The Grace Digital Mondo WiFi radio
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with WiFi radios.
You see, I’ve been preparing a three part series about WiFi radios for The Spectrum Monitor magazine (Part 1 will appear in the April 2016 issue). Not only have I been evaluating and reviewing several radios, but also station aggregators: the curated databases of radio stations to which WiFi radios link.
Internet radio = Local radio discovery
Internet (or Web/WiFi) radio is a fantastic platform for discovering small, even semi-isolated, community radio stations that, until the Internet, had never broadcast signals beyond their local communities. With Internet radio, we can enjoy these stations as if we, too, are locals. Local becomes international.
As I travel, I try to note the callsigns of AM/FM radio stations I enjoy.
Sadly, not all of my favorite local radio stations stream online as it’s a major expense for a small broadcaster and yields very little in the way of ad revenue. After all, who in South Africa is going to buy auto parts from a store in Homer Alaska? It’s a conundrum for sure, and one shared by private shortwave broadcasters.
Still, there are a number of stations that do manage to have a reliable streams online.
In no particular order, here’s a short list–a handful–of some of my favorite stations that stream (click on the callsign to listen to the station live):
- WTZQ Everything from Glenn Miller to Steve Miller (Hendersonville, NC)
- WXRC Classic Rock (Charlotte, NC)
- WDRV Classic Rock (Chicago, IL)
- WHGM Classic Hits (Havre de Grace, MD)
- WFED Federal News Radio (Washington, DC)
- CBAL French language music from (Moncton, NB, Canada)
- CKUT McGill University radio, (Montreal, Canada)
- CIAO World Music and Talk Radio (Brampton, ON, Canada)
- 6WF ABC local talk and music (Perth, Australia)
- Fréquence 2 (Ivory Coast, Africa)
- CFZM Nostalgia (Toronto, Canada)
- Saint-Pierre & Miquelon 1ère French music/talk (St. Pierre and Miquelon)
- WNMB 1950’s music (North Myrtle Beach, SC)
- KBON Cajun/Zydeco/Blues and variety (Louisiana, USA)
What are your favorite stations?
Please comment and share some of your favorite streaming AM/FM radio stations! I’m all ears!
Im new to internet radio. I only listen to ONE radio station… Hleradio.com … (the home of Christian Country Music….. internet only)
So far, the grace mondo and grace encore seem to be the only options for a stand alone Wi-Fi/Ethernet connected player that do not require a computer or tie up your Android.
Grace just sent me an email promising it was compatible with my favorite station.
I’ve never seen an internet radio player in person, so l dont know how they sound. Can you try it with hleradio.com and share your findings?
Hey Thomas,
Just a heads up that part 1 of your article is out today in The Spectrum Monitor 🙂
I am off to read it now 🙂
Tom
I like Internet Radio over traditional broadcasts as they do not have the frequent commercials. My favorite is 101fm.com for the best Pop Music. More music with less commercials.
Hello first time here, I’m very fond of everything concerning radio, from broadcast to listening to. I find this site really interesting and here is my favorite radio list or, this is the radio I set up and of course I like the most:
Funky Corner Radio (http://www.funkycorner.it), based in Italy, we play the best in Funky, Rhythm and Blues, Soul and 70s Disco from the seventies, eighties and nineties. A special rotation is given to the Sound of Philadelphia four times a day. Every week on Friday and Saturday two mixing sessions. We also play some rare funky grooves. Please have a listen to if you like.
Tradewinds radio just search tradewind in the search box. Great tropics radio.
…NO radio, ever built, can ever receive the same signals (from ALL 4 corners of the globe), as can internet “radio”! Surely, this would have been considered a “miracle” of science fiction, when my father bought his Nordmende Galaxy 7000 back in 1972!
For classical music, I particularly like Seattle’s KING FM (http://www.KING.org). I became a fan of their programming when I spent a week in the northwest several years ago.
Thought I’d put in a plug for the local 100-watt LPFM station that started about a year ago, live from the Miners’ Union Hall in Butte, Montana:
https://butteamericaradio.org
Runs on a shoestring with all volunteer DJs, so you get quite the mix of music.
Two people referred to CFMZ but switched the last two letters by mistake.
http://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=CFMZ-FM&ccode=2&latd=&lond=&city=&state=&country=US&zip=&party=&party_type=LICEN&fac_type=ALL
WFMU is one of my favorites. It’s a freeform station broadcasting from Jersey City, NJ. Most of the time they play all sorts of obscure music, but they also have some talk format shows in their schedule. Seven Second Delay, Night People, and Ken’s Last Ever Radio Extravaganza are some favorite shows that have appeared on the station at some point in past years.
