Learn to run your station like a pro
Step-by-step how-tos and best practices for everything Nobex can do — from your first broadcast to monetizing your audience. Every guide is written for real broadcasters, with screenshots.
Quick Start: Get your station on air in 5 minutes
From sign-up to your first listener — create a station, upload music and start broadcasting 24/7 from the cloud, with no software to install.
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Getting started
How to start an internet radio station in 2026
A complete guide to how to start an internet radio station in 2026 — concept, music rights, equipment, going live, automation, and what it really costs.
13 min readHow to name your radio station (and check the name is free)
Radio station name ideas that survive contact with the world: the say-it-out-loud test, six naming patterns with their real costs, and a 7-step availability check.
10 min readHow to start a radio station: online, FM or community
The three kinds of radio station you can actually start — online, low-power FM, and full-power broadcast — what each really requires, what it costs, how long it takes, and how to pick before you spend anything.
11 min readHow much does it cost to start an internet radio station?
An honest internet radio station cost breakdown: what hosting, licensing, music and equipment really cost per month — and what you genuinely get for free.
9 min readDo you need a licence to start an internet radio station?
Do you need a license to start an internet radio station? A plain-English guide to the two copyrights in every song, who you pay, and when you don’t need one.
11 min readHow to get a music license in the US — the easiest legal path
How to get a music license in the US, step by step: the four organizations to contact, what each application involves, why the license belongs in your name, and the shortcuts that are actually legal.
9 min readHow to start an internet radio station for free
How to start an internet radio station for free — what genuinely costs nothing, what "free forever" hosting really trades away, and the free tools worth using.
9 min readInternet radio hosting: how to choose a host in 2026
What internet radio hosting actually does, what the plans really include, a dated price comparison of the main providers, and the five questions that separate a host you can grow with from one you will have to leave.
11 min readRadio hosting with licensing included: what you’re actually buying
Some platforms bundle music licensing into your hosting subscription. Here is exactly what that covers, the four questions to ask before you buy it, and why a licence in your own name behaves differently.
9 min readLive365 alternatives: what to use if the price no longer fits
An honest look at Live365 alternatives — what its bundled licensing actually covers, what changes when you leave it behind, how the main platforms compare on price in August 2026, and how to move a station without losing listeners.
10 min readRadio.co alternatives: how the main platforms compare
What Radio.co gets right, where stations find its ceiling, how the entry tiers of the main radio platforms compare in August 2026, and what to check before you switch hosts.
9 min readRadioKing alternatives: reading the tiers before you pick
RadioKing advertises one price and sells several. Here is how its tiers compare with the other main radio platforms in August 2026, what “unlimited” usually means, and how to choose a plan you will not outgrow by accident.
9 min readZeno.FM alternatives after the free plan ended
Zeno.FM ended its free plans in January 2025. Here is what that changed for stations built on it, what free radio hosting really costs when it is ad-supported, and how the paid alternatives compare in August 2026.
9 min readAzuraCast alternatives: when self-hosting stops being worth it
AzuraCast is excellent free software. This is the honest comparison against managed radio platforms — what self-hosting really costs in hours, when it is the right answer, and how to move a station off your own server.
10 min readIn-store radio: how to build your own store radio station
In-store radio done properly: why a consumer streaming account is not legal in a shop, what a business music licence really is, and how running your own store station compares on cost.
10 min readHow to start a school radio station
A practical guide to starting a school radio station: what it costs, how to pitch it to leadership, how to safeguard students on air, and how to survive graduation.
11 min readHow to start a church radio station
How to start a church radio station: what to air across a week, how to stream the Sunday service properly, worship music rights, and a rota volunteers can keep.
11 min readHow to start a community radio station
How to start a community radio station: broadcast licence or internet-only, the governance that stops it collapsing, and a volunteer schedule that survives people leaving.
11 min readQuick Start: Get your station on air in 5 minutes
From sign-up to your first listener — create a station, upload music and start broadcasting 24/7 from the cloud, with no software to install.
6 min readBroadcasting
Shoutcast hosting in 2026: what it is, what it costs, and what replaced it
What a Shoutcast server actually does, how Shoutcast hosting differs from Icecast, why it is the cheapest tier in internet radio, and how to move a Shoutcast station onto a modern platform without losing your listeners.
9 min readIcecast hosting: self-hosted vs managed, and how to connect any encoder
What Icecast is, what running your own Icecast server really involves, what managed Icecast hosting buys instead, and the exact settings — mount, codec, bitrate, username — that decide whether your encoder connects.
10 min readRadio automation software in 2026: desktop, self-hosted and cloud compared
What radio automation software actually does, the three generations of it (desktop, self-hosted, cloud), the five features that decide whether a station sounds programmed or shuffled, and how to choose.
10 min readCloud AutoDJ: run your station 24/7 with no software
Upload your music and let Cloud AutoDJ play it to your stream around the clock — no encoder, no spare computer, no software to install. Start, stop and steer it from one panel.
7 min readGo live from your browser
Put your voice on air in one click, straight from your dashboard microphone — take over the music or talk over a ducked bed, with a live meter, fades and dead-air protection. No software required.
6 min readCo-host Live — and how to plug in your DJ software
Host one live show on two stations at once, bring in guests with a link or a code — and route BUTT, Mixxx, Virtual DJ or a hardware mixer into the room with a virtual audio cable.
