{
  "id": "radioindex",
  "name": "RadioIndex (The Archive of American Radio)",
  "shortName": "RadioIndex",
  "url": "https://www.radioindex.org",
  "category": "Open Archival Index",
  "operator": "The Archive of American Radio (AAR)",
  "foundedYear": 2024,
  "auditedAt": "2026-11-01",
  "pricing": {
    "model": "free",
    "monthlyUsd": 0,
    "annualUsd": 0,
    "displayPrice": "$0 / Free",
    "billingNote": "100% open public archival access; zero ads, zero paywalls, zero tracking.",
    "freeTierNote": "Full catalog streaming, synchronized .vtt transcripts, podcast RSS feeds, and JSON APIs included."
  },
  "catalog": {
    "broadcastCount": 233000,
    "seriesCount": 3054,
    "distinctRecordings": 142800,
    "dateSpan": "1926–1982",
    "onlineStreamablePct": 100
  },
  "metrics": {
    "playableBroadcasts": 233000,
    "catalogBroadcasts": 233000,
    "seriesCount": 3054,
    "vttSubtitleCount": 231400,
    "specCount": 14,
    "totalSpecs": 14,
    "medianBitrateKbps": 128,
    "maxBitrateKbps": 1411,
    "ttfaMs": 152,
    "highCutoffHz": 12500
  },
  "audio": {
    "formats": [
      "FLAC",
      "MP3 (128–320 kbps)",
      "Opus",
      "WebVTT (.vtt)"
    ],
    "primaryContainer": "MP3 / FLAC + WebVTT",
    "streamingAvailable": true,
    "batchDownloadAvailable": true,
    "rssFeedsAvailable": true
  },
  "provenance": {
    "primaryMasterSource": "16\" ET lacquer transfers, AFRS pressings, network line checks, and deduplicated OTRR/IA masters with SHA-256 stream digests",
    "airdateMethodology": "Primary newspaper radio logs (Chronicling America, Fulton History, JJonz, Variety, Broadcasting) + full-audio verbal announcement verification; zero stride projection",
    "castAttributionMethod": "Episode-specific faster-whisper VAD full-audio transcription + primary studio script reconciliation linking actors to exact character roles",
    "captionEngine": "100% full-length faster-whisper (large-v3 + VAD filtering) WebVTT synchronized captions"
  },
  "specs": {
    "free_no_paywall": true,
    "no_login_required": true,
    "ad_free": true,
    "uuid_index": true,
    "sha256_dedup": true,
    "schema_jsonld": true,
    "podcast_rss": true,
    "open_json_api": true,
    "vtt_subtitles": true,
    "newspaper_scans": true,
    "studio_scripts": true,
    "character_roles": true,
    "lossless_et": true,
    "serial_arcs": true
  },
  "specNotes": {
    "uuid_index": "Canonical UUID & short RID per broadcast/recording (/listen?id={id}, radioindex.org-ids) for universal stream & subtitle resolution.",
    "sha256_dedup": "Cryptographic SHA-256 stream digests across all mirrors; preserves separate East/West Coast network broadcasts.",
    "vtt_subtitles": "231,400+ full-length faster-whisper VAD WebVTT (.vtt) subtitle files synced in-player and downloadable.",
    "newspaper_scans": "Direct citations to scanned newspaper radio logs (Chronicling America, Fulton History, JJonz, Variety, Broadcasting).",
    "studio_scripts": "Original studio continuity and production scripts linked via radioindex.org-scripts.",
    "schema_jsonld": "Full Schema.org RadioEpisode & RadioSeries JSON-LD + OpenGraph on every broadcast route."
  },
  "capabilities": {
    "primary_source_verification": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 98,
      "summary": "Every broadcast date is cross-checked against historic newspaper radio logs (Chronicling America, Fulton History, JJonz) or explicit in-recording announcements.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"NEVER SYNTHESIZE AIR DATES: Never project, extrapolate, or calculate broadcast air dates via calendar stride projection... Every air date must be corroborated by primary archival logs.\""
    },
    "cast_credit_accuracy": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 96,
      "summary": "Per-episode Cast & Crew links[] reconcile spoken sign-off credits and archival logs to exact character roles; never copies series leads blindly.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"Every cast credit and character assignment must be explicitly verified through full-length speech-to-text audio transcription or primary archival radio logs/scripts.\""
    },
    "vtt_transcripts": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 99,
      "summary": "100% full-length audio WebVTT (.vtt) transcripts generated with faster-whisper + VAD filtering and synchronized in the Now Playing drawer.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"Always pass the entire full-length .vtt transcript from start to finish... synchronized word/phrase cues served via radioindex.org-subtitles.\""
    },
    "master_provenance": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 94,
      "summary": "Tracks SHA-256 stream digests, 16\" ET matrix numbers, AFRS numbers, and separates East/West network feeds.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"Stream records store cryptographic digests, source transfer lineage, and blocked-stream-digests to purge corrupt or mislabeled encodes.\""
    },
    "serial_continuity": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 95,
      "summary": "Contiguous multi-part story arcs (Johnny Dollar 5-parters, I Love a Mystery, CBSRMT) ordered chronologically with verified broadcast numbers.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"Series listings (/search?series=) and curated shelves preserve chronological broadcast sequence and multi-part serial continuity.\""
    },
    "open_api_export": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 98,
      "summary": "Deterministic query-string routes (/search?series=, /listen?id=, /rss?series=), HTML fragments (/api/fragments), and open Git-backed data repos.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"Public URLs are a top-level route plus a query string only (/search?series=, /listen?id=, /rss?series=); data lives in open git repos.\""
    },
    "ad_free_playback": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 100,
      "summary": "Zero commercial interruptions, zero banner ads, and zero paywalls; original 1930s–1950s sponsor announcements preserved intact.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"Free public access served directly from OVH Rust origin with persistent mini-player and expanded Now Playing queue.\""
    },
    "dedup_integrity": {
      "level": "verified",
      "score": 97,
      "summary": "Moves duplicate recordings onto the canonical broadcast winner while preserving active East/West coast variant recordings.",
      "evidenceQuote": "\"When two broadcasts are duplicates (same title + date in same program): move all recordings to the winner, set is_active=0 on the loser. Never hard-delete.\""
    }
  },
  "gotchas": [
    {
      "severity": "note",
      "title": "Strict Ground-Truth Gate Delays Unverified Uploads",
      "detail": "Episodes lacking verifiable primary air dates or awaiting full-length faster-whisper VAD transcription are flagged rather than guessed, meaning newly discovered raw trader tapes take longer to pass enrichment QA."
    },
    {
      "severity": "note",
      "title": "Retired Legacy Path URLs Redirect via 301",
      "detail": "Older path-style URLs (/series/*, /broadcasts/*, /episodes/*) are retired in favor of flat query routes (/search?series=, /listen?id=) with 301 redirects."
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "markdownCard": "https://www.radiologs.org/data/providers/radioindex.md",
    "jsonCard": "https://www.radiologs.org/data/providers/radioindex.json",
    "comparisonHome": "https://www.radiologs.org/"
  }
}