Live Music Streamers

The streamers page is a small, hand-picked directory of Twitch and YouTube channels playing the hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music we cover. Each entry shows whether the channel is live right now, what they typically play, and where to follow them. We use it ourselves to find a live DJ when the station is offline; we maintain it as a public directory because there is no other resource that does this well.

Run a stream we should list? Send it through the streamer signup form at getknownradio.com/#/streamer-signup. You can paste your Twitch, Kick, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok channel URLs in one step — the desk reviews submissions and adds approved channels to the live directory. ▶ Open the streamer signup form

What this page is

The directory exists because the universe of live music streaming is enormous and almost completely unfiltered. There is good work happening on Twitch and YouTube — long-form DJ sets, in-studio production sessions, regional radio rebroadcasts, weekly listening parties — and almost none of it is easy to find unless someone tells you a specific channel to follow. This page is that "someone tells you." We do the listening, we keep the list short, and we surface only the channels that consistently play the kind of music we cover on the station.

The interactive version of this directory — sortable by live status, with channel thumbnails and direct embed links — lives on the front page. This static page exists so the directory's purpose, criteria, and roster are readable and indexable without running JavaScript.

How channels get listed

Channels are added by hand by the editor. We do not auto-import from any platform's category page, because category pages on both Twitch and YouTube tend to be dominated by either the largest channels by audience size or by channels paying to be promoted. Neither of those is the same as "channels playing good hip-hop, R&B, and electronic records consistently."

Our criteria for adding a channel:

1. Music focus. The channel's primary content is music — DJ sets, listening parties, in-studio production, or live performance. We do not list channels where the music is incidental to gaming, podcasting, or react content.
2. Genre alignment. The channel plays hip-hop, R&B, electronic, or the cross-genre work that surrounds those scenes. We do not list rock, country, jazz, or general "lofi" channels even if they are good at what they do — they are outside the station's beat.
3. Consistency. The channel goes live at least once a week most weeks. Streaming once a month is fine, but we are not going to add a channel that streams once a quarter.
4. Editorial taste. The records the channel plays do not have to overlap with our rotation exactly, but the taste has to be in the same neighborhood. We list channels we ourselves would tune in to.

How live status works

Live status on each entry is checked through the streaming platform's public live-status endpoints (Twitch's Helix API and YouTube's data API). The check runs roughly hourly. If a channel goes live between checks, the indicator will catch up at the next refresh. If a channel ends a stream mid-cycle, the indicator will hold its "live" state for up to an hour before correcting.

This is not a real-time presence service — we are not running a websocket connection to the platforms — but it is accurate enough that "live now" entries are almost always actually live when you click. If you click through and the channel is offline, it ended within the last hour.

What we do with the entries

Each entry on the directory includes the channel name, platform (Twitch or YouTube), a short editorial description of what they typically play, the most recent live timestamp, and a direct link to the channel page. We do not embed live video on the directory itself, both because some channels prefer not to be embedded outside their own page and because the directory loads faster without a stack of video frames.

Clicking a channel name takes you straight to that channel on Twitch or YouTube. We do not insert affiliate parameters, tracking redirects, or referral codes on outbound links.

How to get your channel listed

The fastest path is the in-app streamer signup form at getknownradio.com/#/streamer-signup. The form lets you paste your channel URLs (Twitch, Kick, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) and a short note about what you stream in a single submission. The desk pulls signups in order and reviews them within a week.

If you would rather email, send the channel URL plus a short description (two or three sentences on what you play, when you usually stream, and what makes your show different) to [email protected]. The editor will watch a recent broadcast or two and decide. Email submissions take roughly the same time as form submissions.

We will respond either way. If we say no, it almost always means we like the channel but it does not fit the editorial scope — not that the work is bad. If we say yes, we will let you know the entry is live and link out from the directory.

What we do not do

We do not run paid placements on the streamer directory. No channel paid to be added, and no channel can. The order on the directory is editorial — usually weighted toward currently-live channels first, then by how recently they last broadcast.

We do not require directory members to cross-promote the station, share our links, or mention us during broadcasts. We hope they do, because we appreciate it; we do not require it.

We also do not list streams that violate the platforms' terms of service, that knowingly play music without the rights to do so, or that primarily exist as a workaround for the platforms' copyright systems. The directory is intended to surface real, legitimate music streaming work.

For listeners

The fastest way to use the directory is to open the front page, scroll to the Streamers section, and look for the live indicator. If there are no channels live at the moment, the directory entries are still useful — the channel descriptions help you decide who to follow so the live channels show up in your feed next time they stream.

Apply to be listed: streamer signup form. Tips, channels we should know about, or corrections to current entries: [email protected].