The near-global moratorium on live events has seen online radio stations flourish across the world. The Middle East and North Africa are no exception, with key players in these regions having finally gotten the freedom and opportunities to host radio shows with no rules and restrictions.

But that was far from the case just a few years ago. Radio in the Middle East has primarily been focused on Arabic pop music. Alternative electronic music is often treated with suspicion—authorities are known to keep close tabs on gatherings, with undercover police hovering around to monitor music events. This is the sombre reality that most people who enjoy alternative music in the region face.

"FM radio was never for the alternative or underground artists' benefit, these corporations always functioned with their own agenda," says the Beirut-born Ernesto Chahoud, serial crate digger, and the host of the Beirut Daze show on NTS. "Online radio is the real opportunity for independent artists to be represented and heard; the message and voices of people must be put in the right context. The youth in Palestine are now ready to broadcast to all corners of the world with no restrictions or hierarchy, just pure passion and pride."

As it stands, internet problems are still abundant in the Middle East, and broadcast equipment is expensive and often unattainable. With general restrictions leading to at least one in five events being cancelled regularly, the sheer amount of red tape has left Middle Eastern countries oscillating between a healthy, somewhat-sustainable scene for alternative music, and one of regular clampdowns and extended periods of stasis. But COVID-19 has done its bit to change all of that, at least for online radio.

As the head of online community radio station boxout.fm in India, and also a former resident of the United Arab Emirates, my research into online radio in the Middle East began with Radio Nard in Jordan. Formed in 2014 in an effort to break borders, mess up the status quo and enable like-minded people to represent Arabic youth through music, Radio Nard's first official live broadcast was on March 15th, 2015. They soon went on hiatus before reappearing years later in 2018 in Bethlehem, Palestine.

Around the corner from them, I discovered Radio Al Hara راديو الحارة (The Neighbourhood Radio). A station on Yamakan (a community radio network in the Middle East) that launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, Radio Al Hara had around half of the region's most celebrated creators appearing on the station within weeks. This led me on a path to learn more about them, and in turn, learn about other radio stations in the region.

Micro.radio
Amman, Jordan

One of the few online stations in the region with a physical studio, micro.radio launched in Amman in December 2019. Since then, they've hosted regular broadcasts, and their Friday Night show has become popular among the growing community of Amman music lovers, functioning as a safe space for artists to perform.

"micro.radio is a platform for exploration and discovery," said founders Dana Baddad and Sharaf Saleh over email. "We create a space to listen, explore and share music. This unique environment grants local DJs and producers the freedom to explore and share genres they might not get to do on the dance floor."

Badd, a 25-year-old creative strategist and music curator, and Saleh, entrepreneur, amateur DJ and sound enthusiast, are helped in their mission by several volunteers as well. "As a community station, we seek to give this space to individuals and collectives regardless of their background, bringing together not only DJs and producers, but also music writers, playlist curators and scene enthusiasts from Jordan and the Arab world."

micro.radio's program of 30-plus regular shows features electronic, experimental and electric Arabic folk and regional hip-hop. Saleh recommends Cairo-based DIJIT's regular broadcast of music and conversations that's influenced by Cairo's musical history, with a focus on ebtehal, mawal and mawasheeh.

Listen: Uninterrupted Tunes 12 w/ Gazzi

GAZZI's bi-weekly show fuses Arabic sounds with bass-heavy music.

Root Radio
Istanbul, Turkey

Originally started as an event and podcast series in 2018, Istanbul-based Root Radio was cofounded by Syrian national Ahmed Abdulatef Shiekh and Istanbul-based booker and DJ Merve Öngen (AKA Howl). Palestinian beatmaker Asifeh looks after the web development while Sam and Umit take care of the graphics and radio program.

Root is an entirely self-funded initiative that features programming in three languages (Turkish, Arabic and English). "Root strives to create a very diverse platform that combines many different kinds of musical genres," said Öngen over email.

"Our schedule ranges from hip-hop to extreme metal, post-punk, classical music, neo-folk and folk, punk rock and rock music in general; reggae, dub, jungle, live-loopings, makkam, as well as club music like techno, bass, IDM, experimental and avant-garde music, noise, breakcore and hardcore, field recordings, jazz, [these] are only a few genres to mention," says Öngen. "We also have many talk shows covering a huge variety of topics and current issues. For example, in the last week, we had talk shows about Eco-fascism, traditionalism in music, the Riot grrrl movement and repetition in composition."

Listen: Exist x Root Takeover

A recent Exist Festival takeover curated by ODDZ (previously of Radio Nard) focused on some of the region's blistering talent.

Radio Flouka
Paris, France

On a timeline similar to Root Radio, Tunisian DJ and producer Haroun Ben Hmida launched Radio Flouka in Paris and operates the station alongside DJ and program manager Khaleed Oudaoud and music selector Elham Haddad.

