WLIR.fm streams new wave, synth-pop, and alternative rock from the 1980s through today, carrying on the legacy of one of the most influential radio stations in American history. Press play on Radio Shuffle and it streams instantly, free, with no account or app download required.
From a hotel basement to "Dare to Be Different"
The original WLIR started in 1959, built by John Rieger in the basement of the Garden City Hotel on Long Island, running a beautiful music format before switching to progressive rock in 1970, according to the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Everything changed on August 2, 1982, when the station dropped its Southern rock and AOR playlist entirely and adopted the slogan "Dare to Be Different," pivoting hard into punk and new wave. Within a year, that gamble had turned a 3,000-watt Long Island signal, pieced together with what the Hall of Fame calls "a patchwork of antique equipment," into one of the most influential radio outlets in the country.
The first American station to play U2
For nine years, from 1982 to 1991, WLIR broke bands months or years before anyone else in the United States would touch them. It became the first commercial station in America to play U2, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Duran Duran, Prince, and Madonna, introducing an entire generation of British synth-pop and post-punk acts to American ears well ahead of the mainstream. Program director Denis McNamara built the on-air lineup around personalities like Larry the Duck and Malibu Sue McCann, whose enthusiasm for the new sound became as much a part of the station's identity as the records themselves.
Carried forward online
This stream is run by Bob Wilson, a longtime WLIR employee and station historian, who built it specifically to keep the "Dare to Be Different" spirit alive after the original frequencies changed hands and format over the decades. The webcast mixes the alternative rock and new wave that made WLIR famous in the 1980s and 90s with current alternative music, and it brings back several of the original on-air voices, including Larry the Duck, to host segments alongside the music.
Listen free on Radio Shuffle
WLIR.fm streams around the clock, and Radio Shuffle carries the feed live with nothing to install and no subscription required. Press play for the sound of the station that dared American radio to be different first.