Independent college and community stations have devoted audiences and shoestring budgets. We build them fast, modern streaming apps — on iPhone, iPad, Mac, CarPlay and beyond — that finally do their signal justice.
Terrestrial radio still matters. On campuses and in college towns, student-run stations are where new music gets discovered, where local sports and community voices get airtime, and where the next generation of broadcasters learns the craft. What most of these stations lack isn’t great programming — it’s a great way for listeners to tune in from their phone, their car, or their couch.
That’s the gap we set out to close. Over the last year we’ve designed and shipped native iOS apps for three of them, each built on a shared streaming platform we’ve tuned specifically for the way college radio works: live streams, deep show schedules, DJ discovery, and on-demand archives so you never miss your favorite Tuesday-night specialty show. Here’s the lineup.
KZSC Radio
UC Santa Cruz · listener-supported community radio
KZSC is UC Santa Cruz’s student-powered, noncommercial station — award-winning music alongside Banana Slug sports, local news, and conversation. We rebuilt their app from the ground up: a clean, fast listen with live now-playing info, the full show schedule, and DJ discovery. The latest release adds two full weeks of streamable show archives, so listeners can catch anything they missed on demand.
What’s inside
- Live streaming in high or low quality
- Real-time now-playing track info
- Complete show & schedule browser
- Two-week on-demand show archive
- CarPlay support
- Lock Screen & Dynamic Island controls
Get KZSC Radio on the App Store (opens in a new tab)
KSJS Radio
San Jose State University · student-run
KSJS is San Jose State’s student-run station, with more than 40 shows spanning genres and formats. The app puts all of it one tap away — a live stream with real-time track information and full CarPlay support, so the signal follows listeners from their desk to their commute.
What’s inside
- One-tap live streaming
- Live track & show information
- 40+ shows to browse
- CarPlay support
- Lock Screen playback controls
- Built for iPhone, iPad & Mac
Get KSJS Radio on the App Store (opens in a new tab)
KVCU Radio 1190
CU Boulder · 1190 AM Boulder / 92.9 FM Denver
The newest station to join the family: Radio 1190, the University of Colorado Boulder’s student-operated station since 1981. Known across the Front Range for alternative and college music and a welcoming, creative community, Radio 1190 gets the same treatment — a purpose-built native app that replaces the generic streaming stopgaps with something that feels like the station itself.
What’s inside
- Live high/low-quality streaming
- Real-time now-playing metadata
- Full show schedule browser
- On-demand show archives
- CarPlay & Lock Screen controls
- iPhone, iPad, Mac & Apple Vision
Get KVCU Radio 1190 on the App Store (opens in a new tab)
One platform, tuned for every station
Building three of these apps taught us that college radio stations share the same core needs — a rock-solid live stream, accurate now-playing data, a browsable schedule, and archives — but each has its own identity, call letters, and community. So rather than reinvent the wheel each time, we built a shared streaming foundation and skin it per station.
That means a station gets a genuinely native app — not a wrapped website — with the modern Apple integrations listeners expect, at a fraction of the cost and timeline of a bespoke build. The plumbing is proven; the personality is theirs.
Every station app ships with
- Reliable live streaming (high & low bitrate)
- Real-time now-playing track & art
- Show & DJ schedule browsing
- Roughly two weeks of on-demand archives
- CarPlay for the commute
- Lock Screen & Dynamic Island controls
- iPhone, iPad, Mac & Apple Vision builds
- Free to listeners, no account required
Run a station? Let’s get you on the air — and in the App Store.
Whether you’re a college station, a community broadcaster, or a nonprofit with a stream and a story, we can get you a polished native app your listeners will actually keep on their home screen. We handle the design, the build, the App Store submission, and the upkeep.
Tell us about your station and we’ll map out what it takes. Start a conversation!