Radio is a lovely contrast to Spotify. You get to hear new music with mixed content and not just the same playlist or music Spotify might think you like.

I have no radio. I don’t even know where I should put it – and I might as well admit, I will be too lazy to even use it.

Before I learnt Python (or at least got into it), I was fiddling around with a setup similar to this, however it didn’t run optimal.
I already have an PIR motion sensor in my kitchen where I normally listen to radio. The PIR sensor already turns on the screen to my magic-mirror dashboard and it also turns on the light if needed. So in time I need to connect the PIR sensor to the radio as well.
I often hear the same handful of radio stations. I listen to a local station in the morning with the news and music. In the afternoon I might here some more upbeat music, whereas in the evening a 3rd station will be used.
I know VLC can play streams from the command line. A quick googling shows there is a python VLC module.

My current thoughts about the project

• The radio needs to take into account the time of the day and play the correct station.
• It should not play constantly. Some logic needs to be made which uses the PIR sensor and stops the radio if there is no movement for x-minutes. Or perhaps gradually turn down the volume to 50%, then 25% and finally all the way down.

First things first. I need to create the radio player. I am thinking it should be controllable via the browser if I ever what to take manual control.
The idea is simple: Flask webserver, VLC’s python plugin, basic webpage and we are half the way.
I start with installing the environment, VLC and pip3 install python-vlc

Flask app.py from flask import Flask from flask import render_template import vlc app = Flask(__name__) # mine radiostationer jeg vil vælge imellem. radiostations = { "P4": "http://live-icy.gss.dr.dk/A/A05H.mp3", "RsH": "https://rsh.hoerradar.de/rsh-live-mp3-hq", "NDR2": "http://www.ndr.de/resources/metadaten/audio/m3u/ndr2_sh.m3u", "P6 Beat": "http://live-icy.gss.dr.dk:8000/A/A29H.mp3", "BBC Radio 1":"http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_radio1_mf_p" } #åben VLC med debug i = vlc.Instance('--verbose 0'.split()) #lav en afspiller p = i.media_player_new() @app.route('/') def index(): station = 0 return render_template("index.html", stations=radiostations) @app.route('/radio/play/<station>') def play(station): #set stream p.set_mrl(radiostations.get(station)) p.audio_set_volume(100) # vi skal lige være sikre på, at der også er skruet op for lyden #afspil p.play() return "play" @app.route('/radio/stop') def stop_playing(): p.stop() return "stop" # statistik - ikke færdig endnu @app.route('/radio/status') def status_playing(): s = vlc.MediaStats() m = p.get_media() if m.get_stats(s): print(s) # se din log, der finder du stream statistik #return s if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(debug=True)

This is the radio in a nutshell. Download it, play with it, make it better if you ever need a radio.

This is a screenshot of the radio - do the styling your self.

Download Radio app