2 hours to setup a 24/7 Radio Station

By justinOG , 8 July 2026

justinOG's Blog

I bought a VPS (Virtual Private Server) to make an online radio station, and it only took a few hours from purchase to a running station.

If you're able to toss out the Board of Directors at your local PUBLIC Radio station, or convince the Private guy to join Team Humanity, you could stream this server while you get yours set up.

install ubuntu or linuxmint... probably will work on others distros, but I don't know for sure

sudo apt install mpd mpc lltag id3v2 vorbisgain mp3gain ffmpeg openssh-server icecast2

mpd = the music server

cp /etc/mpd.conf /etc/mpd.conf0  # I always do this incase something gets screwed, original nice to have
sudo nano /etc/mpd.conf   # the default music directory is /var/lib/mpd/music - I'd change this to a dir you own or chown this folder

I did have an error on first run with 'bad' db file (permissions)- maybe chown-ing /var/lib/mpd would've made it easier 🤷‍♂️

mpc = controls for mpd (all my scripts use mpc) type mpc help and see the list of commands... so many options

id3v2 = tags for mp3 files

lltag = tags for ogg files - like mp3 but with vorbisgain (volume normalizer) read about replaygain

some versions of linux don't have mp3gain, so i converted all the mp3s to ogg- can't tell a difference sound wise

ffmpeg = video/audio converter tool - professional grade

openssh-server = allow remote access from home, make a "key" on ur home puter, then copy it via usb to the new server (or upload to vps) ~/.ssh/mykey.pub (~ = home folder)

icecast2 = streaming option (bandwidth = $$)

This is what the scripts are like

sudo chown urUsername /usr/local/bin
mkdir scripts
cd scripts/
tar -xzf zgRadioScripts.tar.gz
ln -s ~/scripts/newscript.sh /usr/local/bin/newscript
ls -1 > /tmp/list
while read line; do newscript "$line"; done < /tmp/list

chown = change owner to YOU of the local/bin folder, so you don't have to sudo/password every time you add a new script
download the scripts, put it in the scripts folder, unzip
ln -s = make a symlink to usr/bin so you call call the script in any folder
do this first manually for newscript...
the loop does this menial task for all the scripts

https://notards.net/zgRadioScripts.tar.gz

So you record a tik-tok video littleCat99-angryRant-tt.mp4 ::x:: naming convention = user-title-source

wavit littleCat... converts the audio to ogg (or mp3) with a compression filter (better 4 radio) and volume bump - seems pretty good, but fool with the variables if you like

litleCat99-angryRant-tt.ogg is place in the zzclips folder for random play with artist, title, album and replaygain tags

If there are foul words to be edited out,

audacity littleCat....

but this needs to be done on your desktop, not via remote. If you're in the same building, you can edit the same file, otherwise you need to edit it at home and ftp it to the server

zga littleCat to find all littleCat99 clips

zg angryRant to find audio with angryRant in the title

zgb tt to find all TikTok clips

Now how do you make a 24/7 playlist?

mpc listall > ~/playlists/all.m3u  # (or wherever mpd.conf sez)

if you already have the WtP clips in zzclips and zkclips folders

mpc listall | grep -v zzclips | grep -v zklips > ~/playlists/all.m3u # grep -v return everything but

the vertical line between means pipe, ie pipe the result to grep, pipe it again then save it to urhome/playlists

mpc load all   # load that playlist with all 8000 songs
mpc shuffle
mpc play
rzclip 7 &  # random zzclips every 7 min    zklips folder = not on random rotation
nwzclip 30 &  # & = run in background so you can keep using terminal  (this will pull a random news clip every 30 min)

there's also :  ipl news  which will queue up today's newly added news clips and queue with your news intro clip

That's it- now the station is running with We The People voices several times per hour

Now it's about making your own clips for your community, and finding other wisdom online to share, both tasks can be community sourced.

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