In this podcast, Dennis Long showcases the Broadcasts app for iOS, a lightweight and user-friendly tool for streaming internet radio and organizing stations into a personalized library. Broadcasts supports a variety of online radio formats, enabling users to explore and enjoy their favorite stations from around the globe.
Key features of the app include:
- Custom Libraries: Easily curate and organize your favorite stations for quick access.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works seamlessly on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and CarPlay.
- Background Playback: Listen to stations while multitasking or with your device locked.
- iCloud Sync: Automatically syncs your library across all Apple devices.
- Siri and Shortcuts Integration: Control playback and automate tasks using Siri or custom shortcuts.
- Minimalist Design: A clean, clutter-free interface focused on simplicity.
Broadcasts is the perfect app for radio enthusiasts looking for a sleek and customizable streaming experience.
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.
Hello everybody, this is Dennis Long and I am here with a demo of Broadcast.
Broadcast is spelled B-R-O-A-D-C-A-S-T-S. Broadcast is a radio app.
It is available on the following platforms, iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, tvOS, MacOS, and Vision Pro. So it is available on everything.
It uses the radio browser directory as its source for the stations, which means you could add a station to the radio browser directory and then use Broadcast to find it.
Keep in mind it would take time for the radio browser directory to update or you can add a station manually and I'll show you how to do that here in a second.
Broadcast is free with a one-time purchase of ten dollars.
That's ten US dollars of course.
The ten dollars unlocks unlimited collections.
Collections are what we would typically refer to as favorites.
You are allowed to save five collections or favorites if you don't pay for it.
So without further ado let's get into Broadcast.
Okay now that read a station that is down in my collection.
So let's go to the top of the screen.
Okay toggle view.
Add station.
All stations and of course it's going to put me on my collections because that's where I last was.
You can search in your collections here.
My collection is where I'm at now so let's go down and explore the settings.
Let's check out the settings.
Now that is the last tab so let's go left to right.
Okay all stations is the first tab you have.
Browse tab to five.
Browse collections tab three or five.
Collections search tab four or five.
Search settings tab and buy that.
So here we go we're going to check settings out.
Settings heading view heading appearance dark list item size large button.
Okay so it's a large item button.
Now we can change that.
Let's tap on that here regular button dismiss context menu but selected large regular button.
Okay so we're going to dismiss that we don't really need to mess with that.
Selected dismiss context menu button list item size allow artwork tinting switch button on double tap the toggle setting.
That may be useful for some who can see pictures.
Maybe you don't want them tinted.
You can add your own station artwork to your stations.
We'll cover that here briefly in a second.
You'll see what I mean when we go to add a station.
Playback heading off button playback heading resume playback at launch off button.
Okay resume playback at launch.
So if you turn this on what this will do is when the app opens the last station you were listening to will automatically play.
This is off by default but a simple tap on this here where it says automatic playback off will turn it on.
Sync heading sync.
Now what is that you ask?
Well gone are the days where you're using a radio player that doesn't do iCloud backup and you have to reset your phone or you get a new phone and for some reason that uh transfer doesn't come through and everything doesn't get transferred over here it will back up to your iCloud so all your stations are backed up in the order you put them in.
That is a really cool feature amongst many other ones that we'll get into here shortly.
Sync button.
Sync button.
So let's show you what that is. iCloud switch button on double tap the toggle setting.
Okay that's pretty self-explanatory.
If you turn this off it will not sync to iCloud.
You don't want to mess with this in my opinion.
Let well enough alone.
Let's see what else there is.
Sync button advanced heading advanced button.
Okay i don't think we need anything under advanced so we'll go on.
Accessibility heading accessibility button.
Let's check out accessibility.
There's only one item here.
Assistive mode is a simplified read-only user interface for broadcasts designed for use with accessibility features like assistive access.
Enabling this mode requires a relaunch of broadcasts.
Pretty self-explanatory.
Again we are voiceover users at least for the purpose of this demo.
