COOLFM Funky&Soul is one channel out of thirty, but its roots trace back to a single project that started inside a Budapest technical school in 2001. What began as an internet-only experiment at the Puskás Tivadar Telecommunications Technical School eventually grew into one of Hungary's largest radio networks, and the Funky&Soul channel is where that network puts its deepest crate-digging on display.
From a Classroom Project to FM 107.3
COOL FM launched online in 2001, then earned an actual FM license, reaching Budapest listeners on 107.3 by 2003. It built a real daily audience over the next decade before its broadcasting permit expired in 2012, a moment the station later described as liberating rather than a setback, since internet-only operation freed it from the regulatory constraints that come with a licensed frequency (COOL FM).
A University Campus, Then Full Independence
Between 2014 and 2018, COOL FM operated out of studios at Károli Gáspár Reformed University, becoming woven into campus life during that stretch. Since 2018 it has run entirely independently, and according to Inspira market research, the network now reaches somewhere between 120,000 and 200,000 Hungarian listeners every week, with an audience that stretches across Europe and, notably, as far as Antarctica (COOL FM).
Thirteen Thousand Songs, Seven Decades
The Funky&Soul channel draws from a database of more than 13,000 tracks spanning the 1950s through today, letting the station move fluidly between funk and soul's foundational era and its more contemporary descendants (Online Radio Hungary).
- Classic soul and funk, pulling from the genres' formative decades starting in the 1950s.
- Legendary-era staples, the golden age tracks that defined funk and soul's commercial peak.
- Contemporary funk and soul, newer material that keeps the rotation from feeling frozen in one decade.
- Cross-generational programming, curated specifically so multiple age groups find something familiar.
One of Thirty Channels Built on the Same Feel
Funky&Soul isn't a standalone side project, it's part of a deliberate strategy: COOL FM built out 30 distinct thematic channels while keeping a consistent identity across all of them, aiming for each one to become a defining presence within its specific genre audience rather than a generic catch-all (COOL FM). That focus is exactly why a dedicated funk and soul channel exists in the first place instead of getting folded into a broader "classics" format.
Why It's Worth a Spot in Your Rotation
If you want funk and soul programmed by people who built a 13,000-song archive specifically to do the genre justice, rather than an algorithm skimming the surface, COOLFM Funky&Soul delivers exactly that from a network with two decades of staying power behind it.
Stream COOLFM Funky&Soul Free on Radio Shuffle
Tune in to COOLFM Funky&Soul on Radio Shuffle, no account, no app, no fee. Press play and let Budapest's deepest funk and soul archive take over.