![Love Radio? How Spotify Can Scratch That Nostalgic Itch Love Radio? How Spotify Can Scratch That Nostalgic Itch](https://static1.makeuseofimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/spotify-radio-with-large-old-style-radio.jpg)
Key Takeaways
- Spotify Radio lets you easily create personalized radio stations based on artists, albums, or songs.
- This indispensable tool is a great way to discover new music and enjoy a more passive listening experience.
- While not perfect, Spotify’s radio function is useful for social settings and expanding your music taste.
While music radio still exists, the rise of streaming services, where every song is available on demand, has certainly limited its appeal. However, if you miss the more passive pleasure of listening to a radio station where someone else is choosing the songs for you, Spotify has you covered.
How to Create a Radio Station on Spotify
Spotify boasts an incredible radio function that many subscribers probably don’t make use of. Spotify Radio allows you to create a bespoke radio station from an artist, album, or individual song. The streaming service’s algorithm will populate that radio station with songs it thinks fit the bill.
Spotify Radio is a fantastic tool, and it’s so easy to create a radio station on Spotify that you would be foolish not to try it. It’s perfect for those times when you don’t quite know what tracks to play but know the overall vibe you’re looking to hit.
To get started, go to any artist, album, or song on Spotify. Then, tap the three vertical dots to open the contextual menu. The position of this will depend on what page you’re on. On the Now Playing screen, it’s in the top-right corner, while on the artist and album pages, it’s two-thirds up the screen alongside other options.
After tapping the three vertical dots, scroll down the options until you see a mention of Spotify Radio. You should see either “Go to artist radio,” Go to album radio,” or “Go to song radio.”
Spotify will instantly create a radio station based on your chosen song, album, or artist. This will include songs Spotify knows you already like and listen to, as well as some hidden gems it thinks you’ll enjoy. Press Play and Spotify will play its way through your new station. You can have it play the songs in order or enable Shuffle to have it queue them up randomly.
If you generate a radio station you end up really liking, you can save it as a playlist by clicking the Save button (a + symbol within a circle). And if you’re a premium subscriber who pays for Spotify, you can even download it (as you can with regular playlists) by tapping the Download button (an arrow pointing downwards).
Why You Should Make Use Of Spotify’s Radio Function
Now that you know how to create radio stations on Spotify, you may be wondering why you should do so. There are, in fact, several reasons to do so.
Before almost every recorded song became available to listen to whenever and wherever you want, music radio was the best option. As long as you owned a radio, you could tune into any one of countless stations and let the music wash over you. And that desire to switch off and listen passively may still be there. An itch that Spotify Radio can scratch.
Spotify Radio is also great for introducing you to songs with a similar vibe to what you already like but which you aren’t familiar with. While Spotify includes songs you already know, it also throws in some that you’ve never listened to or don’t have on rotation. Spotify Radio is, therefore, a good way of discovering new music.
Lastly, Spotify Radio is extremely useful when playing music in a social setting, whether that’s a house party, vacation, camping, or just chilling in your garden. It means you can make Spotify do the work of choosing songs for you, freeing you up to socialize with your family or friends without the need to keep queuing specific tracks.
While Spotify’s Radio Function Isn’t Perfect, It’s Still Great
To be absolutely honest, Spotify’s radio function isn’t perfect. It has limitations and foibles that mean it isn’t as good as Pandora, for example. However, it’s good enough that most people who miss old-school radio and who want to return to a more passive listening experience will get something out of it.
The biggest issue is that Spotify tends to play it safe by choosing mostly songs that it knows you already like and listen to. On the Foo Fighters “Breakout” radio station I created for this article, I had already liked around 75 percent of the tracks added. I would like to see Spotify add more tracks that it’s gambling on you liking.
Having said that, Spotify Radio is still a fantastic tool that deserves your attention. Take a look at the feature, experiment with it, and see if it’s something that you’ll benefit from.
Don’t Forget to Use Spotify’s AI DJ for More Variety
The biggest thing missing from Spotify’s radio function, which prevents it from being a true replacement for radio, is the lack of DJs. Instead, the music is chosen by an algorithm, and no one will speak in between songs. However, if you utilize Spotify’s AI DJ, you can reintroduce a human element, even though it isn’t actually human.
Spotify’s AI DJ is a completely separate feature from the radio function. Once triggered, the AI DJ will select songs for you, providing context by introducing them. The AI DJ tends to pop up after a handful of songs, so if you miss hearing someone (or, in this case, something) speaking between music, it’s a good option.
In the future, it would be nice to see Spotify incorporate its AI DJ into the radio function. That way, you could create a radio station and have the AI DJ add his dulcet tones to it. But for now, that isn’t the case. Still, if you want to check out Spotify’s AI DJ in its current form, look for the DJ symbol on the home screen of the Spotify app.