RBUQ is a worldwide directory of FM, AM and online radio stations. It collects and organizes public radio streams from many countries in one place so that you can easily listen to them in your browser. RADIO HUB is the name of the web player interface on RBUQ: this is the part of the website where you see the station list, the big PLAY and STOP buttons and the live spectrum analyzer that reacts to the audio signal. In simple terms, RBUQ is the directory and RADIO HUB is the player that lets you enjoy those streams.

No. At the moment, RBUQ does not require you to register or create an account in order to listen to radio stations. You can open the site, choose a station and start listening immediately. Certain features, such as favorites, are stored locally in your browser using small pieces of data (for example, local storage or cookies), so they work without an account as long as you continue to use the same browser and device.

In the future, RBUQ may introduce optional user accounts for additional features such as syncing favorites across devices, but basic listening is intended to remain free and accessible without login.

There are two easy ways to start playback:

• Select a station from the list on the left and press the PLAY button in the player.
• Simply click on the station card itself – this will automatically select the station and start playback in one step.

When playback starts, you should see the status change to “Playing”, the spectrum analyzer bars will begin to move, and you will hear the station audio (assuming your system volume and browser tab are not muted).

RBUQ does not host radio streams; it only links to streams that are provided by radio stations themselves. Sometimes a station may be:

• Temporarily offline for maintenance or technical issues;
• Moved to a new streaming URL that we have not yet updated;
• Limited to specific countries or regions (geo-blocking);
• Configured to reject connections from certain browsers or networks.

When the player cannot successfully start playback after a few attempts, it will show the message “Stream unavailable or regional restrictions”. In many cases, trying another station or returning later solves the problem. If a station consistently fails, you can report it to us so we can review or update the stream.

The RANDOM button is a quick way to discover something new. When you click it, the player chooses a random station from the entire pool of available stations (including both featured streams and stations from the main database), plays a short “white noise” sound to indicate the switch, and then automatically starts the chosen station.

The random choice does not depend on the country currently selected in the filter. This means you can be filtering by one country but still jump to a completely different region with a single click. If you like a randomly selected station, you can add it to your favorites for easier access later.

The Featured category contains a curated list of stations loaded from a special file on the server. These stations are usually chosen because they are popular, interesting, or technically stable. When you first load the RADIO HUB page, the filter is set to Featured so that you immediately see a selection of recommended stations instead of a long list from all countries.

You can switch from Featured to any specific country using the filter, and you can switch to Favorites to view only the stations you have saved for yourself.

Favorites are designed to be simple and private:

• To add a station to your favorites, click the heart icon next to the station in the station list or press the ADD TO FAVORITES button in the player when that station is selected.
• When a station is in your favorites, the heart icon appears filled, and the “Favorites” counter in the header is updated.
• To remove a station from your favorites, click the heart again or use the same button in the player.

Favorites are stored locally in your browser (using local storage) and are not synced between different devices or browsers. If you clear your browser data or use a different browser, your favorites list will not be available there unless you recreate it manually.

When you choose ♥ Favorites in the filter, the station list shows only the stations you have marked with a heart, regardless of their countries. This is useful if you regularly listen to a small set of stations from different regions and don’t want to search for them each time.

If you have not added any stations to your favorites yet, the favorites view will show a short message explaining that your favorites list is empty and telling you how to add stations. You can then return to Featured or a specific country, pick a station, and add it to favorites so that it appears in the favorites filter next time.

Because favorites are stored locally in your browser, they can be lost if:

• You clear your browser’s site data, cookies, or local storage;
• You use private/incognito mode and then close the window;
• You switch to a different browser or device where favorites were never set;
• Your browser or security software automatically clears local data.

If you want to preserve favorites for a long time, try to avoid aggressively cleaning local storage for this site. In future, RBUQ may add the option to create an account to sync favorites across devices, but for now favorites are device-specific by design.

RBUQ and the RADIO HUB player are designed to work in all modern browsers that support HTML5 audio and JavaScript, including:

• Desktop: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari and other Chromium-based browsers;
• Mobile: Android Chrome, Samsung Internet, iOS Safari and other WebKit-based browsers.

