Static Radio
A radio-style mobile app and ad-funded podcast network. Nine themed stations of open-podcast programming, rebuilt daily, played back in lockstep — every listener hears the same thing at the same second, like a real radio experience.
Problem
Podcast apps are libraries — endless choice, no shared moment. Modern radio has lost its character to algorithm-shaped sameness and stadium-scale advertising. There’s a gulf between “I want to put something on” and “I want to choose between 73 million episodes.”
Insight
The thing a real radio experience gets right is everyone hearing the same thing at the same second. That’s what makes radio feel social even when you’re alone. If we could rebuild that property — but source the content from the open podcast ecosystem rather than commercial broadcasters — we’d have something neither radio nor podcast apps can offer.
Solution
A small radio app that lands you mid-broadcast with everyone else who's listening. Tap, spin the wheel, settle on a station — same as turning a real dial. Every station reshuffles overnight, so tomorrow's commute is different from today's. You can't skip, you can't rewind, you don't have to choose. You just listen.
Live in the app
Moments captured from real listening sessions — every episode comes from a podcast, every visual treatment fills the screen with the same riso-printed feel.
Nine stations
Each with its own palette and editorial brief — biased toward under-the-radar, indie, “diamond in the rough” programming. A live listener count sits next to every station, so you can see who's tuned in with you right now.
Nature
Ambient field recordings, birdsong, rain, soundscapes.
Work
Lo-fi beats, ambient focus, warm tape loops — chill, never dark.
Learn
History, science, philosophy, documentary, academic theology.
News
Sober reported journalism + audio documentary. No punditry, no sports, no AI-discourse.
Weird
Paranormal, UFOs, cryptids, folklore, fringe science, esoterica.
Unite
Coalition, solidarity, labor, mutual aid, cooperatives, abolition.
Make
DIY, woodworking, electronics, craft, home economics.
SHEILA B
WFMU archive — Sophisticated Boom Boom.
Sleep
Sleep stories, yoga nidra, brown noise.
One station, one moment
Everyone hears the same thing at the same time.
The thing radio gets right is the shared moment. Two strangers on opposite ends of the city, hearing the same song at the same second — that's what makes a station feel alive, even when you're alone in the car. Static Radio holds that line. Tap into a station and you land where everyone else already is. A small live counter next to the station tells you exactly how many of you are there together.
That's the whole rule of the app: the schedule belongs to the world, not to you. You can't shuffle it, you can't queue ahead. Tomorrow, the same station plays something different because the lineup rebuilt itself overnight — but everyone listening tomorrow is hearing it together.
How the synced moment works
A daily bake produces tomorrow’s nine stations. A Cloudflare Worker derives the current playhead from server time. Every listener — wherever they open the app — lands on the same second of the same episode.
What a listener actually does
- Open the app. A station is already playing. You haven't picked anything yet — you're just here.
- Spin the wheel. Nine themed stations — Nature, Work, Learn, News, Weird, Unite, Make, SHEILA B, Sleep. The dial moves the way you'd expect a radio dial to move. Land on whichever one matches the mood.
- Hear something good. Tap the heart so you remember it. Behind the scenes, a small team of curators and an editorial brief have been combing the open podcast ecosystem to find the kind of programming the algorithms bury.
- Come back tomorrow. Every station has rebuilt overnight. It's a different show. It's still you and everyone else.
What I designed
The wheel. A circular tuner you drag with your thumb. The further you drag, the further you travel between stations. Release and a magnet pulls you to the nearest one with a soft settle. Tiny haptic ticks during the spin, a satisfying thud when you land. It's the part of the app you'll touch a hundred times a day and it had to feel like a thing, not a slider.
The artwork treatment. Every episode brings its own cover art from the podcast it came from. The job was to take that art and extend it across the whole screen with a riso-printed noise treatment, a station-specific palette, and a smooth crossfade as you scrub between the two stations on either side of you. The credit for the art is the podcast's; the credit for the way it fills your phone is mine.
Mute and favorites. A center button you can mute without losing your place. The screen desaturates, but the favorite heart and the mute glyph stay in color so you know the radio is still there, waiting. Press and the whole control panel gives a little under your thumb.
Audio community bulletins. The ad-funded half, but it doesn't behave like an ad. Anyone — a neighborhood band, a small label, a mutual-aid group, a friend with something to say — records a 30-second voice memo from their phone, picks a station, and pays from $10. The bulletin plays between episodes on that station; every listener on that station hears it at the same second. It's a real human voice talking to real listeners. No programmatic, no targeting, no tracking — the antithesis of ad-tech, on purpose.
Marketing. A short, calm site at staticradio.app — the cyan STATIC RADIO wordmark glowing on a black surface, a single Post a bulletin pill, and a slowly-rotating get the app · get the app · get the app · get the app ring below. No tour, no feature grid, no screenshots. Two doors: listen or send something into the world. Identity by Angela Runge at Best Practice.
staticradio.app
The marketing site. Two doors and nothing else: post a 30-second voice memo to a station, or get the app and listen. Brand by Angela Runge at Best Practice.
It's on Android now. Test with us.
Open testing on the Play Store today — install it, listen for a few days, tell us what you'd change. iOS is right behind. Want to broadcast a 30-second voice memo to a whole station? Bulletins from $10.