Hi very nice post love radios love shortway have a Tecsun PL 660 love that radio and yes love internet radio had a Squeezebox Radio but it is broke wont play anymore. Have a new internet radio works great the radio is: Sangean WFR 29 C. But looking to buy Grace it looks very nice and many say it is good have many internet stations that i like just now on my radio( ENERGY 80s) music for me is 80s pop take care and have a nice day…
WXYG – an album rock station that plays from vinyl….
Martini In The Morning – Rat Pack Radio playing the best of the American Songbook…
Love them!
73 Bob Ellis
One of the things I love about WXRC “The Ride” is that they play album versions of everything, they never talk over music and their ads are mostly local. They don’t play directly from vinyl, though! Very cool.
I don’t think WXRC’s actual broadcast is streamed online, rather their playlist is streamed. I interviewed the station manager once and he told me that streaming was such an expensive endeavor for them.
FIP radio France!
Jazz, rock, soul, classical…very eclectic.
Yes! FIP is excellent and so is RFI Musique!
Thanks
I love my Grace Digital Mondo. I do hope there are firmware updates to come though. It would be great to see compatability with services like Tune In and Google Play music.
A few of my favorite stations are:
KNDD The End from Seattle -Alternative from the 90s through today
KDRP Sun Radio from Austin – Americana, Classic Rock, Old school Country, Texas Rock, Alternative
PRX – Public Radio Remix
KSTX – NPR from the San Antonio Area
KXL 101 – Clyde Lewis’ Ground Zero at night
Sun Radio Austin: http://sunradio.com/
http://www.kaccradio.com/
Do you speak French?
You list several French language stations (not RFI.fr) and
Québécois stations.
Go Habs, go!
Hi, Bill!
Oui, je parle français! And I’m also a huge fan of Quebec. I used to work for Corning Fiber-optics and answered the phone in French because all of my clients were telecoms, Hydro Quebec and small cable companies throughout the province. Montreal is one of my favorite cities in the world.
And, yeah–go Habs! 🙂
Thomas
Hello, I’m a newbie to your blog, but not to SWL… also a licensed ham radio operator (various organisations worldwide including lifetime ARRL membership).
My favourite streaming station is WTDR, Talladega, AL. I’m across the pond in England but a long-time NASCAR and country music fan. This plays everything I love plus has all the NASCAR info I could ever need 🙂
I just wish Sirius would start online streaming for those of us outside the States. I appreciate the satellite signal wouldn’t reach us but you’d think they’d do a special streaming package for those who want it!
Now living in Oregon, it is nice to be able to listen to WBZ., a favorite when I lived in New England and for the last 30 years in Virginia.
I will add KPOI in Maui with it’s mixture of classic and contemporary Hawaiian music.
Sorry, KPOA!
Some of my favorite stations online are BBC, CBC Radio 2, Radio Australia, Q 104.3 (New York), Radio Australia, and some local ones like Radio Memphis & WKNO (NPR). I have about 76 stations saved on TuneIn Radio including many international broadcasters no longer on shortwave like Radio Taiwan and Radio Sweden.
Is there any pirate internet stations?
