Materia FM — building and operating a complete media platform

Context: Media · Product · Broadcasting
Role: Founder, product, development and operations
Period: May 2026 → today
Status: In production

In brief

Problem

Run a 24/7 radio stream, manage the programming and maintain it all with limited means.

Intervention

Web application, scheduling logic and automated music scheduling, on a self-administered Linux VPS.

Outcome

An online radio running 24/7, operated by a single person thanks to automation.

Context

Materia FM is an independent online radio. The project started from a simple intuition: a francophone audience exists for demanding music programming, available anywhere, all the time.

Problem

An online radio is not just a page with an audio player. A continuous stream must run 24/7, music programming must be managed, tracks and shows exposed — and all of it maintained with limited means.

Constraints

Contained operating costs — a deliberately simple infrastructure.
Zero broadcast interruptions: the stream must hold 24/7.
A single person operates the system in practice.

Solution

Product first: what makes a radio listenable — a reliable stream, track information, continuity without cuts — comes before everything else. Music scheduling runs automatically; a human can step in at any moment.

Outcome

An online radio running 24/7, with a loyal audience, operated by a single person thanks to automation.

What this project demonstrates

Full ownership of a digital product: design it, build it, run it — with no divide between “building” and “operating”.

Under the hood

Stack, architecture decisions — the technical detail behind the outcome.

My role

Founder and sole contributor: product, architecture, development, infrastructure, continuous operations.

Architecture

Angular web frontend, focused on readability and mobile performance.
Backend and APIs for programming and metadata management.
Broadcasting: the 24/7 stream runs on Infomaniak’s AutoDJ — its advanced playlists carry rotations and moods, while the application holds the programming logic (moods, themed evenings, jingles).
Audio chain (FFmpeg) on a self-administered Linux VPS (Infomaniak).
Automated music scheduling and transitions.

Key decisions

Simple, self-administered infrastructure: contained operating costs and full control, at the price of owning operations.
Automated scheduling with possible human override: the system runs on its own, humans keep the last word.
The stream as a service contract: every technical change is weighed against broadcast continuity.

Challenges

The central challenge is operations: a 24/7 stream turns every change into a risky operation. Updates, certificates, permissions and hardware failures must be anticipated, documented and reversible.

A product to run end to end? Let’s talk about your project.

Stack

Angular
FFmpeg
Linux

Architecture decisions

Simple, self-administered infrastructure
Why : Contained operating costs and full control.
Consequence : Operations to own — anticipated, documented, reversible.
Automated scheduling with human override
Why : A single person operates the system in practice.
Consequence : The system runs on its own, humans keep the last word.
The stream as a service contract
Why : Zero broadcast interruptions tolerated.
Consequence : Every technical change is weighed against broadcast continuity.