I'm not saying there are not people that need this feature.
There very well may be but for this demo we're not going to turn this on so we're going to back out.
Accessibility button our apps heading.
Okay and then accessibility heading.
That talks about their other apps.
All right so let's get into if we want to add a station.
How do we do that?
So let's back out of settings.
Let's go to the tabs.
Search tab collections tab browse tab 205 all stations tab browse tab all stations tab 105 selected all stations tab 105 toggle view add station button.
Personally it's quicker at least in my opinion to go here because it's only two swipes to the right hit add station.
Now let me show you what you get here.
Browse button.
Okay you have a browse button and we'll show you that in a second.
Add manually button.
Add manually.
Now what's that you ask?
Let's tap on that and then I'll explain to you what you have here.
Cancel button.
All right so obviously you can name the station whatever you want.
So let's say we wanted to name it AppleVis radio.
You would put that in where it says name field.
Then you have to have the URL.
So you put the streaming URL in the next field.
But let's show you that.
Done button.
Okay done.
So that's pretty self-explanatory once you get everything the way you want it.
You hit done.
Select image button.
Select image.
Remember where I said you could have artwork and things of that nature?
That's where this is where you could select an image.
You could select an image for your station's picture or what have you.
So if it were Thomas doing it he'd have a mouse.
You know something to do with a mouse.
You know you can put a picture of a mouse on your station.
Untitled station.
Untitled station.
Internet radio.
Internet radio.
Keep swiping right.
Name.
Name.
Now the next swipe is going to be your edit field.
Name.
Text field.
Double tap to edit.
Properly labeled.
Name.
Text field.
Address.
Text field.
Double tap to edit.
User has to access misspelled words.
That has to do with this URL.
The streaming URL.
So you put that in there and that's it.
You're done.
But let's keep swiping right to show you what else there is here.
Artwork.
Okay this is where you can add artwork.
Choose image button.
You can choose the image you want to add.
Choose image button.
And that's it.
So there's really two places you can add a picture but we probably wouldn't care about that.
We would just want the name and the URL.
Cancel button.
So we're going to hit cancel.
Toggle view button.
Now we're going to go back into browse and I'm going to show you how to search by country and then I'm going to get into some of the really cool things of this app.
Because this app has some really awesome features and I haven't even touched on them yet.
All right.
Add station button.
So we're going to hit add station.
Browse add manually button.
No we don't want to add manually this time.
We want to browse.
Go to browse.
Close status ready.
Okay now by default there's a couple ways you can do this.
It should already have your country selected.
If it doesn't you would pick it from within here.
Countries heading.
Countries heading.
Now let's swipe right.
Client and countries.
Search field.
United States.
United States.
Afghanistan.
Albania.
America.
Samoa.
Andorra.
Okay all I'm doing is swiping right here.
So you could swipe right into next year but we don't want to do that.
America.
Algeria.
Albania.
Afghanistan.
United States.
Client and countries.
Search field.
So double tap quick nav off.
Search field is editing.
Client and countries.
Character mode.
Insertion points.
We're going to type in United Kingdom.
N.
I. D. E. D. United.
K. I. N.
D. D. O. M. Kingdom.
Quick nav United.
United Kingdom.
Perfect.
So I want United Kingdom.
So we're going to select that.
Status loading.
United Kingdom.
Status ready.
All right so now.
Countries back button.
We've selected United Kingdom as our country.
Now we're going to search.
Close United Kingdom.
Heading.
Client and stations.
Search field.
Double tap to edit.
Quick nav off.
Search field is edit.
All right now we're going to type BBC.
BBC.
BBC.
Quick nav.
BBC radio five live proper.
BBC Afrique radio.
Africa.
Afrique.
BBC America.
Let's tap that.
Preview button.
Now let me explain what you just heard.
Preview play slash pause.
So if you want to make sure the URL works you hit the preview.
Play slash pause button.
Right.
