I Built Earth Radio: Spin a 3D Globe to Hear Live Radio from 200+ Countries 🌍📻
Ever miss the magic of shortwave radio? That thrill of stumbling upon a station in a language you don't know, music you've never heard, and feeling instantly connected to a place thousands of miles away?
I built Earth Radio to bring that feeling to the browser.
🎯 What is Earth Radio?
An interactive 3D globe that lets you click any country and instantly tune into a live local radio station. No signup, no login, no tracking, no algorithms. Just pure, serendipitous radio discovery.
✨ Features
- 🌍 200+ Countries — From Tokyo jazz to Buenos Aires tango, Reykjavik folk to Lagos afrobeats
- ⚡ Zero Friction — Open the site, spin the globe, listen. That's it.
- 🎮 Interactive 3D Globe — Drag, rotate, zoom. The Earth is your tuner.
- 🎧 Cultural Immersion — Hear local news, music, and talk in native languages
- 📱 Cross-Platform — Works beautifully on desktop, tablet, and mobile
- ⭐ Favorites & History — Save stations you love, revisit recent discoveries
- 🔗 One-Click Sharing — Spread your favorite finds instantly
🛠 Tech Stack
- Vanilla JavaScript — No frameworks, ~2KB gzipped
- Three.js — For the interactive 3D globe
- Web Audio API — For seamless audio playback
- radio-browser.info — Community-maintained radio directory API
- Deployed on Cloudflare Pages — Free, fast, global CDN
💡 Why I Built This
I've always loved the serendipity of radio. There's something magical about hearing a language you don't understand, yet feeling the emotion in the music or the urgency in a news bulletin. It reminds you that the world is vast, alive, and full of stories.
Modern streaming services optimize for retention and engagement. Earth Radio optimizes for discovery and wonder.
🎯 Perfect For
- Language learners — Immerse yourself in authentic native audio
- Travel dreamers — Visit places through sound before you book
- Music explorers — Discover genres you never knew existed
- Remote workers — Background audio from cafés worldwide
- Educators & students — Bring geography and culture to life
- Anyone craving connection — Feel the pulse of humanity in real time
🚀 Try It Now
earthradio.pages.dev — Spin the globe. Hear the world.
Built with ❤️ for the joy of discovery. Free forever, no ads, no tracking.
Tags: #webdev #javascript #opensource #showdev
Top comments (1)
Picking a place and hearing what's playing there sounds like a lovely way to find music you'd never think to search for. Glad there's no signup getting in the way!