Song Requests (RadioHost Studio)
Song Requests let a listener search the music your station actually holds and ask for a track on air. Because the list they pick from is your real library, every request names something you can play — and approving one is a decision about your playout, not about a message on a page.
Song Requests or Dedications?
They look similar and do different jobs, so it is worth being clear before you switch anything on.
Dedications are free text. A listener names any song they like, adds who it is for and a message, and you publish it on your site. No library is involved, and it works on every Radio Site Maker site.
Song Requests are picked from your library in RadioHost Studio. There is nothing to type in wrong, nothing you cannot play, and the request lands in the same queue your DJ sees in Studio.
You can run both. Turning one on does nothing to the other.
Before you start
Song Requests need RadioHost Studio to be running your schedule — not merely connected. The tracks come from Studio's library, so a site whose schedule Studio does not drive has nothing to search.
You will know you are ready when a Song Requests entry appears in your dashboard sidebar, just under Dedications. If it is not there, finish the handover first (see Connecting RadioHost Studio), and it will appear on its own.
Turn it on
- Go to Settings.
- Find Song Requests in the features list.
- Tick it and save.
The section appears on your home page straight away, just below Recently Played, styled to match the rest of your site and translated into whichever language your site is set to.
Leaving it switched off is a perfectly reasonable choice: you can manage requests in your dashboard without ever putting the form on your front page, which suits a station taking requests by phone or social media.
What your listeners see
A search box, and a list of matching tracks as they type. They pick one, optionally add their name and a short message, and send it. That is the whole form.
A track that has already been requested and is still waiting is quietly accepted rather than refused — the queue is your business, not theirs, and telling a listener "somebody already asked for that" only invites them to try again with something else.
Approving and rejecting
Open Song Requests in the sidebar. Each request shows the track, who sent it, their message, and whether it is pending, approved or rejected. Filter by status along the top.
This is the same queue as the one in RadioHost Studio. Approve a request here and it is approved there; your DJ sees exactly what you see. It is one list viewed from two places, not a copy that has to be kept in step.
Renaming the section
The heading on your public site says Request a Song by default. To change it, open Song Requests in your dashboard and use Section Title Override at the top of the page. Your wording replaces the default in every language. Clear the box to put the default back.
If something is not right
No Song Requests entry in the sidebar. Studio is connected but not yet running your schedule. Complete the handover and the entry appears.
"Not connected to RadioHost Studio yet." Studio hands this site a key each time it pushes a schedule, and it has not pushed since the feature was added. Make any change to your schedule in Studio — moving a show and moving it back is enough — and the page starts working. There is nothing to set up here.
"RadioHost Studio could not be reached." A temporary problem talking to Studio. Your requests are safe; the page simply cannot show them this minute. Try again shortly.
A listener cannot find a track. Only tracks in Studio's library appear, and only those marked as ready to play. If it is missing there, it cannot be requested here.