7 min readBroadcast from your phone with the Nobex Broadcaster app
Run your station and go live from anywhere with the Nobex Broadcaster app for iOS and Android — hold to go on air from your phone mic, pick your music source, announce now playing and get a heads-up before every sponsor spot.
6 min readInternet radio equipment: what you actually need (less than you think)
The honest internet radio station equipment guide — start broadcasting with the phone you own, then climb the gear ladder only when your show earns it.
7 min readThe best internet radio software in 2026 — free and paid, compared
The best internet radio software in 2026: free encoders like BUTT and Mixxx, desktop automation like RadioDJ and SAM, and cloud AutoDJ — honestly compared.
10 min readBroadcast from your computer or DJ software
For power users: run 24/7 from your own computer with the Nobex Streaming Agent, or connect OBS, BUTT, Mixxx, Virtual DJ or any Icecast-compatible encoder. Optional — most stations never need it.
7 min readHow to stream your FM radio station online
How to broadcast FM radio on the internet: where to take the feed, processing and levels, encoder settings, redundancy, metadata and rights for an FM simulcast.
11 min readProgramming
Build your music library and playlists
Upload your tracks, keep them tagged and searchable, then shape the sound of your station with playlists and sequential, shuffle or weighted rotation.
7 min readStop shuffling: rule-based rotation, clocks and the schedule log
Program your station the way real radio does — categories that control how often a song plays, an hour clock that decides what plays when, separation rules that pick the specific song, and a schedule log you can read before it airs.
9 min readProgram your week: schedules and shows
Build a weekly clock with schedule blocks, then run recurring shows that air a recording on the day or go live automatically — with a fallback chain that never lets you go silent.
7 min readNow-playing branding and royalty reports
Control the now-playing text listeners see, brand it with a format template and your logo, and export a SoundExchange-ready Report of Use from your play history.
6 min readRadio imaging: jingles, sweepers and station IDs that make you sound real
A practical guide to radio imaging: what sweepers, jingles, liners and station IDs actually are, how often to air each, where to get them, and how to schedule them.
11 min readGrow your audience
Your public page, embed player and sharing
Publish a hosted listen-live page, drop a one-line player onto your own website, and share your station with links and a QR code.
7 min readShow what your station is playing, anywhere
Fetch your station's current track as JSON, drop it onto your website with a few lines of code, and hand the classic formats to radio directories.
7 min readConnect your station to everything else: the API, webhooks and realtime events
Show now playing and recent tracks on your website, post to Discord or socials when a track starts or you go live, sync a music folder, and build a status page — with the Nobex API, webhooks and Server-Sent Events.
8 min readStream quality and delivery: HLS, MP3 and mounts
How your audio reaches listeners — adaptive HLS over CDN and universal MP3/Icecast — plus stream mounts, codecs, bitrates and the quality picker.
7 min readHow to get listeners for your internet radio station
A practical, no-hype playbook for how to get listeners for your internet radio station — niche, schedule, directories, clips and retention that compounds.
9 min readGet your radio station on every device: web, TuneIn, Alexa and your own apps
How to get your internet radio station on every device — website players, TuneIn and directories, Alexa smart speakers, cars, and your own branded mobile apps.
9 min readRecord your shows and publish them as a podcast
Set your station to record itself — when you go live, on a schedule, or per show — then turn any recording into a podcast episode with a feed Apple, Spotify and every other app can subscribe to.
8 min readUnderstand your audience with analytics
Read your live listener stats, then dig into listening hours, peak and average listeners, unique and returning listeners, an hour-by-day heatmap, countries and cities, devices, top tracks and session lengths — and export it all.
8 min readDo you need a mobile app for your radio station?
An honest answer on the radio station mobile app question: when an app builder is worth it, when it isn’t yet, what it really costs to keep one in the stores.
9 min readGet your station on Alexa
Listeners can ask a smart speaker for your station by name. It is free, it takes about five minutes, and this is exactly what to fill in so your submission is approved first time.
6 min readAI for radio
AI for radio stations: what actually works, and what to leave alone
A working operator’s guide to AI for radio: the jobs it reliably does today, the ones it still fails, and a simple framework for sorting every task at your station.
11 min read10 AI tools to help your radio station grow
Ten AI tools for radio stations, named with real September 2026 prices and the exact job each one does — plus which free tiers are genuinely enough.
10 min readAI voice and radio imaging: station IDs that don’t sound synthetic
A practical guide to AI radio imaging: writing AI voice scripts for the ear, comping takes, hiding synthetic texture under a bed, and the consent rules for cloning.
10 min readTurn one radio show into a week of content with AI
A repeatable AI show prep pipeline for radio: record once, then derive a podcast episode, show notes, clips, a newsletter and search-visible text from a single audio file.
11 min readMonetization
How to monetize an internet radio station
How to monetize an internet radio station: tips, memberships, premium streams, local sponsors and more — what actually earns at small-station scale, honestly.
10 min readMake money: tips, memberships, premium and sponsors
Turn listeners into revenue — connect payouts, then switch on tips, memberships, an ad-free premium stream and your own sponsor campaigns, all from the Revenue tab.
8 min readManaging your account
Plans, billing and managing your subscription
Pick the right plan, understand test mode, the money-back guarantee and the overage cap, and manage everything — upgrades, pauses, streams, payment methods and invoices — from one Subscription page.
6 min readWork as a team: members and DJ accounts
Bring co-hosts, guest DJs and stakeholders onto your station safely — with roles, broadcast-only DJ accounts, an activity log and revocable API credentials.
5 min read