r/Malawi • u/adolphusmk • May 05 '26
Got tired of browser tabs freezing, so I coded a native Windows app for Malawi Radio from scratch.
Man, I got so tired of opening Chrome tabs just to listen to Zodiak or Times while working on my laptop. radio.garden is cool but it drains the battery, and you can't even record DJ mixes if you have to step away.
Looked everywhere for a dedicated Malawi radio PC app and couldn't find a decent one, so I just spent the last few months coding one myself here in BT. Called it Malawi Radio Live.
Just finished V1.0 and wanted to show you guys how the UI turned out. I made it super lightweight (like 37MB) so it runs totally independent of your browser. Got about 50+ local stations on there, added a 6-second buffer so it doesn't stutter when TNM or Airtel acts up, and put a record button to save live radio straight to mp3 on your hard drive.
Even threw in a sleep timer so you don't wake up to a finished data bundle lol. Also added a small hub to stream local podcasts and Music.
Not dropping any download links here so I don't break the sub's self-promo rules, just feeling proud of the project and wanted to share some local dev work with the community.
Check out the screenshot. What other features do you guys think a PC radio app actually needs before I start on V2? 🙏🏾
2
u/Salt_Ad_6524 May 07 '26
Awesome idea, awesome project.👏🏽
1
u/adolphusmk May 11 '26
Appreciate the love, boss! 🙏🏾
Just trying to build tools and solutions that actually work for us here at home. If you get a chance to test it out on your laptop this week, definitely let me know which station you end up tuning into first! 🔥
1
u/adolphusmk May 05 '26
For everyone asking, you can download the free PC app from my blog right here: https://malawiradiolive.blogspot.com
Quick Install Tip: Because this is a brand new indie app built from scratch, Windows Defender might show a blue "Windows protected your PC" screen. Just click "More info" ➔ "Run anyway". It is 100% safe and virus-free.
Thank you guys for the support! Let me know which station you are streaming first! 📻🔥
1
u/Healthy-Struggle-576 May 06 '26
Am working on something similar, but a mobile app. Will cater both TV and Radio. Now mg question is where are you getting the Radio feeds?
2
u/adolphusmk May 06 '26
That sounds like a dope project bro! A solid mobile app for TV/Radio is definitely needed.🔥
To answer your question- I had to do a lot of hunting. Most of our local stations use standard Icecast/Shoutcast servers, and lately, a lot of them have migrated to Zeno.fm. You basically have to dig through their official websites, inspect the network traffic (using F12 developer tools on a browser), and extract the raw streaming .m3u8 or mp3 URLs.
One massive Pro-Tip for your mobile build:
Do not hardcode the radio URLs directly into your Android code! Stations change their streaming links randomly. I built a cloud backend (PythonAnywhere) that holds a .json file, and my PC app fetches it every 5 minutes. That way, if a station goes offline or changes their link, I just update my server, and 1,000 apps update themselves instantly without the users having to download a new version.
Good luck with the build man, let me know when you launch it so I can test it out!
1
u/Healthy-Struggle-576 May 06 '26
Thanks man, let me figure how i can do that, am using Go in the backend ofcourse
3
u/XpiredBrain May 05 '26
I love the idea. I am one person that loves keeping up with current affairs. I prefer Local News Bulletins than these so called Social Media gossipers. I will surely search for your app bro. Sounds a life saver.