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7 messages
7 total messages Started by "Worst Sun, 20 Jul 2025 02:48
Smart Speaker
#11303
Author: "Worst
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 02:48
45 lines
2300 bytes
In the U.S. members of the Republican Party have fomented hate against
Federal subsidies for Public Radio and Public Television.  They object
to Liberal political agendas of programming directors there, and they
argue that subsidizing those agendas is a misuse of public funds,
which come from tax revenues, because tax payers are not served
equally.  It's difficult to refute the notion that such agendas do
exist.  It's probably the reason I listen to Public Radio and Public
TV.  It's not the lack of commercials.  Public Media have long e'er
since sold public air time to commercial sponsors to stay in business
and pay lavish salaries to programming directors.

Now comes the 119th Congress and — with Republican control in both
houses (the first since the first half of Trump's first term in
office) — passes a bill to cut $1 billion from funds previously
allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  This is likely
the death knell of many radio and television in the midlands, which
serve a rural demographic.

+ https://www.npr.org/2025/07/18/nx-s1-5469912/npr-congress-rescission-funding-trump

Well, at least we won't have Barney, the Teletubbies, and Sesame
Street to kick around anymore.  IMNSHO it's unlikely that state and
local governments can step up in time to replace the Federal
rescission set to go into effect in October.  IT IS LIKELY that many
PBS radio stations will convert to commercial FM broadcasts, which
have always been a wasteland of country music and religious
programming.

I leave my radio tuned overnight to BBC World Service (for its Liberal
programming), which is delivered by a local PBS FM radio station.  If
that station goes dark or changes to Hillbilly Rock, I'll loose sleep,
so it's serious.

Naturally, it occurs to me that I can receive BBS World Service
through a smart speaker.  I am therefore in the market, and I want to
be sure I place an order before everyone else in this country comes to
the same conclusion.  Can anyone suggest a smart speaker that isn't
joined at the hip with Amazon, Google, or Apple?  (I already have
OpenHAB home automation installed.)  I am asking on Szociál Media
because nothing that comes up on Google appears to be sold in the U.S.

--
Moreover I'm convinced that Reddit must be destroyed.

Worst Case
Re: Smart Speaker
#11304
Author: Mark Olson
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 02:08
37 lines
1703 bytes
"Worst wrote:
>
> Naturally, it occurs to me that I can receive BBS World Service
> through a smart speaker.  I am therefore in the market, and I want to
> be sure I place an order before everyone else in this country comes to
> the same conclusion.  Can anyone suggest a smart speaker that isn't
> joined at the hip with Amazon, Google, or Apple?  (I already have
> OpenHAB home automation installed.)  I am asking on Szociál Media
> because nothing that comes up on Google appears to be sold in the U.S.

I listen to all sorts of radio streams through a software program
called 'rAudio' that runs under Arch Linux on a Raspberry Pi dedicated
to being a 'radio'.

I usually pair the Bluetooth of the Pi with my non-smart Bluetooth
portable speaker. The Pi sits in one spot and I can drag the speaker
over most of the house. You can also hook up a DAC to the Pi and then
an amp or a powered speaker.

https://github.com/rern/rAudio/

It's quite easy to install on an SD card, follow the instructions on
the githib page. The trick is to find the proper URL to access the
streams you want, vs. listening to them through a web app.  But there
are directories out there listing the URLs you need to add to the
"Web Radio" section of the music library. Of course it can also play
all sorts of local files on a USB drive or on a network file server
(CIFS/SMB or NFS).

I would be happy to share my list of radio streams with you. Some
of my favorites are Radio Caroline Flashback and KVF/KVF2 from the
Faroe Islands.  The app comes pre-populated with 4 streams from Radio
Paradise, which I keep going back to.

I did at one time have some stream URLs for BBC Radio channels but
I rarely listen to the BBC.

