ALPHACAST is the final year project of Alex Ryley. It is an exploration into radio, and how taking advantage of current web trends can enrich the radio experience for the listeners of tomorrow.
ALPHACAST substitutes radio playlists with your own customised music choices. You still catch all the great radio content but without being told what music to listen to, giving you greater fredom and control. You can also share radio content in real time with your mates, making radio viral.
This project is my exploration into what radio could become, and what kind of functionality i believe radio listeners should be expecting from their favourite stations. My application uses the Last.fm API to overlay custom music playlists over radio playlists. I have used Absolute Radio's online radio stream for this project as they provide the most concise now playing information.
This application works by monitoring this now playing information, and as soon as it recognises that a song is playing, it fades the radio stream and triggers a playlist from Last.fm. Full functionality has been included from Last.fm, including the ability to skip, love and ban tracks.