Online radio and community building: A closer look at NTS’ Don’t Assume Day

By any measure, streaming defines today’s music landscape. It’s a period in which digital platforms determine how audiences access, discover, and share music. Yet as algorithmic playlists saturate the experience, a counter current has emerged: listeners are seeking context and connection, not just access. This is the space where online radio stations like NTS thrive.

An end to visual tribalism, the start of auditory community building

At the heart of NTS's success is a deceptively simple mantra: "Don't Assume". Inspired by the Maggie Nichols record of the same name, this phrase is the station’s founding ethos. Founded in 2011 in Hackney, East London, NTS was conceived as an antidote to homogenous playlists – a space where anyone can play anything, and where pure musical curiosity overrides tribal identity.

This philosophy is increasingly relevant. As NTS’s CEO Sean McAuliffe aptly noted to me, “People don’t wear their music taste on their sleeves anymore”. The visual cues of music-based identity – the specific haircuts or uniforms of a scene – have largely faded. You can champion the anarchic spirit of the Sex Pistols without a leather jacket or safety pin in sight.

This liberation from visual tribalism creates a new challenge: if you can't see your community, how do you find it? This is the void that online radio fills so effectively.

Don't Assume Day: A masterclass in community building

The station's ethos was powerfully realised in its charity broadcast, 'Don’t Assume Day'.

On the surface, it's an unpredictable day of programming where leaders from art, activism, film, and literature take over NTS's channels.  What struck me, however, wasn't just the event itself, but was the guest selection and what this meant for scene alignment. This was a truly eclectic, yet strangely intertwined, mix of figures.

There were political figures like Jeremy Corbyn (an easy win for the core audience, sure), but also the poignant guest mix from Keith LaMar, an activist, writer and death row inmate. The lineup also included naturalist Chris Packham, documentarian Adam Curtis, art director Hans Ulrich Obrist, makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench, and even Turkish Olympic sport shooter and internet meme sensation Yusuf Dikeç.

This isn’t name-out-of-a-hat selection. It’s a deliberate reflection of the NTS listener's own broad, cross-disciplinary interests. It signals to the community: "We see you". Layering the event with fundraising for the UN World Food Programme then transforms listening from passive entertainment into collective action, deepening the community's emotional investment.

But what truly separates this is the profound level of trust it cultivates. Take the show from Adam Curtis and God Colony – which, true to the documentarian's style, features no speech. It didn’t matter whether you liked what you heard or not. You tune in to hear what they will play. To listen for over an hour based purely on trust in the curator's vision is a rare and powerful dynamic.

When I asked Sean McAuliffe about this curatorial process, he modestly attributed it to "who they knew", rather than a drawn-out strategic exercise. But that’s the point. This intuitive understanding is the essence of an authentic community. To know, instinctively, who your audience wants to hear from is to truly know your listenership.

The global art gallery in N16

Crucially, NTS does not position itself as an oppositional force to the DSPs. Theirs is not a competitor, but a complimentary offer. Their own analogy is the most apt “If DSPs are Pinterest, NTS is an art gallery”. One is an immense, user-generated repository; the other, a curated space for context and connoisseurship. They are complementary experiences serving different needs.

The ultimate lesson here is that in a market saturated with algorithmic abundance, the most defensible asset is a community that sees its own identity reflected in the brand.

NTS has mastered the alchemy of transforming a solitary listening session into a shared event. In doing so, it has cemented online radio’s vital role in our cultural ecosystem. It offers a powerful model for the future: not just more music, but a genuine sense of belonging.