BBC Soundz Scraper

A windows WPF application for scraping BBC Radio schedules and downloading shows using yt-dlp.

Features

• Multi-Source Scraping: Configurable BBC radio station schedule sources
• Smart Filtering: Search for specific shows (e.g., "Essential")
• Date Range: Searches up to 2 months back from current date
• Download Integration: Built-in yt-dlp integration for downloading shows
• Visual Status: Green indicators for already downloaded shows
• Auto-Detection: Automatically detects and displays existing downloads on startup
• Default Media Player: Uses Windows default file association for playback

Configuration

BBC Schedule Sources

The application uses appsettings.json to configure which BBC radio stations to scrape. You can customize this file to add or remove sources.

Default Configuration:

{
  "BbcScheduleSources": [
    {
      "Name": "BBC Radio 1",
      "Url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl86",
      "Description": "BBC Radio 1 - Pop and chart music"
    },
    {
      "Name": "BBC Radio 1Xtra", 
      "Url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl65",
      "Description": "BBC Radio 1Xtra - Urban music"
    },
    {
      "Name": "BBC Radio 2",
      "Url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8v",
      "Description": "BBC Radio 2 - Popular music and culture"
    },
    {
      "Name": "BBC Radio 6 Music",
      "Url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8q",
      "Description": "BBC Radio 6 Music - Alternative music"
    }
  ]
}

Finding BBC Schedule URLs

To find additional BBC radio station schedule URLs:

1. Visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes
2. Navigate to the radio station you want to add
3. Go to the schedule/programme guide section
4. Copy the URL format (it should look like https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/[station-id])
5. Add it to your appsettings.json file

Example Station IDs:

• p00fzl86 - BBC Radio 1
• p00fzl65 - BBC Radio 1Xtra
• p00fzl8v - BBC Radio 2
• p00fzl8q - BBC Radio 6 Music
• p00fzl7j - BBC Radio 4
• p00fzl7g - BBC Radio 3

Usage

1. Search: Enter a show name filter (e.g., "Essential Mix") and click Search
2. Download: Select a show from the results and click Download
3. Play: Double-click on green (downloaded) items to play them
4. Monitor: Check the output panel for download progress and status

Requirements

• .NET 9.0 or later
• Windows OS
• yt-dlp.exe (included in the application)
• Internet connection for scraping and downloading

File Structure

BbcSoundz/
├── appsettings.json          # Configuration file for BBC sources
├── yt-dlp.exe               # YouTube downloader executable
├── Downloads/               # Downloaded files directory (auto-created)
├── Services/
│   ├── BbcScheduleScraper.cs    # Multi-source web scraping service
│   ├── YtDlpService.cs          # Download service
│   └── DownloadManager.cs       # File management and status tracking
├── Models/
│   └── ShowInfo.cs              # Data model for show information
├── Configuration/
│   └── AppSettings.cs           # Configuration classes
└── Helpers/
    └── RichTextBoxHelper.cs     # Console-like output formatting

Notes

• The application automatically scans the Downloads folder on startup
• Downloaded files are marked with green indicators in the results list
• The scraper uses parallel processing for better performance (max 4 concurrent requests)
• Files are played using the Windows default file association (like double-clicking in Explorer)
• UTF-8 encoding is properly handled for international characters