Add to button.
Add to button.
Good tails.
Okay then it goes into details of the stream.
So let's hit preview.
Let's make sure this works.
Preview button.
Play slash.
United Kingdom.
Back button.
The face of an animal that is simultaneously adorable and deadly.
Station.
Heading.
United Kingdom.
Back button.
Has had to discourage a bear that was a bit too interested.
Now arc 216.
Codec.
Documentary.
Axe.
HTTPS colon slash United Kingdom.
Station.
Head close.
Button.
Okay a close button is at the top here and that will close this.
Preview button.
Remember I said the preview button is what you do to pause the stream.
Preview.
Okay so that pauses it when playing and then if you want to go back.
Close button.
You hit the close but we don't want to go back yet.
We want to add this to collections.
So let's hit that add button.
Preview button.
Add to button.
My collection button.
Okay my collection is where I want it and I hit that and it should have added it there.
Dismiss context menu.
HTTPS colon slash United Kingdom.
Station.
Head close.
Button.
We're going to hit that close button to get us back to the search for where we could search again.
Toggle view button.
All right so now we're going to go back to collections and I'm going to show you one of the really cool features of this.
Tab bar.
Settings.
Tab.
Search collections.
Tab.
Speech volume. 100 percent.
Speaking rate.
Search.
Settings.
Tab.
More.
Add.
Collections.
Heading.
Find and collections.
Search field.
Recents.
My collection.
Play.
Button.
My collection.
My collection.
93.9 WLITFMLITFM.
All right so let's hit one of these stations here and let's play it.
Selected.
93.9 WLITFMLITFM.
Portions of the following program were pre-recorded.
Delilah Digital Omni.
WM Awesome 98.
Selected.
Find the state of my day.
WMBL.
Selected.
WMBL.
All right now your player will be at the bottom of the screen.
Let's go to the bottom.
Tab bar.
Settings.
Search.
Selected.
Collections.
Tab.
Browse.
Tab.
All stations.
Tab.
WMBL.
Okay there we go.
Tab.
WMBL.
Double tab to open app. 98 percent app.
5G. Cellular.
Two of this miss now playing screen.
Tab bar.
Search.
Selected.
Collections.
Browse.
All stations.
Tab.
Share.
But find with Shazam.
Button.
Now it has a find with Shazam feature.
Let's see what that does.
Edge of 17.
Stevie Nicks.
See how it reads what the song title is.
That's pretty cool.
Now let's go to the next button.
Black Label.
Sleep timer.
Volume. 67 percent.
Sleep timer.
Okay so you have a sleep timer.
Let's explore that.
Sleep timer. 60 minutes.
Button.
You can do an hour. 30 minutes.
Button. 30 minutes. 15 minutes.
Button. 15 minutes.
Selected.
Disabled.
Mim.
Button.
Disabled because I don't have a sleep timer set.
Dismiss context menu.
But we'll dismiss that.
Dismiss now playing screen.
Dismiss now playing actions.
Edge of 7.
WMBL.
Previous.
Play slash pause.
Button.
Next.
Button.
All right let's hit next.
Awesome 98.
WVOR sunny 102.3.
All right I said previous.
Play slash pause.
But previous.
Button.
Awesome 98.
WMBL.
Delilah digital only.
93.9 WLITFM light FM.
All right so there we go.
Play slash next.
But play slash pause.
Play slash pause.
That is a demo of broadcast.
Again some of the things I like is as you go to the stations there's nothing you have to do extra.
VoiceOver automatically reads the station you're going to and when you press finally Shazam which of course tells you what song it is it's playing it will tell you what is on the screen.
That is really cool.
So this is a very nice little radio app and it is a one-time ten dollars to unlock unlimited collections and it's just really cool.
If you have additional questions feel free to ask and I will get into how to do things if there's more you want to know or we need to do a second demo we can do that.
But I hope you enjoy this demo and I hope you find it helpful.
Thank you.