##A barebones Raspberry Pi internet radio
This is a Python script for what I think is the simplest functional internet radio you can make with a Raspberry Pi.
You will need:
- A RaspberryPi with a fresh headless install of Raspbian – this means you set it not to boot into a graphical environment when it starts up.
- To install the Music Player Daemon and Client mpd & mpc and configure some online radio stations.
- A push button.
- A 10k and a 1k ohm resistor, and some way of wiring them together (such as a breadboard) and some way of connecting 3 wires to pins on the RaspberryPi.
- Headphones or some powered speakers.
- Optional: USB wifi dongle to make your radio, er, wireless.
First, log into your Pi at the command line. Ensure it’s connected to the internet and update it by typing
sudo apt-get update
Then install mpd (music player daemon) and mpc (client) by typing the following:
sudo apt-get install mpc mpd
Add some internet radio stations by typing this at the command line to add BBC Radio 1:
mpc add http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_intl_lc_radio1_p?s=1365376033&e=1365390433&h=a0fef58c2149248d6bff1f7b7b438931
There are more stations BBC listed here: http://thenated0g.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/raspberry-pi-add-bbc1-6-radio-streams-and-mpc-play-command/
I added BBC radios 1-6, and also added US public radio NWPR and the French station Fip, leaving me with 8 stations in total. Here’s how I added Fip (it’s a super-cool French music station):
mpc add http://mp3.live.tv-radio.com/fip/all/fip-32k.mp3
And for NPR try:
mpc add http://69.166.45.47:8000
Do try and add the stations in the order you want them to cycle through – you can re-order them using mpc at the command line, but it’s much easier to get them right first time. (I didn’t).
Test mpc is working by typing
mpc play 1
at the command line, and you should hear Radio 1 (or whichever station you added first) coming out of the Pi’s headphone jack. You can adjust the volume of your sound device by typing
alsamixer
at the command line. You get a graphical mixer in the command line which is pretty intuitive.
You can also adjust volume in mpc by typing:
mpc volume +5
or + or – any number you fancy.
Then type
mpc stop
to make the horrible noise go away.
Using a little breadboard, connect one side of your push button to the 3.3v pin on the RaspberryPi. The other side of the switch is connected via a 1K resistor to RaspberryPi GPIO pin 23, and via a 10K resistor to a GND pin on the Pi. You can find a good diagram of the pins here: http://elinux.org/RPi_Low-level_peripherals
Now save radio.py in the home directory /home/pi. The script assumes you have 8 stations set up – if you have a different number, change the 8 to your number of radio stations.
Then test it by typing
sudo python radio.py
at the command line. The radio should play, and when you press the button it should change up through the channels, cycling back to 1 when it passes 8.
Next, to make it run automatically at start up, type
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
and add the following line before the exit command:
(sleep 65; python /home/pi/radio.py)&
The 'sleep 65' is needed because my Pi has a USB wifi dongle which takes an eternity (well, a minute) to get on the network. If your Pi is connected to the internet by ethernet, you could probably make the sleep time an awful lot shorter. Save it by typing ctrl-x. Reboot your Pi, and enjoy!