Does anyone use the Local Radio Stations on Apple Music?

Software
1

One of the differentiating factors of Apple Music vs. Spotify is that they struck a deal with Tunein and iHeart Radio to include broadcast radio as a part of their stations feed. Does anyone listen to old school radio on Apple Music? One feature request I would have is location services so that I know which stations are “local” to my area. I had some internship experience at my college public radio station and I am just out of market so I enjoy the fact that I can tune in on Apple Music. I’ve also gone international and checked out some BBC Radio that I really enjoy.

Edit: I also am enjoying the fact that its algorithm free.

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2

No but then I don’t use Apple Music (although my daughters do on our family plan) and I don’t listen to radio either unless the family are in the car with me.

I find Podcasts or my own Plex Music Library to be far more engaging

3

If my wife didnt burn up Apple Music and we got a great deal vis-a-vis Verizon for Apple One. I probably wouldnt do Apple Music either and rely on my local library or the Radio.

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4

Yes I do, at work. I have neither an Apple Music nor a Spotify subscription, so if I want to listen to some new music or to the news, I choose one of the national radio stations using Apple Music on my iPhone. I made a shortcut so I can choose the radio station I want to listen to.

5

Does it cost extra for this? If not, and if available, I’d love to listen to baseball games on the radio.

6

Currently listening to BBC Radio Ulster as we speak on a normal subscription. Just look for your station on the music app. (its not completely comprehensive though my classic rock station of choice feed got dropped).

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No, it’s free. You don’t need an Apple Music subscription.

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Actually didn’t know that that is good to know if I have to cut expenses. I’ve been attempting to de-algorthim my online life which has found me subscribing to a paper magazine and listening to the radio.

9

How did I not know this? I thought the radio stations were only like those shown on the radio “home page.” It never occurred to me that TuneIn and iHeart Radio were available. Now, I just need to see if they are broadcasting any baseball games. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yeah, several years ago Apple handed the two companies like 200 million for their feeds. Its an excellent differentiator from Spotify which is increasingly becoming TikTok like for my tastes. My only complaint is that Apple makes it impossible to organize stations and no search via locations if you wanna bookmark the stations near you.

Also integrating the newstalk and sports stations in the Podcast App would be nice as well. Its odd listening to NPR News on Apple Music. I find I do live events in audio because I can handle the politics better when I cant see their faces.

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I do, occasionally. They have a good amount of Swedish radio stations, which I find both surprising and nice. Those stations are categorized under “Local” but I’m not sure that is what you were suggesting. They are local to my country but you were perhaps thinking even more locally? :slight_smile:

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As an American local for us in usually state level considering many of our states are the size of Sweeden. Calling a California Station “local” would be like you guys calling the BBC Local.

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Regarding organising the stations, that’s why I made a shortcut to choose the station I want to listen to from a list. The stations in the Music app have an URL, eg. the URL (in my country) of the BBC World Service is:

https://music.apple.com/nl/station/bbc-world-service/ra.1655246731

You can find these URL’s by clicking on the three red dots, choose share station and then copy link, when you listen to the station.

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I use the local radio, both for KUSC Southern California Classical public rado, and various French stations in Canada.

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I use it to listen to my local NPR station, as well as to listen to college football games in the fall!

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You, sir, are a genius! You all are! Everyone here is a genius.

I’ve just added my old favourite BBC Radio 2 (no ads!) to a new shortcut (with a radio icon), and then added it to my home screen on my iPad.

The first song I hear was a recording of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler sung live at Glastonbury, which was a delight.

(The shortcut doesn’t work on the Mac btw.)
—

I stopped listening to radio when I moved back to NZ. That may have just changed.

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I didn’t know there were local radio stations in Apple Music! I can see how useful it is for most people, because this and cooking timers are the only use case I have for my Alexa Echo.

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> The shortcut doesn’t work on the Mac btw.

That’s correct, not with the same code as for the i(Pad)OS devices. I had to add some Mac specific code, a bit of AppleScript with help of an IF statement.

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on run {input, parameters}
	open location input
end run
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TIL…

But what’s the advantage of listening via Apple instead of TuneIn itself?

(Ads? Subscription?)

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Apple Music seems to have only a curated list of world-wide “radio” stations, and frankly I wonder how many are actual broadcast radio stations. TuneIn, last I used it for “free” on my Sonos system has real radio stations from around the world. I was able to listen to the station broadcast from my alma mater on a different continent from where I live now. Can’t find it on Apple Music. Sonos stopped making TuneIn available “free” and requires a subscription. I suspect if I subscribed to TuneIn I could reach that university broadcast radio station.