Did you know? Netflix and Global Media teamed up to create an actual, real-world radio station called WSQK – The Squawk as a part of a promotional campaign for season 5 of Stranger Things. Unfortunately, this station was temporary and only aired from November 25, 2025 until January 1st, 2026. While the station was live, it could be heard through the Global Player app, by asking smart speakers to “Play The Squawk”, or streaming platform TuneIn. The station has a very in-era feel to it, with jingles and a mix of music that matches the time period of the 1980’s, in-universe news updates that connected back to the lore of the show, and advertisements for businesses from the town of Hawkins, such as Scoops Ahoy and Melvald’s General Store.
Overall, the station was very well received, with online reviews being largely positive. It’s presentation created an experience that felt less like a marketing ploy and more like stumbling onto the genuine small-town radio station that was central to the plot in season five.
I spent the last few weeks listening to archived episodes of WSQK, having discovered the station only after its broadcast run had already ended. Listening to these archives, two things have really stood out: the quality of the programming, and the size of the music library they used. The station doesn’t just cycle through a handful of familiar tracks and recordings from the show, but draws from a wide range of music from the era, along with a variety of segments and lines from the fictional DJs, Vance Goodman and Mindy Flare.
While the station is no longer broadcasting, an extensive archive of the station is available online from third-party sources, which we’ve linked one of the most extensive of these libraries at the end of the of this article. After years of listening primarily to streaming services like Apple Music or Spotify, returning to a format like this evokes a particular kind of nostalgia. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
