This Musical Time Machine Lets You Become an Aural World Traveler

If you’re someone who laments losing the days of radio past, you can now surf the dial of history in countries all around the world with a website called Radiooooo.

The service is as simple as this: Click on a country and a decade, and Radiooooo transports you sonically to that particular place and time. (The five os represent each of the five continent landmasses; don’t worry about typing in the wrong url—according to The New Yorker, the company owns all the domains up to radioooooooooooooooooooo.com.)

While many listening services can be hit or miss, Radiooooo is chock-full of gems. That’s because it’s not generated via algorithm, and the playlists are the result of carefully curated selections. An initial batch (chosen by creators Benjamin Moreau and Raphaël Hamburger) is now being expanded by contributors who submit possible songs, which are then subjected to a review process. Only a certain amount make it through.

The site is still in beta, and many of the countries and decades are still empty, but there are still tons of surprising jams to be discovered. There are even a few fictional locations on the map like “Discovery Island” with new music arrivals and "Neverland," which features music for kids.

Whether you're in Mexico in the 1920s or Ukraine today, there are plenty of treasures to uncover. My personal favorite so far is “Whale Song,” a humpback whale mega-hit from Antarctica in the 1980s.

[h/t Boing Boing]