Where Worldwave’s Radio Stations Come From
You picked a country, pressed play, and a station from the other side of the world started talking. Here’s where that station list comes from, and what happens between your tap and the sound.
Written by Worldwave Team4 min readUpdated
Worldwave is a directory and a player. The station names, logos, genres, and stream addresses come from Radio Browser, a free, volunteer-run community directory of internet radio. When you press play, your iPhone connects straight to the station’s own streaming server.
Here’s how the list is built, why it changes, what Worldwave does and doesn’t do with a stream, and where to find all of this in the app.
Worldwave’s station list comes from the Radio Browser community directory, and the audio comes straight from each station’s own server.
The List Comes From Radio Browser
Radio Browser is a public, volunteer-run directory of internet radio stations. Stations and their listeners submit the entries: a name, a logo, a country, genre tags, and the address of the live stream.
Worldwave reads that directory live instead of shipping its own copy. When an entry changes or is removed at the source, the change shows up in Worldwave on the next refresh. Worldwave adds no stations of its own.
Why Some Stations Show Up First
Listen opens on the country you picked and shows its stations in order of popularity. Popularity comes from Radio Browser, which counts how often listeners in every app that uses the directory start each station.
When you play a station, Worldwave reports that play to Radio Browser the same way, so the stations people actually listen to rise to the top. Stations the directory has flagged as not working are left out of the lists.
What Happens When You Press Play
Your iPhone connects directly to the station’s own streaming server, the same public address the station gives to any radio app or web player. No audio passes through a Worldwave server.
Worldwave stores no audio and rebroadcasts nothing. Nothing is recorded or downloaded; the station plays live, the way it would on the station’s own website.
When a Station Won’t Play
Each station runs its own server, so a station can be offline, move its stream, or limit listening to its own country. If a stream can’t be reached, Worldwave shows Station unavailable; try another station or come back later.
A dropped connection is different. If your signal drops or a call interrupts you, Worldwave shows Reconnecting… and picks the station up again on its own.
Find Station Sources in the App
All of this is in the app too. Tap the gear on the Listen screen to open Settings, then tap Station Sources under Content.
The screen explains how Worldwave works and where the list comes from, and links to radio-browser.info.
If You Run a Station
If you run a station or hold rights to one and want it out of Worldwave, use Request a station removal on the Station Sources screen. It opens an email to us, and we stop showing the station.
You can also use Remove a station from Radio Browser to ask for the entry to be deleted at the source, which removes it from every app that reads the directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Worldwave a radio station?
No. Worldwave is a directory and a player for stations that already broadcast online. It doesn’t run any stations, host any audio, or record anything. The station list comes from the Radio Browser community directory, and every stream comes from the station’s own server.
Can I add a station to Worldwave?
Yes, by adding it to Radio Browser. Worldwave adds no stations of its own; it reads the Radio Browser directory, where stations and listeners submit entries. Once a new station is listed there with a working stream, it can appear in Worldwave on the next refresh.
Why did a station disappear from Worldwave?
Usually because its entry changed at the source. A station can be removed from Radio Browser, change its stream address, or be flagged as not working, and Worldwave follows the directory. A station can also be hidden after its owner asks us to stop showing it.
Does Worldwave record or store the radio I listen to?
No. When you press play, your iPhone connects straight to the station’s streaming server and plays it live. Nothing is recorded, downloaded, or passed through a Worldwave server. Your favorites and recently played stations are kept on your iPhone.
The world, on one dial
Download Worldwave, pick a country, and hear what people there are listening to right now.
