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For those confused as I was, you can switch the current station but it's not convenient or meant to be done often. You can basically disassemble the radio and p

For those confused as I was, you can switch the current station but it's not convenient or meant to be done often. You can basically disassemble the radio and press a button to cycle through available FM stations and leave it on the one you want. Why this button isn't just available on the lid is beyond me. While I do appreciate simplicity I really don't understand the value of a single station radio either. > https://www.thepublicrad.io/faq https://www.thepublicrad.io/faq

leoedin 7y ago
If it had a button on the lid, it would just be another FM radio - not really a market that a small hardware company want to be in. The statement this radio makes by being untunable is literally the only reason anyone buys it.
- vyrotek 7y ago
  But it is tunable which breaks the whole 'statement' for me.
  - pencerw 7y ago
    That's fair, but if I were to guess I'd say only 5% of our customers are even aware that the radio is re-tunable. It's not a secret by any means, but we don't really promote it and even if you did once know about it you could easily forget that it's an option at all.
    - hatfortguy 7y ago
      I really like this. The fact that it's re-tunable makes this reusable for people who would otherwise have to buy a replacement and throw this one away. We recently moved house and had to return our radio, even just to stay on the same station (they broadcast on slightly different local frequencies across the country to overcome local noise). I'm seriously considering buying one of these but wouldn't be if it wasn't reprogrammable; I'm not into throw-away electronics because of the environmental impact.
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    But it is tunable which breaks the whole 'statement' for me. It's more "hackable" than "tunable." If it was a "tunable radio," then the tuning mechanism would be exposed to the user.
- pencerw 7y ago
  Exactly - we never wanted to compete with the rest of the home audio industry!
pencerw 7y ago
Hey! Co-inventor of the product (and author of the link) here. The reason that the button isn't on the lid is because that makes the lid uglier and, more importantly, undermines the philosophy behind the UI - which is to keep the device as absolutely simple as possible. The idea came from my partner (Zach Dunham) and was inspired partly by Radiolab's 2008 episode, "Choice" - it's a bit of a deep cut but I recommend listening to it and thinking a little bit about how choice functions in the FM radio world (which is, obviously, competing with Spotify & podcasts) today. Also note that we developed the product in ~2013, when everyone in the hardware scene in NYC was all into IoT and making everything bluetooth. I think there was part of us that believed that IoT (and connecting everything to the internet) was misguided and that having a long term relationship with a local news/radio source (which for me is Hot 97, but for most of our customers is their local NPR affiliate) is actually really cool/powerful/valuable. Lastly, you should note that a lot of our business now comes from selling The Public Radio to radio stations (again, mostly NPR affiliates) to give out as fund drive gifts. For obvious reasons, having a single-channel radio is attractive to both the station managers and their donating listeners.
- greenyoda 7y ago
  > Lastly, you should note that a lot of our business now comes from selling The Public Radio to radio stations (again, mostly NPR affiliates) to give out as fund drive gifts. Here in NYC, we have two NPR-affiliated public radio stations that often play different content, WNYC AM and WNYC FM, and their parent organization also runs WQXR (a classical music station) and NJ public radio. So even if you only listen to public radio (like I do), an untunable FM-only radio wouldn't be enough. ("Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.") My ideal "simple" radio would be one that worked like my car radio: you can preset any number of AM/FM stations and then select them with forward/backward buttons. (And once you have a display that can indicate the station, it would be sad if it couldn't also be an alarm clock.)
  - WWLink 7y ago
    The solution is obvious! Buy three The Public Radios! Isn't it genius? :D

leoedin 7y ago

If it had a button on the lid, it would just be another FM radio - not really a market that a small hardware company want to be in. The statement this radio makes by being untunable is literally the only reason anyone buys it.

vyrotek 7y ago
But it is tunable which breaks the whole 'statement' for me.
- pencerw 7y ago
  That's fair, but if I were to guess I'd say only 5% of our customers are even aware that the radio is re-tunable. It's not a secret by any means, but we don't really promote it and even if you did once know about it you could easily forget that it's an option at all.
  - hatfortguy 7y ago
    I really like this. The fact that it's re-tunable makes this reusable for people who would otherwise have to buy a replacement and throw this one away. We recently moved house and had to return our radio, even just to stay on the same station (they broadcast on slightly different local frequencies across the country to overcome local noise). I'm seriously considering buying one of these but wouldn't be if it wasn't reprogrammable; I'm not into throw-away electronics because of the environmental impact.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  But it is tunable which breaks the whole 'statement' for me. It's more "hackable" than "tunable." If it was a "tunable radio," then the tuning mechanism would be exposed to the user.
pencerw 7y ago
Exactly - we never wanted to compete with the rest of the home audio industry!

pencerw 7y ago

Hey! Co-inventor of the product (and author of the link) here. The reason that the button isn't on the lid is because that makes the lid uglier and, more importantly, undermines the philosophy behind the UI - which is to keep the device as absolutely simple as possible. The idea came from my partner (Zach Dunham) and was inspired partly by Radiolab's 2008 episode, "Choice" - it's a bit of a deep cut but I recommend listening to it and thinking a little bit about how choice functions in the FM radio world (which is, obviously, competing with Spotify & podcasts) today. Also note that we developed the product in ~2013, when everyone in the hardware scene in NYC was all into IoT and making everything bluetooth. I think there was part of us that believed that IoT (and connecting everything to the internet) was misguided and that having a long term relationship with a local news/radio source (which for me is Hot 97, but for most of our customers is their local NPR affiliate) is actually really cool/powerful/valuable. Lastly, you should note that a lot of our business now comes from selling The Public Radio to radio stations (again, mostly NPR affiliates) to give out as fund drive gifts. For obvious reasons, having a single-channel radio is attractive to both the station managers and their donating listeners.

greenyoda 7y ago
> Lastly, you should note that a lot of our business now comes from selling The Public Radio to radio stations (again, mostly NPR affiliates) to give out as fund drive gifts. Here in NYC, we have two NPR-affiliated public radio stations that often play different content, WNYC AM and WNYC FM, and their parent organization also runs WQXR (a classical music station) and NJ public radio. So even if you only listen to public radio (like I do), an untunable FM-only radio wouldn't be enough. ("Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.") My ideal "simple" radio would be one that worked like my car radio: you can preset any number of AM/FM stations and then select them with forward/backward buttons. (And once you have a display that can indicate the station, it would be sad if it couldn't also be an alarm clock.)
- WWLink 7y ago
  The solution is obvious! Buy three The Public Radios! Isn't it genius? :D