Some advanced stream formats (especially .m3u8 HLS streams) rely on additional browser capabilities. On desktop browsers, RBUQ uses a helper library called HLS.js when necessary. On iOS and some mobile browsers, HLS is supported natively by the system, but there may be restrictions on background playback or autoplay. If a station doesn’t play in one browser, it may still work in another that has different codec or HLS support.

Intermittent playback (starting, pausing, or stopping unexpectedly) can be caused by several factors:

• Unstable or slow internet connection on your side;
• Temporary issues on the radio station’s streaming server;
• High latency or packet loss between your network and the broadcaster;
• Mobile data saving modes or VPN behavior that interferes with streams.

You can try:

• Refreshing the page and starting the station again;
• Switching from mobile data to Wi-Fi, or vice versa;
• Testing the same station in another browser or disabling VPN;
• Trying a different station to check if the problem is station-specific.

If multiple stations behave the same way, the cause is usually related to your network or device rather than the RBUQ player.

RBUQ itself is just a directory and web player interface. Whether you are allowed to use a particular radio station in a public or commercial environment (such as a shop, café, office or event) depends on the licensing rules and rights of that station and the laws in your country.

Many broadcasters require separate public performance licenses, and simply playing a stream from the internet may not automatically grant you the right to use it in a commercial setting. If you plan to use RBUQ streams for business, you are responsible for ensuring that you have the necessary permissions and licenses from the appropriate authorities or rights holders.

At this time, the RADIO HUB interface is intended for use on the RBUQ website only. We do not officially provide an embeddable widget or iframe code for third-party sites. If you are interested in embedding or integrating RBUQ in a custom project, you can contact us with your use case. Future versions of the platform may include an API or official widgets if there is enough interest.

If you know a station that is not listed on RBUQ and you think it would be a good fit, you can send us a suggestion through the Contact Us page. For the fastest processing, please include:

• The station name and country;
• A working stream URL (preferably a direct stream or official player URL);
• Optional: the station’s website and any notes (genre, language, etc.).

We review suggestions periodically and may add them to the directory as long as they are legitimate, stable and publicly accessible streams that comply with applicable laws and rights.

If a station no longer works, constantly shows an error, or the details (such as name or country) are obviously wrong, please let us know. You can:

• Use the Contact Us page and mention the exact station name and country;
• Include a short description of the problem (for example: “URL returns 404”, “stream is now a different station”, or “geo-blocked for this region”).

We periodically clean up and update the directory. Reports from users are very valuable because stations change their infrastructure and URLs quite often, and some broadcasters do not announce these changes publicly.

RBUQ is designed as a lightweight directory and player. We do not ask you to log in and we do not collect personal data such as your name or address just for listening. Like most websites, we do process some technical information (such as IP address, browser type and usage logs) for security, basic analytics and to keep the site running properly.

Favorites and some preferences are stored locally on your device rather than on our servers. For full details on what we collect and how it is used, please read the Privacy Policy page on this site.

If you represent a radio station or hold rights to content that appears on a station listed in RBUQ, there are several scenarios:

• If your station is listed correctly and you are happy with it being in the directory, you don’t need to do anything.
• If you would like us to update your station’s details (name, country, description, new URL), please contact us with clear information.
• If you believe that linking to a particular stream infringes your rights or should be removed for legal reasons, please refer to our DMCA page and send a proper takedown notice.

We do not host the audio streams ourselves, but we respect intellectual property rights and will review and act on valid requests sent to us.

Additional legal details and policies are available on the following pages:

• About – general information about RBUQ and the project;
• Privacy Policy – how we handle data and user privacy;
• Terms of Service – rules and conditions for using the site;
• DMCA – information for copyright and takedown requests;
• Contact Us – ways to reach us regarding any questions or issues.

If something is unclear or you want to clarify how a specific rule applies to your situation, the best way is to contact us directly with a short description of your question.