Happy 15th Birthday, Gensokyo Radio!

News

15 years ago today, Gensokyo Radio began as a small, one-off project co-founded by Auritribe and Kyousagi. The goal was simple: to feature fan-made musical works based on the Touhou Project video game series, and credit artists better than the re-uploaders of the era in order to give listeners a route to find and support artists beyond. It started out as an automated SHOUTcast-based radio station which tried to focus on lesser-known artists and works, though in those days pretty much everyone was “lesser-known” in the west, and it featured a news-oriented Wordpress-based website. Listeners could tune in via a web player on the website, or by browsing through SHOUTcast’s listings.

In December 2011, Auritribe had shut down the radio station, and it would have likely stayed that way. However, less than 48 hours later, LunarSpotlight stepped in and brought it back up and created a rudimentary one-page website with a player and song information updates.

Over the next 14+ years, the website received iterative updates, the radio station moved between different hosting systems and setups, we broadcasted more than 160 live shows and events in both the U.S. and Japan, have seen a small handful of staff, fan group writers, and community moderators help us along the way, have had several guests join us for our broadcasts, have been to multiple conventions as panelists, associate staff, booth associates, and official guests, and have had the support of thousands of fans and listeners all around the world.

Speaking as your station manager, I’ve had the honor of being one of the anchors for the community through my and my team’s enthusiasm for music and supporting the people who make it. There have been several memorable moments along the way like the first art gift that we received from FreezeEx, traveling to Comic Market 92 in Japan alongside Komeiji Records, and being featured at TouhouFest’s inaugural convention in 2023. As a bonus, in 2014, the experience I gained through working on Gensokyo Radio as a project helped me get hired at my first “real” job.

Though the pace has slowed from those early days, Gensokyo Radio has been a project I’ve paid attention to nearly every day for the more than 14 years that I’ve been part of it. Getting to meet with listeners and artists, hear their feedback, and continue to improve over time has been an invaluable and irreplaceable experience, and that experience has helped me build a skillset and foundation upon which I feel will help to better equip me for future projects beyond this radio station.

Looking ahead, we’ll be introducing Knightune by its real name during Live #162 which is set to broadcast on Saturday, March 21st at 6pm ET / 3pm PT. Despite a challenging couple of weeks dealing with the rebuild of our web store and forum redeployment, we still intend to launch the website in its Phase 1 form where we’ll have some additional information available about what it is, allow account creation, and encourage folks to apply as foundational artists who will help pioneer and create an initial library for the platform. After that, Phase 2 development will begin where we’ll be able to field feedback from artists, test various new systems, and build towards creating a platform which gives artists more while creating a premium music streaming experience that’s more affordable for listeners.

Thank you for being a part of our journey and continuing to support us and independent artists around the world. Gensokyo Radio will continue as it has for the past 15 years: an iterative, passion-filled project which aims to raise awareness and encourage supporting independent artists. We’ll talk to you soon, and thanks for listening!

[Knowledge #218]

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