Simple Radio Forty Two is a small radio player for WordPress, inspired by Radio 42. It is written in vanilla JavaScript (no jQuery). You configure stations once, then drop the player on any page with [sr42_radio] or the Simple Radio Forty Two block.
What it does
- Plays Icecast / MPC, SomaFM, and Radio Paradise streams from a dropdown.
- Shows now-playing metadata (artist, title, next track when the source provides it) via the REST route
/wp-json/sr42/v1/meta. - On supporting mobile browsers, uses the Media Session API: lock-screen title, artwork, play/pause, and previous/next station.
- Remembers the last station and volume in
localStorage. If you navigate to another page that also contains the player, it tries to resume playback. See the FAQ: browsers often block that autoplay. - Optional custom title and button/background images under Simple Radio Styling.
- Optional Find stations on Settings: the public Radio Browser directory fetches real streams. If WordPress AI is enabled, it assembles a 3–6 station lineup only from those results (no invented URLs). Without AI, the first six hits fill the form. Nothing is saved until you click Save Changes.
This plugin does not keep audio playing across a full page load by itself (no background Service Worker). Media Session controls work while the tab that started playback stays open, including with the phone locked.
Configuration
- Simple Radio — copy the shortcode.
- Settings — station name, stream URL, and server type (Icecast / SomaFM / Radio Paradise).
- Styling — title and image URLs, with a live preview. Save to apply on the public player.
Usage
- Shortcode:
[sr42_radio] - Block: Simple Radio Forty Two (Media category). Dynamic render: the same HTML as the shortcode. Stations always come from Settings (no per-block station list).
There is no separate classic widget. On a classic widget screen you can put the shortcode in a Shortcode or Custom HTML widget.
License
Simple Radio Forty Two is licensed under the GPLv2 or later. See LICENSE.txt for details.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the WordPress community and the Radio 42 developers for the inspiration.
Screenshots
