How to Listen to Ethiopian Radio Online

Published 19 September 2026

You can stream Ethiopian radio live in any browser, with no download and no account: open 72FM's Ethiopia page, choose a station and press play. Ethiopian stations are some of the most-voted African stations in the whole directory — a sign of how many Ethiopians abroad listen to home online — and the dial mixes Amharic talk, church music, football and the old songs people never tire of.

The public broadcaster

The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) is the country's oldest and largest broadcaster, and its radio side includes Ethiopian National Radio, FM Addis 97.1 and FM 104.7. FM Addis 97.1 is the most-voted Ethiopian station in the directory, with news, talk and music in Amharic. Alongside EBC there are broadcasters run by the regions — the Oromia Broadcasting Network and Amhara Media Corporation among them — and Fana, a large broadcaster that started in 1994 and is known for its news and current affairs.

Private FM in Addis Ababa

Private radio is young in Ethiopia. Sheger FM 102.1 was the first private station, on air since October 2007, and it is still one of the best loved — known for its presenters, its long conversations and its music. Others followed:

• Ethio FM 107.8 — news, talk and entertainment in Amharic.
• Ahadu Radio — news and current affairs.
• Bisrat FM 101.1 — Addis Ababa talk and music.

Online stations

A lot of Ethiopian radio online comes from stations that exist only on the internet, many run from the diaspora.

• Mirt Internet Radio — one of the most-voted Ethiopian stations in the directory.
• Voice of Ethiopia, Jano FM and YeneVibe Radio — Ethiopian music, mostly in Amharic.
• Taem Radio and Addis Music — more of the same, with their own presenters and playlists.

These stations are run by small teams and enthusiasts. They come and go more often than broadcasters, so if one has stopped, try the next.

The sounds that come from here

Tizita. A song form and a mood — the word means something like memory, or longing — built on its own five-note scale. Nothing else sounds like it, and Tizta FM plays slow songs in that spirit.

The golden age. The 1960s and early 1970s were an extraordinary time in Addis Ababa music: big bands, nightclubs and singers such as Mahmoud Ahmed and Tilahun Gessesse. Mulatu Astatke blended jazz and Latin music with Ethiopian scales and gave the world Ethio-jazz. The music reached a wide audience abroad in the 1990s through the Éthiopiques record series. For the older songs, Ethio Oldies — one of the few Ethiopian streams at 192kbps — plays music from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Church music. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a musical tradition of its own, and mezmur — hymns and religious songs — have their own stations, including Ethiopian Orthodox Church Mezmur and Christian Mezmur Ethiopia. For Muslim listeners there are Qur'an stations and Halaal Radio.

Football. Football is huge in Ethiopia, and live commentary in Amharic — for the English Premier League as much as for Ethiopian clubs — has a big following. There are streams given over to it. Whether a particular match plays abroad is the broadcaster's rights decision.

Ethiopian time

Two things can confuse a listener from abroad. Ethiopia is three hours ahead of UTC, but many Ethiopians count the hours from dawn rather than midnight — so 7am is "1 o'clock" in the morning, and a presenter saying "2 o'clock" may mean 8am. And Ethiopia has its own calendar, seven to eight years behind the Western one, with a New Year, Enkutatash, in September. Both are worth knowing before you set your alarm by the radio.

Listening from abroad

Large Ethiopian communities live in the United States — the Washington DC area above all — in Israel, the Gulf, Europe and elsewhere in Africa. For many of them online radio is how home sounds every day. Expat radio covers the habit; if a stream will not play from your country, radio stations not available in your country explains why. For international news in Amharic, DW Amharic is also in the directory.

Sound quality

Many Ethiopian stations do not report their bitrate, which shows as "0" and says nothing about how they sound — most play fine on a phone. Ethio Oldies streams at 192kbps and DW Amharic at 64kbps. If a stream stutters, why a radio stream buffers explains what to try.

A route in

1. FM Addis 97.1, for the public broadcaster's Amharic station.
2. Sheger FM 102.1, for the station that started private radio.
3. Tizta FM or Ethio Oldies, for the songs of memory.
4. Ethiopian Orthodox Church Mezmur, for a sound that is Ethiopia's alone.

All of them are on the Ethiopia page, free, an hour a day without an account. For the rest of the continent, African radio online is the next step.

Listen now: All stations from Ethiopia