Loads of Dutch ones like http://tunein.com/radio/Delta-Piraat-1077-s77871/ However they are not truly “pirate” as no one is stopping you setting up an internet radio station. However if you want to know what a Dutch MW pirate sounds like this is what you are missing
My favs on Internet/WiFi:
WAMU 88.5 FM Washington, DC – Diane Rehm Show, The Big Broadcast, Hot Jazz Saturday Night
CBC – World at Six, As It Happens
BBC World Service stream from Vermont Public Radio WVPS – Newshour, Analysis, From Our Correspondent
CFRB – 1010 AM Newstalk 1010 – Geeks and Beats
Radio Australia
Radio New Zealand International
VOA English – Music Time in Africa, Jazz America
WRN English North America
BBC Radio 4 – Feedback
WBCQ The Planet – Alan Weiner Worldwide, Marion’s Attic, World of Radio, Behavior Night
WRMI – Wavescan, Radio Prague, Radio Slovakia, Chelmsford Calling, PCJ Media, FG Radio, World of Radio
WSHU Sunday Baroque
WETA 90.9 FM Washington, DC Front Row Washington, Classical
BBC Radio 3 -classicial, Composer of Month
WAMU-HD2 Bluegrass Country
WSM 650 AM Nashville – classic country
WWOZ 90.7 FM New Orleans traditional NO Jazz
WNAR – OTR
Antioch Broadcasting System – OTR
Brando Classic Old Time Radio
KQV 1410 AM Pittsburgh, When Radio Was (OTR), Imagination Theater (OTR)
CFZM 740 AM Zoomer Radio, Big Band Saturday Nights, Conspiracy Show, Theater of the Mind (OTR), Radio Erin
Angel Radio 101.1 FM Havant, UK -nostalgia
1920s Radio Network, Norfolk, VA
Luxuria Music
WWCR2 – Golden Age of Radio, Talking Machine Show, Unshackled, Afterglow
WPHT 120 AM Philadelphia – Sounds of Sinatra
WRMA 90.7 Harrisonburg, VA – Bob’s Record Shelf, Air Play, Thistle and Shamrock, Friday Night Classics, Acoustic Café, Blues Valley
WZRV 95.3 FM Front Royal, VA – Sounds of Sinatra
I have the Mondo WiFi radio and use it a lot. I programmed a number of international radio broadcast including CRI. Secondly, I have program a number of scanner radios via RadioReference. This was a bit tricky but my friend Thomas helped with the programming. I then set all the alarms (7) to turn on the radio various parts of the data to some of these stations. However, the radio on stays on for 60 minutes when using the alarms.
Here are my reviews of this radio.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtQGZBHtrIF_-Qmre_E__EKweSDvjqq4y
Another Thomas
Brilliant, Tom! Thanks for sharing!
Same here Tom. As much as I want a nice portable terrestrial radio, my Sensia 200D is basically always locked onto Sydney Airport tower which I added manually to my favourites. When the Internet connection drops (rare but it happens), I miss these scanner feeds as the airport and general utilities repeaters are not receivable at my location due to urban-ness and distance. Living without a wifi radio would be tough for me! Mind you, the 200D is rubbish for FM DXing!
Thomas, I second the public stations like BBC, Radio Australia and Deutsche Welle. If you like 80s music, I highly recommend The 80s Southport and Radio80s.net . Note that they have an Australian bent mixed with general 80s. I assure you, we aren’t all that nutty!
I also agree that streaming doesn’t feel the same as tuning a knob. It is the thrill of the chase that is missing when listening to Internet stations. The joy of finding a distant signal amidst pop and crackle. I suppose there is an air of sentimentality to that. That’s why I am still looking for a nice terrestrial radio even though I know it will rarely be used.
A.
The best stations are the national public radio stations. Each of these is not just one station but covers a range of different English language radio stations: BBC (UK) , NPR (US), CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia). For example, in addition to the main CBC radio sttations CBC has about 60 different streams focused on various different genres.
Unfortunately BBC is moving to the DASH format which is not supported by most current internet radios and some national public radio stations are geolocked.
Yes,and they may as well drop the
“World” part of their name.
The idea used to be to reach as
many listeners as possible.
Eventually their audience will be quite
huge…both of them.
“Designer” formats are nice and all,
but not practical in this application.
I like Jazz24, a service by KPLU in Seattle/Tacoma, Washington.
Steve
And KPLU (npr station with Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washingtong, with small, state-wide network) is trying to raise USD $10 million to avoid being closed by being taken over by KUOW (major NPR station in Seattle)
More at http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article44518908.html
and
http://cliffmass.blogspot.ca/2015/11/why-kplu-must-be-saved-and-kuow-reformed.html
etc.
> who in South Africa is going to buy auto parts from a store in Homer Alaska? It’s a conundrum for sure, and one shared by private shortwave broadcasters.
FCC Rules for private SW stations require that the advertised product or service must be “regularly sold or…promoted for sale on the open market in the foreign country or countries to which the program is directed.”
That’s good to know–I had no idea. Many shortwave stations could advertise for one of their target markets, but most likely won’t get revenue from much of their actual broadcast footprint.
That rule is one of several Cold War era rules that govern private SW in the U.S. and that have outlived their usefulness.
It’s my understanding that when the private SW broadcasting regime was set up, there was concern that these stations might broadcast propaganda contrary to U.S. policy, or that they might make domestic audiences a priority, so various rules were applied to constrain what the stations can do, what broadcast targets are allowable, exactly what station announcements may contain, and requiring 50 kW minimum power for AM.
