WCPE Time-Shifted Radio

Record WCPE "The Classical Station" and play it back delayed so the programming lands at the same local clock time for a listener in another timezone. A listener in Bucharest hears the 8 a.m. morning show at their 8 a.m., not at 3 p.m.

Built for a Raspberry Pi: a recorder captures the live stream into hourly segments, and a small HTTP server streams those segments back with a per-listener delay computed from the listener's timezone.

How it works

recorder.py  →  segments/wcpe_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.mp3  →  server.py  →  /stream?tz=Europe/Bucharest
                          ↑                                    ↓
                   cleanup.py (retention)            ffmpeg seek + real-time pipe

• recorder.py — ffmpeg records the source stream into 1-hour segments, auto-reconnecting on drop.
• server.py — HTTP server. Computes the delay from the listener's timezone (or a fallback), finds the matching segment, and streams it from the right offset via ffmpeg.
• cleanup.py — deletes segments older than the retention window (run on a timer).
• duckdns.sh — optional dynamic-DNS updater so the Pi is reachable by name.

Endpoints

Path	Purpose
/	Landing page; auto-detects browser timezone, preview player + VLC link
/stream?tz=<IANA tz>	Delayed audio stream (e.g. tz=Europe/Bucharest)
/listen.m3u?tz=<IANA tz>	Playlist file for VLC / audio apps
/status?tz=<IANA tz>	JSON: delay, segment count, buffered hours, readiness

Setup (Raspberry Pi / Debian)

./setup.sh                       # installs ffmpeg, venv, systemd units
nano config.yaml                 # set stream_url, delay, retention, port
sudo systemctl enable --now wcpe-recorder wcpe-server wcpe-cleanup.timer
curl http://localhost:8234/status

The stream is usable once the buffer has filled past the configured delay (buffered_hours >= delay_hours in /status).

Optional: dynamic DNS

cp duckdns.env.example duckdns.env   # fill in DUCKDNS_DOMAIN + DUCKDNS_TOKEN
crontab -e                           # */5 * * * * /path/to/cpe/duckdns.sh

duckdns.env is gitignored — keep your token out of version control.

Configuration

See config.yaml: source stream_url, storage_dir, segment_seconds, delay_hours (fallback when no tz given), retention_hours, server_port, stream_bitrate_kbps.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+ (zoneinfo), ffmpeg, pyyaml

Known limitations

• No connection limiting. Each /stream connection spawns its own ffmpeg process; many simultaneous listeners can exhaust a small device. Front with a reverse proxy (nginx) and/or a connection cap for any real exposure.
• No TLS / auth. Intended for personal, low-traffic use. Put it behind a reverse proxy if exposing it publicly.

Legal

This tool records and time-shifts a third-party broadcast for personal, private listening. WCPE's stream and programming are property of The Classical Station. Respect their terms of use and your local copyright law; do not redistribute recordings.

License

MIT — see LICENSE. © Eloquentix Inc.