Re: Smart Speaker
#11306
Author: geoffC
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 07:10
48 lines
2130 bytes
On 20/07/2025 04:08, Mark Olson wrote:
>"Worst wrote:
>>
>> Naturally, it occurs to me that I can receive BBS World Service
>> through a smart speaker.  I am therefore in the market, and I want to
>> be sure I place an order before everyone else in this country comes to
>> the same conclusion.  Can anyone suggest a smart speaker that isn't
>> joined at the hip with Amazon, Google, or Apple?  (I already have
>> OpenHAB home automation installed.)  I am asking on Szociál Media
>> because nothing that comes up on Google appears to be sold in the U.S.
>
>I listen to all sorts of radio streams through a software program
>called 'rAudio' that runs under Arch Linux on a Raspberry Pi dedicated
>to being a 'radio'.
>
>I usually pair the Bluetooth of the Pi with my non-smart Bluetooth
>portable speaker. The Pi sits in one spot and I can drag the speaker
>over most of the house. You can also hook up a DAC to the Pi and then
>an amp or a powered speaker.
>
>https://github.com/rern/rAudio/
>
>It's quite easy to install on an SD card, follow the instructions on
>the githib page. The trick is to find the proper URL to access the
>streams you want, vs. listening to them through a web app.  But there
>are directories out there listing the URLs you need to add to the
>"Web Radio" section of the music library. Of course it can also play
>all sorts of local files on a USB drive or on a network file server
>(CIFS/SMB or NFS).
>
>I would be happy to share my list of radio streams with you. Some
>of my favorites are Radio Caroline Flashback and KVF/KVF2 from the
>Faroe Islands.  The app comes pre-populated with 4 streams from Radio
>Paradise, which I keep going back to.
>
>I did at one time have some stream URLs for BBC Radio channels but
>I rarely listen to the BBC.
>
>

BBC used to be quite easy to stream via a URL on something like "Screamer"
 radio but they kept changing the streams to make it more difficult. I used
 the BBC Sounds app for a while but that is changing soon for non UK
 residents. R4 and World Service will still be available for non-residents
 on the main BBC website though.

--
Geoff
NTV 650
Re: Smart Speaker
#11307
Author: Chris Deuchar
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 08:06
20 lines
614 bytes
On 20/07/2025 01:48, Worst Case@dizum.com wrote:

>
>Naturally, it occurs to me that I can receive BBS World Service
>through a smart speaker.  I am therefore in the market, and I want to
>be sure I place an order before everyone else in this country comes to
>the same conclusion.  Can anyone suggest a smart speaker that isn't
>joined at the hip with Amazon, Google, or Apple?  (I already have
>OpenHAB home automation installed.)  I am asking on Szoci��l Media
>because nothing that comes up on Google appears to be sold in the U.S.

Radio.garden ?

Online or in app.
Covers the globe.
Simples!

HTH

Chris
Re: Smart Speaker
#11308
Author: Mark Olson
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 09:38
26 lines
849 bytes
geoffC <me@home.nl> wrote:
> On 20/07/2025 04:08, Mark Olson wrote:

>>I did at one time have some stream URLs for BBC Radio channels but
>>I rarely listen to the BBC.
>>
>>
>
> BBC used to be quite easy to stream via a URL on something like "Screamer"
> radio but they kept changing the streams to make it more difficult. I used
> the BBC Sounds app for a while but that is changing soon for non UK
> residents. R4 and World Service will still be available for non-residents
> on the main BBC website though.

I found the same.

It appears that at least a couple of people are maintaining lists of
working BBC streaming URLs:

https://gist.github.com/bpsib/67089b959e4fa898af69fea59ad74bc3

Unfortunately, the World Service URL from the above link appears
to be dead, but some of the other work for me.

https://gist.github.com/stengland/8705765

Re: Smart Speaker
#11310
Author: geoffC
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 11:19
39 lines
1289 bytes
On 20/07/2025 11:38, Mark Olson wrote:
>geoffC <me@home.nl> wrote:
>> On 20/07/2025 04:08, Mark Olson wrote:
>
>>>I did at one time have some stream URLs for BBC Radio channels but
>>>I rarely listen to the BBC.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> BBC used to be quite easy to stream via a URL on something like "Screamer"
>> radio but they kept changing the streams to make it more difficult. I used
>> the BBC Sounds app for a while but that is changing soon for non UK
>> residents. R4 and World Service will still be available for non-residents
>> on the main BBC website though.
>
>I found the same.
>
>It appears that at least a couple of people are maintaining lists of
>working BBC streaming URLs:
>
>https://gist.github.com/bpsib/67089b959e4fa898af69fea59ad74bc3
>
>Unfortunately, the World Service URL from the above link appears
>to be dead, but some of the other work for me.
>
>https://gist.github.com/stengland/8705765
>
>

Thanks for that.
Yes it was the m3u8 ones that queered my pitch:-)
I'll try them on the PC when I get back home. I actually quite like the BBC
 Sounds app. All the content is easily accessible and some of it is high
 quality stuff imo. I listen mostly to R4 though. I registered my email
 address some time ago with a post address in UK so I'm hopeful.


--
Geoff
NTV 650
Re: Smart Speaker
#11315
Author: Simon Wilson
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 19:48
9 lines
276 bytes
On 20/07/2025 01:48, "Worst Case"@dizum.com wrote:

<snip>

A secondhand Sonos Play 1 or similar? Preferably one that is on S1
software. Though it's unclear to me which BBC stations will still be
available overseas in the near future, as it's all changing again.

--
/Simon
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