Several of these SW rules are inconsistent with current FCC policy that is hands-off with regard to content and audience. But no one has any appetite to petition to remove these outdated requirements.
An LPFM station in Charleston, WV WTSQ-LP 88.1FM at wtsq.org . I can’t hear it at home, with some major hills in my way, so either drive out to 5/8th of a mile, or listen to stream.
WZCR (93.5) out of New York is what I been listening to most nights as it is oldies – 60s, 70s, and 80’s music.
Don’t forget Thomas that you should be able to program your own stations in that radio too somehow as I think Tom Stiles had the same radio and programmed in some local police frequencies using the radiorefence.com site.
I have a squeezebox radio and have had it for quite a while and I did the same thing in the past to.
Also you usually can program in the streams for shortwave radio stations too that broadcast over the internet.
Heck even the Mighty KBC has a stream option now.
Most Shortwave diehards look down on streaming shortwave over wifi but I personally love it as propagation sometimes does not cut it for me to listen to what I want and that is when I stream it.
Tom
I can’t stand streamed radio with sub-MP3 quality, over-compressed audio. MP3 was bad enough. Most WIFI stations sound no better than their sonic-impaired commercial/public radio sources.
It’s true that some streaming stations have audio that’s simply too compressed. I suppose they do this to save bandwidth. Some stations, though, broadcast in both MP3 and AAC formats and are pretty high-fidelity (or at least, have a hi-fi streaming option).
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. It’s rare for me to find streamed audio that doesn’t sound like crap. There’s a fine balance to good sounding streamed audio. It needs a good encoder, preferably using a good codec like Vorbis or AAC, moderate processing (too little or too much both sound horrible) and someone to watch the stream and make sure it’s not over or under modulated.
It seems few broadcasters, whether they be state or commercial or miscellaneous, are willing to do this.
This is not to say I am an online audio luddite. I have embraced the world of podcasts/netcasts. Because it’s a download and listen later type of situation, bitrates can be optimized and encoding is always better than when it’s done on the fly. I still take most of my podcasts and run them through multiple stages of post processing to clean them up, though. Doesn’t matter if it’s NPR or some guys in a basement, no one seems to get podcast processing right!
Gawd. I thought I was the only one! Online streaming had such potential… only to be utterly wasted for low budget commercial/public broadcasting.
1.BBC World Service News and
BBC World Service.UK.
For some reason they run the same programs
but at different times,e.g. Newshour runs an
hour earlier on the News feed but oddly the
later show is also live.
2.KCEA (like big band swing ,so does Thomas).
3.(not a “real” station) The 1940’s UK Radio Station,
same genre as above.
I’ll check these out! Yeah–the UK 1940s Radio Station is a brilliant station, even if they don’t broadcast over the air too! 🙂
http://www.riviera.fm/ A community radio station operating in Torbay, South Devon, UK.
Well, I have to give it my vote since Babbacombe, part of Torbay, is my former home town and Martin, the managing director, G3VOF is a long time friend and industry colleague.
Unlike commercial radio stations, Riviera FM is run as a social enterprise as a not-for-profit station. I quote from http://www.riviera.fm/index.php/Main/aboutrivierafm.html where you can read more about the ethics of this station.
Whilst travelling worldwide as part of my job it’s good to have a contact, other than by amateur radio, with Torbay. When I manage to visit I don’t feel I’m out of touch and I’m able to enter into conversations about what’s occurred in the community without it all having to be explained to me. Usefull..!
Ok, there you have it. de Kris G8AUU
Thanks, Kris!
I too listen to Riveria.Fm here in Hawaii. I am about the furthest listener they have.
That’s a Squeezebox Radio. One of the best, but frustratingly Logitech discontinued and no more software updates.
Actually, that is the Grace Digital Mondo. It is _very_ similar in appearance to the Squeezebox, though. The main difference is that the Mondo has the volume control on top of the unit.
You’re right, though–for ages, the Squeezebox was a favorite among WiFi radio enthusiasts. Sad that they no longer produce them. For what it’s worth, though, the Mondo is a great unit and uses Reciva as well.
It’s a shame that the Squeezebox is discontinued. I was actually looking for one for my dad and didn’t see them on sale anywhere. He doesn’t have a Bluetooth device to stream to a speaker so I figured a Squeezebox was the next best thing. At least his Roku can get streaming audio apps like TuneIn and iHeartRadio.