Worldwide FM is a freeform

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

service that highlights "

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...

, culture and stories from around the globe." Founded in 2016 by DJ

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...

, longtime host of the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

program ''Worldwide'', the platform features a rotating roster of international radio DJs and programming. As of 2020, Worldwide FM has a monthly audience of more than 400,000 listeners. In September 2022, it was announced broadcasting would be paused at the end of October 2022.

History

Worldwide FM was launched in September 2016 by

in partnership with Thris Tian (Thristian Richards) of Boiler Room and

WeTransfer WeTransfer is an internet-based computer file transfer service company that was founded in 2009, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. History WeTransfer was founded in 2009 by Rinke Visser, Bas Beerens and Ronald Hans (Nalden) in Amsterdam, Netherla ...

as an extension of Peterson's Worldwide brand. Test broadcasts took place earlier in 2016. In 2017, Peterson and Worldwide FM were awarded the Jazz FM Award for Digital Initiative of the Year. Worldwide FM is part of an ecosystem of Peterson-led projects, many under the umbrella of Brownswood Music Ltd.; Worldwide FM is managed by Brownswood's content production company Mistral Productions. The platform works in collaboration with Peterson's

Brownswood Recordings Brownswood Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Gilles Peterson in 2006. The label has released an eclectic range of music, reflecting Peterson's diverse musical taste. The roster includes Ben Westbeech, Ghostpoe ...

and Future Bubblers initiative with

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

. It has also been a digital venue of the

Worldwide Awards The Worldwide Awards, formerly known as the Worldwide Winner Awards, are an annual awards celebration curated by radio DJ Gilles Peterson and currently hosted by Worldwide FM and Radio 6 which celebrates up-and-coming musicians on an internationa ...

and worked with the Worldwide Festival. Worldwide FM is directed by the Brownswood Music team of Peterson, Simon Goffe, and Dan Moss, with co-founder Thristian Richards. Of note, the platform shares the name of the Peterson-curated in-game radio station in ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'', which was released in 2013. The station was updated in 2014, to coincide with the release of the ''Enhanced Edition'' of ''GTA V'' for the

eighth generation of video game consoles The eighth generation of video game consoles began in 2012, and consists of four home video game consoles: the Wii U released in 2012, the PlayStation 4 family in 2013, the Xbox One family in 2013, and the Nintendo Switch family in 2017. The gen ...

. It was updated for a third time in 2021 for ''

Grand Theft Auto Online ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' is an online multiplayer action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 1 October 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, 18 November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbo ...

'', and included multiple exclusive tracks including the final

MF DOOM Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...

track, a collaboration with

BADBADNOTGOOD BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, they wer ...

. As of 2021, the station regularly broadcasts from studios in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(WWFM's headquarters),

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, among other cities. In 2019, the company began a new round of funding through CrowdCube. In 2022, the station announced a pause in normal operations beginning November 2022 due to a need to find new financing options; Peterson remains as the sole host.

Listenership

After launching in 2016, the station had 130,000 listeners a month. In January 2019, Worldwide FM reported 365,000 monthly listeners, of which 34% are based in the UK, 11% in Japan, 11% in the US, 7% in France and 7% Germany. A year later, this number had grown to over 400,000 listeners. Worldwide FM experienced a sharp rise in listenership during

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

, leading to about one million listeners in April 2020.

Accolades

* 2017: Jazz FM Award for Digital Initiative of the Year * 2017:

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

for Best Online Radio Station * 2020:

for Best Commercial Promotion (nominee)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website

Mixcloud Select channel
Internet radio in the United Kingdom Internet radio stations World music radio stations Radio stations in London Brownswood Recordings