"I have always been a big fan of web-radios (I am so inspired by Rinse FM, NTS and Worldwide FM)," says Ben Hmida. "At the time when we launched Radio Flouka in October 2018, there were no famous web radios in our region like we have now. The idea was there a couple of years before launching, but the actual moment that pushed us to go ahead was after organising a few parties here in Paris and realising that we have a big community of artists and musicians coming from the Arabic world living here in Paris. So we started thinking about a platform to unite and represent these people. And then Radio Flouka was born."

According to Ben Hmida, Radio Flouka's goal is to feature as many genres as they can. "In our morning and afternoon shows, you can listen to raï, old Arabic disco, trip-hop and jazz. In the evening there is going to be more club music like dubstep, drum & bass, footwork and techno."

Listen: 3XOJ presents DREAD RIDDIMS w/ JANTES | Radio Flouka 25/06/2020

The monthly Dread Riddims show, hosted by up-and-coming Moroccan dubstep producer 3XOJ, is an essential listen.

Radio Nard
Bethlehem, Palestine

Nard was founded by 27-year-old Laith Al Bandak, AKA NRD, who was raised playing the Qanun and was later inspired by electronic music and crate-digging. The station launched in Amman before moving to Bethlehem. Soon, Laith was helped in his mission by DJ and event planner Odai Masri, AKA ODDZ, and filmmaker and sound obsessive Ramzi Hazboum, AKA habkara, from the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

Radio Nard's program works in phases, with shows being assigned a time-based phase rather than the traditional hourly slots. Showraba شوربة (meaning "soup" in Arabic) for instance, is a noon to afternoon phase that features music across genres plus music talk shows. Checkpoint Saturn حاجز زحل , beginning at midnight, is an experimental program with political music, speeches and poems.

Listen: The Swamp Ep1/NRD - 6/6/2020 - المستنقع ح١/ نرد

A blend of downtempo and upbeat electronica, the inaugural episode of The Swamp from Radio Nard founder NRD showcases his unique selection style.

Ma3azef Radio راديو معازف
Tunis, Tunisia

Ma3azef began as an Arabic music magazine in 2012 focused on exploring alternative music, art and culture across the Middle East and North Africa. Using their understanding of the region's musical states, they decided upon their next step: their own radio channel.

While the idea had been in the works for a while, the COVID-19 lockdown kept all three members of the team—Amr El Alami, Jinane Chaaya and Ma'an Abu Taleb—stuck in a Beirut apartment and helped bring out the best of the situation. Ma3azef.live's first broadcast was on May 12th, 2020.

The programming is currently in its infancy. "We probably have too much electronic and club music right now," writes Ma'an over email. "We're also fans of religious music (for non-religious reasons), and we try to play a lot of Chaabi music from Iraq, Syria and Palestine. There is also a weekly jazz show by Dirar Kalash that we love."

The trio hope to return to Tunis as soon as possible and set up a physical location for Ma3azef Radio, but for now it's WAV files and Dropbox links over Whatsapp and Facebook with a forward-looking "the stream must go on" attitude.

Listen: Marwa Belhaj Youssef | HRAGE ft Van Boom

Tunisian artist Marwa Belhaj Youssef debuts her new monthly show HRAGE, opening with her own sounds for the first 30 minutes before Kuwait-based Van Boom closes with a twisted industrial live set.

Radio Al Hara
Bethlehem, Palestine

Quite possibly the fastest online radio station from inception to creation to launch, Radio Al Hara's impact has been instant and infectious. Just 24 hours after Radio Al Hara kicked off in Bethlehem, the group of five founders—Elias and Yousef Anastas, Mothanna Hussein, Saeed Abu-Jaber and Yazan Khalili—had some of the region's heavy-hitters lined up on their schedule.

The five friends come from different professional backgrounds that include architecture and photography, but are united by good music and great design. With no physical location, the team is split between Amman and Bethlehem, and you can always find one of the founders in the chat room informing listeners about the current program.

"The project was inspired by Radio il Hai Beirut and Radio Alhuma Tunis, which were in turn inspired by Radio Quartiere Milano. All of which started at the beginning of the coronavirus quarantine," they collectively answered. "We have all been involved in the general music scene in our cities and abroad, whether by organising parties or just being in good relations with a lot of the musicians/selectors/creators. This, we believe, played a great role in being able to curate such a great schedule from the beginning."

A recent highlight for the team was debuting Nicolas Jaar's full length Cenizas two weeks into their launch. They also have a collaboration with Worldwide FM around the corner.

Listen: Recordat Radio Alhara #07 - lilianechlela

Recordat is a weekly show hosted on Radio Al Hara, curated by Owais. For the seventh broadcast, they featured Beirut-based Lilian Chelela.

Abhi Meer contributed additional editing and reporting to this piece.