Came across this site that has free streaming radio without the need for a VPN.
有声小说,听书,听小说,听故事,听广播 - 喜马拉雅 (ximalaya.com)
Looks like you can choose stations from all over the China. They also have an app if you prefer.
If you’re on desktop, click the link for radio (or have your browser translate to English):
And then all the links at the top of the page are different provinces or cities. Clicking one of those takes you to all the stations available for that geography.
And they have more streaming content than just radio too.
Currently enjoying a radio station in Hebei province playing a really broad mix of music, and I’m guessing because it’s daytime over there right now, also has callers (maybe they’re friends or reporters? I’m not fluent enough to know lol) calling in to talk to a DJ. Also occasionally play an English language song.
When I was deep in Japanese mode 15-18 years ago, listening to the radio online or when I lived there and had a car to drive around the Japanese countryside and could listen with friends were some of my favorite times. I don’t know how much younger generations care for the radio with the concentration of streaming music services these days, and hopefully it’s useful or others have additional good free radio sites available.
To that other music share thread we have going, I will say, even in just about 45 minutes of listening, I’ve already heard more representation in multiple genres than I expected. Like, yeah, you’re still getting lots of ballads, and there’s also more modern R&B/hip-hop/rap adjacent songs mixed in on the few stations that I just randomly checked than I was expecting.
