>> OK, Jon, skip the ramble and give me the instructions.
Breakfast radio is an odd thing. Presenters, competitions, cheesy gags and music become part of your daily routine, and when something changes, your day doesn’t seem to start quite right. I would wager psychologists have plenty to say about humans and their routines, but I don’t know one to ask.
There was sadness back in January when Neil and Debbie, aka N-Debz, left the airwaves with just a day’s notice, as QSoft, the folks behind the Gaydar dating site, closed their digital radio station, Gaydar Radio, to go, well, dating. There’s been an online following – mainly on Twitter and Facebook – waiting to see where this duo, as well as the other presenters, would return so that mornings would be restored. Today, after a couple of weeks’ notice they reappeared on an internet-only station, Jemmone.
Putting together a radio station in such a short period of time can’t be easy, and sure, there were a few teething troubles this morning – the stream was a little unreliable and possibly overloaded – but I’m certain they will be gone in a few days. Of course, the most important thing was that the morning just got better.
I imagine internet-only radio is just as complex a beast as broadcast radio to build and run, but listening to it, especially in the mornings when you’re used to your alarm radio waking you, is actually pretty complex too (and much more complex than a broadcast equivalent). That’ll be the subject of another post, I’m sure.
Part of the shaky start for JemmOne this morning was due to the fact that the audience appeared to only have one way to listen: via a player in a browser. But that player – although reputedly HTML5-based – wouldn’t play on iOS devices, amongst others. A web-based player is difficult to set up as an alarm clock, so people figured out the stream details that could be used in iOS apps like TuneIn Radio (which features an alarm) or on internet radios. I’m using it successfully on my Pure Evoke Flow so my radio’s still coming out of that little box by my bed.
For some reason Jemmone didn’t actively publish the details of that feed – I could speculate why but let’s not. During the day the Android app was released and we’re told the iOS app is on the way. I don’t really understand why they haven’t provided instructions on how to listen via other apps until theirs is produced. So, for all those on Twitter asking here’s how to set it up on two common devices.
- Install the TuneIn Radio app if you do not have it
- Don’t bother browsing for Jemmone: at the time of writing it’s not there
- Navigate to the ‘Favourites’ section (hint, it’s the heart at the bottom of the screen)
- Click ‘Add new custom URL’
- Add the stream address http://radio.jemmone.com/ (the http bit seems to be important here)
- You may find, after typing the address, it appears to find the stream and can be selected
- Select ‘Custom Stream’ and, after a few seconds, you’ll be connected
- Once it’s playing, you’ll probably want to save it as a favourite so you can get back to it
iTunes
- Open iTunes
- Go to ‘File’ in the menu bar and select ‘Open Stream’
- Add the stream address http://radio.jemmone.com/
- To find it again, you’ll need to look under ‘music’; I’ve never been quite sure why streams don’t appear to be saved under ‘radio’
