I love FM radio. It’s okay: You can call me a Luddite.
My alarm clock is the local public radio station. I love toggling between a few music stations while driving, or even while reading at home. And during a road trip, there’s nothing quite like discovering a community station with random locals curating their own playlists—it gives you a sense of where you are that no Spotify playlist can match.
The problem: It’s hard to know what stations exist locally, even in your own town but particularly while on a road trip. You can explore the dial, which has a certain serendipity, but what if you just want to . . . know?
And be able to tune in with or without an actual traditional radio in front of you?
This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!
Old-school listening with a modern twist
This exact problem is why I like Radio Locator. It’s a free website that lets you enter any city or zip code and find all the terrestrial stations that are available for that area.
➜ It’ll show you a list of every FM and AM station in any U.S. city or zip code. You can also browse international radio stations by country.
⌚ And it all takes just a few seconds to do.
This is a rare service that isn’t cluttered with ads or upselling. Just open the site, type a place, and you’ll see a list. Stations are sorted by frequency, but you’ll also see the call sign, the distance to the tower, and what format of radio station is offered. (I’m personally always looking for public radio or alternative stations, but you can figure out what you want for yourself.)
📲 Of course, all of this only applies if you’ve got an actual-factual FM radio on your hands. What if you’re more of a computer-and-phone kind of person? Easy: Just click through on any of the stations on Radio Locator, and they’ll generally take you to a website where you can stream the station.
💡 Or, if you prefer a dedicated tool for the job, there’s Streema. It’s a free site that makes it easy to search for and stream just about any radio station imaginable, anywhere in the world. A few stations redirect to websites—best I can tell for legal reasons—but the overwhelming majority of the time, you can just search for a website and start listening.
Either way, you can find and listen to old-fashioned radio stations anytime. Again: I recommend finding public and community stations, as those tend not to have ads, but take the time to explore. It’s nice to get away from the algorithm sometimes.
- You can open Radio Locator and Streema directly in your web browser on any device. Streema also offers an app called Simple Radio for both Android and iOS, if you’d rather go that route.
- Radio Locator and Streema are both free in the browser. Simple Radio is free with on-screen ads or you can get an ad-free version for $6 a month.
- Neither site requires a login or any real personal data, but you can opt to share your location—if you want.
Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletter—starting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.