1. Let's get your station on air

Welcome to the part where running a radio station stops feeling theoretical and starts feeling dangerously doable.

You're about to upload a track, build your default playlist, and schedule your first broadcast. In other words: you’re about to stop babysitting your station and start letting it run itself.

In this help article, we’re going to cover the basics of how Radio Cult can automate your station’s broadcast. Once you’re finished going through it, you should know 1) how to get scheduled content broadcasted from your station’s stream and 2) basic automation tips to cover the gaps in your schedule

So let’s flip the switch and get your station on air.

Good to know

The steps below take the scenic route so you get familiar with the platform, but there’s a quicker way to do all of it. The Create button (the + icon), next to your station’s name in the top navigation bar, opens a menu with shortcuts to Create event, Upload media and Create playlist.

Uploading your first track

This is where it all begins. Media files are (obviously) the heartbeat of your station’s broadcast - automated or not.

Pay attention now, you’ll be doing this often - every time you add new audio, this is the move.

1. Click the Upload Media button in the top navigation bar.

2. Drag and drop an audio file into the drop zone, or click Browse your computer and select one. Supported formats are MP3 and M4A, up to 750 MB.

That’s it. Your first track’s in and will begin uploading.

That’s one small upload for you, one giant leap for your station.

Creating your first playlist

Good news: your station already has a fallback. When you signed up we automatically created a playlist, set it as your default, and the track you just uploaded has already been added to it. So even now, there’s something ready to play whenever nothing else is scheduled.

That said, one playlist rarely stays enough. You’ll soon want others for different moods, shows, or times of day, so it’s worth knowing how to build one yourself.

We’ll explain default playlists in greater detail further down. For now, let’s create a new playlist from scratch:

1. In the left hand navigation, click Playlists under the Media section.

2. Click the Create playlist button (the + icon).

3. Optional: Edit the default name for your playlist, then click the Confirm (tick) button.

Adding tracks to your first playlist

Playlists are quite powerful in Radio Cult. But to prevent an information overload, we’re just going to demonstrate the basics.

So let’s add some tracks to the playlist you just created:

1. With the playlist still open, click the Add media button (the + icon).

2. Click the media file you uploaded earlier to add it to the playlist.

Setting your default playlist

This is the key to keeping your station sounding alive 24/7.

When nothing else is scheduled, your default playlist takes over - it's what fills the silence.

Your station already has a default from when you signed up. Still, it’s worth knowing how to do it yourself, so you can switch your default to any playlist whenever you want:

1. With the playlist still open, click the Set as default playlist button.

Your default playlist is set, which means if someone tuned in right now, your new playlist is exactly what they'd hear.

Creating your first event

Up until now, you've been setting the foundation - now you're taking control of the schedule.

Events let you broadcast specific content at specific times. Whether it's a live show, a themed block, or a one-off special, this is how you decide exactly what plays and when.

So let’s create your first event and have it broadcast the playlist we created a few moments ago:

1. In the left hand navigation, click Schedule.

2. Click any time on the calendar, ideally now or very soon.

• Tip: drag down the calendar as you select to create a longer event.

3. Enter a Title for the event.

4. In the Media section, click Playlist, then select the playlist you created earlier.

5. Click the Create event button.

Your station’s first event is scheduled - and while we kept it simple for now, events can be vastly more configurable once you're ready to dive deeper.

Listening to your station's first broadcast

Everything’s in place - your default playlist is set, and your first event is using that same playlist.

So it’s now time to listen to what your station is broadcasting. These next steps will show you how to listen to your station’s stream.

Once you press the play button, you’ll hear the media file you uploaded earlier being broadcasted across the internet. Either because the event we scheduled earlier is currently happening or because nothing is scheduled, so your default playlist is playing.

1. In the top navigation bar, click the Play button in the player.

Your station is live - sit back and enjoy the music you’ve set in motion.

Huzzah - your station should now be on air.

If you followed these instructions to the letter, then it will be broadcasting a single song 24/7. It’s doubtful that this is the ideal state for your station. But hopefully, we’ve demonstrated enough here that you can quickly remedy that by:

1. Uploading more tracks, and
2. Creating more events.

This will only get you so far. To learn more about what Radio Cult has to offer your radio station, click here.