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Can you really grow a radio audience fro your website?
Yes!
And it’s not hard if you’ve got the right tools.
The plugins featured here have been designed specifically for running live audio broadcasts with WordPress.
You’ll use a platform like Shoutcast to host the stream, and the plugins here will provide you with an audio player for visitors that integrates with the program host.
While there aren’t that many plugins made for this purpose, I’ve wrangled up five that are all worth your time.
Keep reading to find my top choices.
If you don’t have a great design for your site already, check out our radio station themes and online radio themes collections.
WordPress radio plugins
You’ll find a variety of designs and audio player styles here. While the radio-centric players are featured first, you will players with more general audio options.
Here are my top choices for the best radio WordPress plugins.
1. Hero
Plugin Description
Hero is my top recommendation for a WordPress radio plugin. The developers behind this plugin made a few streaming plugins already and nailed it with this one.
The Hero plugin has a clean design and both black and white skins that allow it to fit into any existing theme’s design. Of course, there are also a handful of other color options which make it easy to match the audio player to your brand.
This plugin has been designed primarily to be used with Shoutcast and Icecast. You’ll use one of those platforms to host the broadcast, and Hero’s integration will allow it to play live on your site via the audio player. It’s actually a very simple system and only takes a few minutes to set up.
Another practical feature included in Hero is the show history. If a visitor arrives on your site when you’re off-air, this is a great way to keep them engaged and listening any way.
2. Kast
Plugin Description
Kast stands out as the most beautiful radio player in this collection. While it doesn’t look that different from Hero, there are a few nice touches that give it a premium feel.
Kast has a material design style that makes it feel like an app made by Google. The pastelle colors look awesome and the layout adapts perfectly to mobile devices. It’s easy for visitors to use and there are some pretty slick animations built-in too.
If you are using Shoutcast for your radio program then Kast is an obvious choice. The integration is seamless. You’ll have your radio program up and running on your site in mere minutes. As for including the player in your site, you can choose the widget or the shortcode to output it on any post or page you want (or every page). Kast always displays in the bottom-right of the screen so its unintrusive and won’t make it difficult to browse the rest of your site.
3. tPlayer
Plugin Description
tPlayer is a versatile audio player for WordPress. Unlike the other plugins here, it can be used for pretty much any type of audio you want including live radio broadcasts.
The radio functionality in tPlayer works due to an integration with Shoutcast. Otherwise, you can choose specific tracklists and playlists beforehand. Autoplay is possible on desktop devices but disabled on mobile due to restrictions from Apple and Google themselves.
You can embed tPlayer in any post or page with the shortcode. If you’re not sure how to use shortcodes, read this tutorial. tPlayer also includes social share buttons which can help your radio program spread to wider audiences. And, it has statistics for each tracks play count and download count.
4. Native Web Radio Player
Plugin Description
The Native Web Radio Player plugin has a nice design and more integrations than any other radio plugin.
While I like the plugins that have “sticky” players that can stay present on every page, this audio player can be added to any post or page via a shortcode which works fine. Where Native Web Radio Player really shines are the integrations. You can use it with:
- Shoutcast
- Icecast
- Radionomy
- Radiojar
It’s been carefully coded to stay compatible with as many devices and browsers as possible. You can trust this plugin to reliably play your program regardless of which device visitors are using.
Native Web Radio Player is also quite customizable. There are two different player layouts, custom color schemes, and you can even choose from hundreds of fonts thanks to an integration with Google Fonts.
5. AudioIgniter
Plugin Description
The AudioIgniter audio plugin is gorgeous and completely free! While not exclusively designed for radio feeds, this is possible with AudioIgniter.
Add as many tracks and create as many custom playlists as you want, and embed the form anywhere with the flexible shortcode included. You’ll get full control over which elements of the player you want to show as well as the color scheme. There’s also an option to link the “Buy Now” button anywhere you want, so you can generate sales through your site (or 3rd party eCommerce platform).
The Pro version unlocks a number of additional features, but is not necessary for basic use of AudioIgniter. One feature, in particular, that I like is the sticky player which lets you keep the audio player accessible on your site at all times (including for mobile devices).
Which radio plugin is best for you?
Consider Hero and Kast first for your site. They both have sticky players that look awesome and perform well on mobile devices.
If you need more radio program integrations then check out Native Web Radio Player.
For a radio player with additional playlist and audio options, both tPlayer and AudioIgniter are good options.
Still have questions about finding the best radio WordPress plugin? Post a comment below.
