About Searcho Radio

What it is

Searcho Radio is a way to listen to live radio online. Tens of thousands of stations from more than 200 countries and territories sit on a 3D globe at the point they broadcast from, and a reticle in the centre of the screen plays whichever one you move under it. There is a web player and a native mobile app, and both use the same map, so a city sounds the same on either.

Why a globe

Because a list throws away the only thing that makes radio worth exploring. Sorting stations by name or genre tells you nothing about the fact that crossing from Spain into Morocco changes the language, the music and the adverts all at once. Geography is the information. Putting stations on a map is not decoration on top of a directory — it is the way to browse them.

Where the stations come from

The station list is built from a community-maintained public directory of internet radio streams, the same body of data a number of radio apps draw on. Broadcasters publish their own streams and we point at them. We do not host, re-encode, record or re-broadcast anyone’s audio, and we do not insert advertising into it — what you hear is what is going out over the air.

That also means coverage is uneven in the way real life is uneven. Some countries are documented thoroughly and some barely at all, and a station that stops publishing a stream disappears from the map until it comes back.

What it does not do

• No accounts. There is nothing to sign up for and no password to forget.
• No cookies and no analytics package following you around — see the privacy policy, which is short.
• No profile built from what you listen to. Favourites and history stay in your own browser.
• No paywall, no subscription tier and no listening limit.

Who makes it

Searcho Radio is built by Searcho. It started as a mobile app, and the web player came later for people who would rather not install anything. If something is broken, a station is in the wrong place on the map, or there is something you want it to do, we would much rather hear about it than not.

Start listening

The player is free and asks nothing of you. Open the globe, or read how to listen first if you would like the tour.