I'm surprised doesn't exist yet is "podcast radio stations". Like, I want a podcast DJ to cue up 24 hours worth of programming into a channel and then I can tune in at any time and hear whatever podcast episode is on right now. Don't make me think, don't make me go out and discover new podcasts, just give me a stream of interesting audio content.

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This is NPR One, no? That's why I've been using it - it gives you a nice steady stream of NPR's programming and outside podcasts, randomly sampled at first, which in time starts preferring your favored content (which it learns by you "liking" content).

https://one.npr.org/

Been listening to it for years, it's great stuff!

How did I have no idea this exists?!? Thank you for the pointer.

They used to include a blurb about it on all NPR podcasts. I think they removed it because local stations were complaing that they were diverting their listeners away from the local station to a centralized app. So it’s been more low key since then.

I hate to be that guy but isn't that just... Radio?

Isn't what you've described basically BBC Radio 4, or any of the NPR stations?

No, in the same way that the original Turntable.fm wasn't just radio.

Like, say I'm interested in true crime or D&D or behavioural economics, there's a bajillion podcasts out there on each topic and discovery is inefficient and time consuming. Instead of subscribing to podcast creators, I want a DJ to just have an audio stream going on at all times where I can just tune in when I want and it's something interesting being played.

Most people won't find very appealing the idea of missing the start of a podcast - and the conclusion if you have to stop listening before it ends.

Ok, so allow the user to rewind to the start of the current podcast and keep a track of unfinished ones

Sure, if we just forget about the "tune in at any time and hear whatever podcast episode is on right now" concept it makes more sense. It becomes just a list.

In the same sense that a smartphone is just a small computer and dropbox is just a file folder.

If you strip all the interesting parts of a concept (here curation, the dj personality, easy instant access, centralization, community, ...) it's going to sound lackluster.

Though personally I'd enforce synchronous listening if I ran that kind of service myself. Lots of radios have talk shows and listeners do just fine joining in the middle of a conversation.

All those interesting aspects which are not about synchronous listening are not stripped out when you have a personality-curated centralized list with a community and instant access. The problematic part is the “tune in and see what’s on”. Which is why many radio talk shows are also available as podcasts!

You have to license the songs which makes it difficult and expensive. Podcasts don’t qualify for the same type of statutory licensing that online radio stations provide due to predictability of song appearances and ability to replay (radio must be sufficiently shuffled and songs can’t be announced too far in the future). That’s the major difference from normal podcasting. Some public radio stations have licensed these kinds of programs but they are often geofenced based on IP address.

https://www.di.fm/ Has DJ shows and had been doing internet radio for a very long time

Those are not podcasts though. The original comment was wanting a radio like stream of varying podcasts on topics having nothing to do with EDM.

Above and Beyond Group Therapy already does this, but it's a weekly 2 hour mix

If you're into funk, hip-hop, R&B, check out the radio stream on https://www.wefunkradio.com/

There are already people doing something similar on ClubHouse right now. You can interact with a live audience and fund requests. I think you could also host political talk radio on there if they'd let you do it.

Actually I think that may be ClubHouse's future - if it survives.

Back in the day (1998), that was called Shoutcast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHOUTcast

Shoutcast also had streaming porn.

What genre? BBC and trance around the world, or even monstercat are similar to what you’re looking for.

Indie radio stations do the same and usually have a podcast “episode” per week with curated content

I'm not talking about brand new content, I want a platform where anyone can sign up and create a "channel" and then queue up a playlist of already existing podcast episodes to play in sequence and I can browse through and hop into different channels and be fed a diet of podcasts previously unfamiliar to me.

I'm pretty sure you can create and share playlists of podcasts on spotify, so there's that.

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