NicoFirst to rec
“Pulled the about from their site- but it was created by passionate music lovers no Ai used. (I believe one team member used to work for Spotify and was over the algorithm driven by Ai etc.which also- if you’re still using Spotify- WHAT ARE YA DOIN?!)
RIYL.fm is a snapshot of what’s playing on college radio stations across the country: the wide-ranging, deeply human, and often surprising taste of DJs who meticulously curate weekly playlists for their communities.
Explore the unique vibes of each station and browse the artists, tracks, and releases that defined their sounds in Spring 2026.
Enjoy digging through the stacks!
Why this exists?
While the music industry bets on AI, fake fans, and TikTok trends, student participation in college radio hassurged.
For decades, college radio has championed underground artists before they hit the mainstream. Against all odds, college radio is thriving on campuses again. Driven by algorithm fatigue, analog nostalgia, and a desire for third spaces.
The algorithm is the new Top 40 radio, playing the same tracks ad nauseam. Meanwhile, AI song generators are pumping out the equivalent of Spotify’s entire catalog (100M tracks) every two weeks. The emotional, cultural and social richness of music fandom has been flattened. It’s boring.
College radio DJs remind us that young people aren’t bored of music. They’re just bored of the shallow, virality-obsessed way it’s sold to them.
Why let a robot tell you what to listen to? A DJ selecting a song to play on air is 100x more meaningful than autoplay ever will be.”
