How to listen to radio from another country

Updated October 21, 2026 · World Radio Stations · 8 min read

The easiest way to listen to radio from another country is to stream it online: open our world radio player, click a country on the globe (or pick it from the country menu), and press play on any station. It is free, needs no sign-up and works in any modern browser. If you prefer, you can also use a station’s official app, ask a smart speaker, play it through your car, or — for a few international broadcasters — tune in on shortwave.

This guide walks through each option step by step, and explains why a handful of stations won’t play outside their home country.

Step 1: Pick a country on the globe player

Our homepage player is built around a 3D globe, with every station shown as a light on the map. To listen to radio stations around the world:

1. Open the player. It opens on the most popular stations worldwide, or on the last country you chose.
2. Choose a country. Click it on the globe, or select it in the country menu next to the globe. The globe flies there and the station list reloads with that country’s most-played stations.
3. Narrow the list. Tap a genre filter such as News, Jazz or Pop, or type in the search box to filter the loaded stations by name or tag.
4. Press play. Audio comes straight from the station’s own stream. When a station sends song information, the player shows the current track title too.
5. Save what you like. Tap the star to add a station to your favourites; recently played stations appear in your history. Both are stored in your own browser, so there is no account to create.

To go back to the global chart, choose “Worldwide — top stations” in the country menu.

Step 2: Browse a country page

If you already know which country you want, its country page is the fastest route. Each one lists that country’s top stations with a built-in player, plus our editorial station guides and answers to common questions. A few examples:

• United Kingdom — the BBC networks, commercial stations and speech radio
• United States — public radio, news talk and big-city music stations
• Germany, Ireland and Canada
• Australia, South Africa and Chile

The full country index covers more than 200 countries and territories. For hand-picked suggestions, see our guides to European stations, US stations and the most popular radio stations in the world.

Step 3: Look up a specific station

Looking for one station in particular? Our station guides cover well-known broadcasters such as BBC World Service, France Inter, triple j and NPR. Each guide gives the station’s history, frequencies and an embedded player, so you can read about it and stream it live from the same page.

Why some stations won’t play abroad

Most stations stream to anyone, anywhere. A few block or interrupt listeners outside their home country, and almost always for the same reason: rights.

Sports commentary

Rights to broadcast live sport are usually sold country by country. A UK station can hold the rights to commentate on a football match for UK listeners without having them for the rest of the world. When that happens, listeners abroad typically hear a short message saying the programme isn’t available, and the normal stream returns once the commentary ends.

talkSPORT is a good example: its UK Premier League commentary and the league’s international audio rights are separate deals, so what you can hear abroad depends on who holds the rights where you are. The same applies to BBC Radio 5 Live and to big events such as the Olympics.

Music licences and broadcaster policy

Music licences can also be territorial, and some broadcasters limit what they offer outside their home market. The BBC is the best-known case: since 21 July 2025, BBC Sounds has not been available to people living outside the UK (UK residents travelling abroad keep access for up to a month). International listeners are directed instead to BBC Audio at bbc.com/audio and in the BBC app, which carries BBC Radio 4, the World Service and a selection of podcasts. Which other BBC stations you can stream from abroad has changed over time, so check the BBC’s own site for the current list.

Technical reasons

Sometimes a stream isn’t blocked at all — it simply can’t play in a browser. Browsers refuse audio sent over plain http:// to a secure https:// page, so our player only lists stations that offer a secure stream. Our explainer on how internet radio works covers this in more detail.

What about VPNs?

A VPN can make it look as if you are in another country, but using one to get around a geo-block may break the station’s or app’s terms of use. Remember that the content is restricted because the broadcaster doesn’t hold the rights where you are. We don’t recommend it: use the station’s international service, a rights-holder in your own country, or simply listen at another time of day.

Other ways to listen to foreign radio

Official apps

A station’s own app often has the most reliable stream, plus catch-up and podcasts. Many broadcasters also publish their stations on aggregator apps such as TuneIn. If you live abroad and listen every day, it is worth installing the app of your favourite station — while remembering that the app may follow the same rights rules as the website.

Smart speakers

Smart speakers can play many stations by name. With Alexa you can enable a station’s own skill, or ask for it through a built-in radio service, for example “Alexa, play [station] on TuneIn”. Google Assistant works in a similar way. What’s available depends on your country and on the services linked to your speaker, so a station you hear at home may not be offered abroad.

The simplest fallback: play the station in our player on your phone or laptop and connect a Bluetooth speaker.

In the car

Many radio apps support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which put the app on your car’s screen with simple, large controls. If yours doesn’t, you can still play a stream from your phone through the car’s Bluetooth audio. Set it up before you set off — choosing stations isn’t a job for the road — and remember that streaming on the move uses mobile data, roughly 58 MB an hour for a 128 kbps stream.

Shortwave

Before the internet, international listening meant shortwave, and it still works without any connection at all. The BBC World Service, which began as the BBC Empire Service in 1932, still broadcasts on shortwave to parts of Africa and some other regions, although it ended shortwave to North America in 2001 and later wound down its English shortwave service to Europe.

To try it you need a radio with shortwave bands and the broadcaster’s current frequency schedule, since frequencies and times change. Reception varies with the time of day, the season and conditions in the upper atmosphere, so expect some static and fading. In return you get free listening in remote places where there is no mobile signal.

Tips for listening to radio from abroad

• Mind the time zone. A breakfast show in Sydney airs in the middle of the European night. Our player streams whatever is on air right now, so pick stations whose daytime matches your listening time.
• Use Wi-Fi when you can. Streaming uses data: a typical 128 kbps stream uses about 58 MB an hour. See our FM vs internet radio comparison for more on data use.
• Start with public broadcasters. National public stations such as the BBC, NPR, Radio France and Australia’s ABC tend to have robust, high-quality streams.
• Learning a language? Speech stations are excellent practice. Try France Inter, Deutschlandfunk or Cadena SER, and use music stations from the same country for lighter listening.
• Build a “home” list. If you live abroad, star a few stations from home and a few from where you live now, so switching takes one tap.

FAQ

How can I listen to radio from another country for free?

Open the player, click the country on the globe or choose it from the country menu, and press play. Listening is free and needs no account. You can also go straight to a country page such as /country/gb or /country/us.

Is it legal to listen to foreign radio stations online?

Listening to a station’s own public stream is exactly what the stream is for. What can cross a line is getting around a deliberate restriction: if a programme is geo-blocked, it is because of rights, and using a VPN to bypass the block may break the station’s terms of use.

Why does a station play a message instead of the live programme?

Usually because the broadcaster doesn’t have the rights to that programme in your country — most often live sports commentary. The normal stream comes back once the programme ends.

Can I listen to international radio stations without the internet?

Yes, in a limited way. Some international broadcasters, including the BBC World Service in parts of Africa, still transmit on shortwave, which you can receive with a shortwave radio. In border areas you may also pick up neighbouring countries’ FM stations.