How to Listen to Live Radio and Podcasts with TuneIn

TuneIn is a free service that lets you listen to real radio stations from across the United States and around the world, all through your phone, computer, or smart speaker. Unlike Pandora or Spotify, TuneIn is not a music recommendation engine — it streams actual broadcast radio stations live, exactly as they are airing at this moment. That means you can listen to your hometown station while traveling, or tune into any AM or FM station in the country without a radio.

The free version of TuneIn is supported by brief ads. TuneIn Premium ($9.99 per month) removes ads and adds access to live play-by-play sports broadcasts from the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL, as well as commercial-free news channels from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and others.

To start, download the TuneIn Radio app from the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Google Play (Android). Once installed, open the app — you do not need an account to start listening. You can browse featured stations right away.

To find a specific station, tap the search icon and type either the station's call letters (for example, WBBM or KCRW), a city name, or a topic like "country music" or "Spanish news." TuneIn will show matching stations and you can tap any one to start listening.

TuneIn organizes stations by category on its home screen: News & Talk, Sports, Music, Podcasts, and By Location. The By Location section is particularly useful for finding local stations when you are traveling.

TuneIn works with Amazon Alexa. If you have an Echo speaker, say "Alexa, play [station name] on TuneIn." Many Echo owners use this to listen to their local news or morning radio show through their smart speaker.

You can also use TuneIn through a web browser at tunein.com — no app required. This works well on desktop computers or laptops.

TuneIn also aggregates a large catalog of on-demand podcasts. You can find shows on true crime, technology, health, and virtually any other topic. Just search by show name in the app.