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Guide · Server and remote

How to broadcast from anywhere

With RadioMaster Server the station lives on a machine that's always on, and you run it from wherever you are. Presenters connect with the desktop app they already know, go live with their own microphone, and anyone with the password can check in from a phone browser.

Server documentationAbout RadioMaster Server

How it works

  • RadioMaster Server runs the station on a Linux machine, a VPS or Windows Server. It plays the playlists, runs the scheduler, adverts and jingles, and streams to Icecast and Shoutcast around the clock, with no screen.
  • The desktop app connects to it with File → Connect to Server. Everything you do in the app then happens on the server, and several presenters can be connected at once.
  • The web portal runs the station from any browser, including a phone, with nothing to install.

1. Set up the server

Download RadioMaster Server for Linux or Windows from the latest release, then run the setup once. It asks for the station name, the username and password presenters sign in with (at least 12 characters), the port (9259), whether to use HTTPS and whether to turn on the web portal:

RadioMaster-Server --setup

Then start it with RadioMaster-Server, or as a service so it starts with the machine. The server documentation covers every step, including systemd and Windows Server.

Already running a station in the desktop app? Copy its playlists, library and settings over, as described in moving a station to the server.

2. Make it reachable from outside

On your own network, presenters connect to the server's local address, for example 192.168.1.20:9259. To connect from home or on the road:

  • On a VPS it's already on the internet: allow ports 9259 (and 9260 for the web portal) through the firewall.
  • At the studio, forward those ports on the router to the server, or use a VPN such as WireGuard or Tailscale so nothing is open to the internet at all.
  • Give it a name, for example studio.yourstation.com, so presenters don't need to remember an address.
  • Or skip port forwarding altogether: a Cloudflare Tunnel puts the web portal on the internet over HTTPS, and the desktop app can connect through it too.

Turn on HTTPS before you open the server to the internet, so passwords and everything else are encrypted. The server can get and renew a free Let's Encrypt certificate by itself, use your own, or make one. See HTTPS.

3. Connect from the desktop app

  1. In RadioMaster, choose File → Connect to Server… (or Connect to Remote Server… on the login screen) and type the server's address, username and password.
  2. RadioMaster offers to save your local session as a station profile, so your own playlists and settings come back exactly as they were when you disconnect.
  3. A green button with the station's name appears next to the RadioMaster logo. Click it for the connection details or to disconnect.

While connected you edit the playlists, fire carts, run the generator, adverts and scheduler, and start and stop encoders, all on the server. If two people change the same playlist at the same moment, the server's version wins and the app tells you.

4. Go live from home

  • The app plays the station's on-air mix on your own speakers or headphones, about half a second behind the server. Untick Hear the station here (click the green button) if you're in the same room as the server's speakers.
  • Press Mic and your microphone goes to the server and on air, with the station's mic settings (lower, mute or pause the music).
  • Wear headphones rather than speakers, and expect to hear your own voice come back slightly late.

5. Use the station from your phone

Turn on the web portal (RadioMaster-Server --setup --portal, or File → Server settings… → Web portal in the app and restart the server). Then open https://your-server:9260 on any phone, tablet or computer and sign in with the server's username and password.

On a phone the portal's sections sit along the bottom of the screen: the studio (what's on air, transport buttons, volume, playlists and streams), the library, the cart wall, the playlist generator, the advert and jingle rules, AzuraCast and the log. A banner tells you when the server is behind on updates.

Tips

  • Music files and the library are the server's, so a library folder is typed the way the server sees it, for example /srv/music. Upload new music to the server, or keep it in a folder that's synced to it.
  • Previews and waveforms in the track editor need the files on your own computer, so they don't work while connected.
  • Your interface language, sound cards, plugins and remote control API stay on your own computer.
  • Use a long, unique server password: whoever signs in can do everything the station can.

Keep going

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