radioguide.fm
There has been a significant increase in the number of radio streaming hosting service providers in recent years. Some of these services just offer free or premium music to their audiences, whereas others provide comprehensive platforms that help listeners not just hear music but also start their own radio stations. Radioguide.FM is one such service that provides quality music services as well as the resources aspiring broadcasters need to start their own radio shows.
What is Radioguide.FM?
Radioguide.FM is a multi-faceted radio station that provides quality streaming and hassle-free browsing for its general audience. On the other hand, it encourages broadcasters to start their own radio stations and offers some of the most popular radio stations as selected by creators like you and me.
Why should listeners stream on Radioguide.FM?
Radioguide.FM offers over 3000 radio stations from across the world. These stations are independent and created by hobbyists and professional artists. Apart from the original talent on the platform, you'll also find some of the top radio stations, such as Radio One and Classic. So whether you want to hear quality Brazilian radio or a top station in China - you'll get it. And not just that, you can also learn what it takes to make a quality station.
Content Diversification
The simplicity of the platform is its biggest strength. Offering the audience to browse radio channels using genres and countries is great for helping them choose an ideal channel. Regardless of where you are from, all of us can relate to some or other genres and if not - we can just listen to something from our respective countries. Thus, I feel that the Genre/Country sort feature is a great help.
Decent streaming quality
Unlike Live365 which offers 128-bit quality, Radioguide.FM swings between 64 and 128 bits per second. As far as streaming quality goes, you can enjoy up to 256kbps and in some cases HQ channels too. The streaming quality though is not consistent and varies based on the radio channels and your internet speed.
App support
If you're into streaming radio stations on your mobile phone instead of on a desktop, the Radioguide.FM app can help you out. This app has user-friendly features, great audio clarity, and well-designed panels that make it easy to browse and listen to everything that's available. It's available on iOS as well as the PlayStore.
Why should broadcasters visit Radioguide.FM?
For the first time, I've tried dissecting the review into two parts - listeners and broadcasters. And that's because this radio streaming service calls for it. I like it so much that I want to emphasize the role that this website can play in helping you kickstart your broadcasting career. If you have a radio station and you're ready to put in a lot of work, Radioguide.FM has the elements and the infrastructure to make you successful.
Answers those buzzing questions
Radioguide.FM is a website which provides broadcasters with answers to all their broadcasting-related questions. Starting a radio station can be tricky, but with help from Radioguide.FM, it can be done successfully. Growing an audience is also possible, and even profitable, through radio broadcasting. So whether you're a beginner or an experienced broadcaster, make sure to check out Radioguide.FM for all the answers you need!
Radio Station growth strategies
Radioguide.FM shares valuable information concerning how a radio station can grow rapidly. Some key points that I learned were - Understand your target audience, love what you do, and be confident in your offering to listeners. Additionally, there is a dedicated section that focuses on promoting your channel using key points. Combined with a strong psychological backing, this will help you turn your channel's fortune.
Easy guide to starting your own station
I absolutely loved the blog section on this website. I've seen and reviewed a lot of broadcasting focused radio streaming services, but none as effective as Radioguide.FM in terms of the knowledgebase. They make the process of setting up a successful radio station clear and transparent through their helpful guides - if you want to broadcast, you should definitely check that out.
Design
Radioguide.FM's website looks clean and crisp. There isn't too much happening on the website, so each section flows smoothly. With the violet/white color combination and orange accents, Radioguide.FM has a website that looks decent and has a distinctive feel about it.
Header
The overall design is clean and concise.
What I appreciate most about the designer's efforts is their dedication to segregating the login and sign-up panels. Even if you're a new user and have never visited a streaming website, the sign-up option won't confuse you in any way. After the primary header, it's the transparent white sub-header that attracts your attention. It has six options on the left - Home, Genres, Countries, Blogs, Search, and Add Station. And a search bar on the right. The overall design is clean and concise.
Hero Section
Once you have found the station you want, simply hit the play button and take in all the music that is being played.
The hero section on Radioguide.FM includes several important elements. The immersive banner on the homepage with the title "Your Internet Radio Starts Here?" and sure it does as it is followed by a search bar on the left and a suggested radio station on the right. I like how both these options have contrasting colors. Once you have found the station you want, simply hit the play button and take in all of the music that is being played.
Body
The active body area on Radioguide.FM has a variety of important sections. One section is with information about Starting your station?, Genres availability?, and Ease of Usage?. Scrolling down, you have the option to browse channels by either country or genre. It is beautiful how this basic option has been displayed in a slider format to make it visually appealing and engaging. Lastly, you will find the ?Add Station Now? section of the body. If you are a broadcaster, you would want to check out this section. Before this, however, make sure you check the blogs for more information about broadcasting on Radioguide.FM
Footer
Radioguide.FM has a clean footer design with social media icons on the top and on the right. It also features nine options - Home, About Us, FAQ, Privacy and Policy, Return Policy, Broken Link, Online Radio, Sitemap, and Contact.
Inner Pages
Another website with a user-friendly homepage but careless inner pages. It's necessarily not bad designing, but just the layout which leaves a lot of white space on the website.
Nonetheless, on every inner page, you will be able to filter channels based on genre, country, and rating. In the middle, you will have a search bar under which you have 25 entries per page. If you don't have anything specific in mind, you can use the scroller to find something.
Content
Radioguide.FM offers listeners a variety of channels with rock, pop, hits, top 40, dance, talk, news, oldies and alternative genres for listening pleasure. Some popular radio stations include ?Fresh FM?, ?97.1 AMP Radio?, ?New York 92.3 Now? which you can rate and learn about the top rated station using the filter option.
Desktop/Mobile experience
I am pleased with what I saw on the mobile website. Though I didn't like the mobile app as much, browsing around the mobile-friendly website was fun. As for streaming, I didn't face any issues with it on the desktop, but when I tried it in the app, it kept crashing from time to time.
Plans & Pricing
If you want to promote your station on Radioguide.FM, then you'll need to pay for advertising space. It's free for listeners, but broadcasters have to spend money to get their message out there.
Suggestions I have for Radioguide.FM
Radioguide.FM really needs to improve its app. Most of the big players are focusing on making mesmerizing apps that eliminate the need for users to visit the website. I would urge Radioguide.FM to keep this in mind and work towards developing a user-friendly app that doesn't crash and provides a wholesome streaming experience.
Conclusion
There are dozens of better radio streaming channels than this one, but as a broadcaster, you should definitely learn as much as you can from this platform because it has some valuable insights.