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Dash Radio launches a filter that lets you toggle between clean and explicit music

Dash Radio launches a filter that lets you toggle between clean and explicit music

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The filter can also clean up live radio shows and interviews

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Anyone that has listened to FM radio, iHeartRadio, or even Beats 1 knows that when your favorite song comes on and it's full of bleeps on the curse words, it can be a bit frustrating if you want to sing along. On the other hand, if you're listening to 2 Chainz and your kids hop in the car, you probably don't want him cursing at your children.

To remedy that issue, Dash Radio has developed a new filter that will let you switch between explicit and clean music in real time, the first of its kind. The new filter solves a pain point for parents with young kids (or rebellious teens with "lame parents") in the car that has existed for years.

"It’s been a complaint we’ve gotten since day one"

After using the filter for the past week, I can tell you it's pretty seamless. Simply long press on a Dash Radio station icon and it will instantly switch between clean and explicit versions. "It’s been a complaint we’ve gotten since day one," DJ Skee, the founder and CEO of Dash Radio told The Verge. "It’s like how do we make stations cool but also work in all different environments, and we think we have it. For the first time ever, we’ve found that solution. It’s something that nobody’s done and it’s something that in real time people can control the filter. If your kids are in the car or your grandma, you can change it instantly and when you’re by yourself you can listen to it as unfiltered as you want."

Dash Radio Filter

Dash Radio built an entirely new system on the backend to manage the multiple streams and libraries it takes to make a feature like this work. Dash isn't just censoring songs either, it's doing it with the numerous radio shows, live and prerecorded, from personalities over its 80 stations. Other services like Apple Music come with parental controls, that will allow you to hide all of the songs tagged explicit, but don't have the same capabilities for its radio station Beats 1, which is why it only plays clean music.

Dash Radio can censor songs as well as live shows

Dash Radio says it has filed a patent for the technology behind the filter and will also roll out its own parental control systems in the near future that will allow users to create profiles for their kids that can censor every station if needed.

The technology will be available in Dash Radio's Android, iOS, and web apps, as well as in vehicle platforms that support the service. The new filter is rolling out on the hip-hop station "The City" initially, and Dash Radio expects the filter to be available on all of its stations by next spring.