Your website is your station's home. It's where listeners find the player, the schedule and your team. With a content management system (CMS) you maintain all of this yourself without any programming. Here are the systems most commonly used by web radio stations.
What a radio website should offer
- Player: listeners start your stream right on the page
- Schedule: who is on air and when
- Team page: your presenters with photo and show times
- Request box: listeners send song requests and greetings
- News: your station's news and promotions
- Legal notice and privacy policy: mandatory for every website in Germany
W-P Mobile CMS
W-P Mobile CMS by WEB-PHP is tailored to web radio. Ready-made plugins cover the typical radio features, including schedule, team list, request box and Shoutcast. Pages adapt automatically to PC, tablet and smartphone. According to the developer, the system runs on all current PHP versions, and an installation service is available on request.
Good for: stations that want a ready-made radio website quickly and without much technical effort.
More information: wp-mobile.de
PHP-Fusion v7
PHP-Fusion v7 has been popular with German-speaking web radio stations for many years. There are numerous extensions for radio features, known as infusions, and many ready-made radio designs. In a version adapted for PHP 8, v7 also runs on current servers: the German support site offers the unofficial update pack "IUP DE" for free, which according to the site supports PHP up to 8.2.
Good for: stations that know the proven system or want to keep using existing v7 infusions and designs.
Download and help: PHP-Fusion Deutschland
PHPFusion v9
Version 9 is the current generation of PHPFusion, with a revised interface and technology. The basic principle of infusions remains, but not every v7 infusion is available for v9. So before switching, check that the radio features you need exist for v9.
Good for: new projects that rely on PHPFusion and want a current version.
More information: phpfusion.com, German edition at PHP-Fusion Deutschland
WordPress
WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the world. There are plugins for player, schedule and request box, plus a huge choice of themes. The price of this variety: you need to choose plugins carefully and update WordPress, themes and plugins regularly.
Good for: stations that want to design a lot themselves and don't mind regular updates.
More information: wordpress.org
Ready-made designs
Ready-made web radio designs for W-P Mobile CMS and PHP-Fusion v7 are available at webradio-design.de. This gives your station its own look without designing it yourself.
At a glance
| W-P Mobile CMS | PHP-Fusion v7 | PHPFusion v9 | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tailored to web radio | yes | via infusions | via infusions | via plugins |
| Schedule, team, request box | ready-made plugins | infusions | depending on availability | plugins |
| Designs at webradio-design.de | yes | yes | – | – |
How to decide
- Start quickly with little technical effort: W-P Mobile CMS
- Existing PHP-Fusion site or v7 designs: PHP-Fusion v7
- New PHPFusion project: PHPFusion v9, if your radio features are available
- Maximum design freedom: WordPress
The right hosting
All four systems need PHP and a MySQL database. Both are included in our packages with web space, along with a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt:
- Radio hosting: stream server with LexyCast and web space for your radio website
- All inclusive: stream server, website, LexyChat and TeamSpeak
- laut.fm hosting: if you broadcast on laut.fm and want your own website
How to encrypt your website and stream is explained in our guide SSL for your radio website and stream. If you have questions, our ticket support is happy to help.
