My Plex music library is carefully organized. That does not mean I always want to choose an artist, album, or playlist before hearing anything.
Sometimes I want to turn on the Apple TV and find a station already playing. In the car, I want the same library to keep going after I put the iPhone down. That is the job of Plex radio in Bunny Ears TV.
Bunny Ears TV builds 68 radio stations from the music on your selected Plex server. They appear as channels 1000 through 1067 on Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad, with album artwork and track information instead of another grid of albums. On iPhone and iPad, eligible background playback can also continue through the device's active car audio route.
I built Bunny Ears TV, so this is a firsthand guide to my app rather than an independent review. The app does not include music, internet radio feeds, or a licensed catalog. Every song comes from a Plex music library you can already access.
What Does Plex Radio Mean Here?
“Plex radio” can describe a few different experiences. Plex and Plexamp have their own radio and discovery features. In Bunny Ears TV, Radio means a set of scheduled, channel-style stations inside the same guide used for movies, shows, music videos, and Weather on 20.
The stations use Plex music metadata such as genre, style, mood, artist, and era. Broad choices include All Music, Fresh Tracks, and Unplayed. More specific stations range from 90s Alternative Rock and Smooth Jazz to Soundtracks & Scores, Ambient & New Age, and Workout & High Energy.
Your library decides which of those Plex music stations can go on the air. A large rock collection may fill several related channels. A library with little jazz may leave the Jazz stations out of the guide. Bunny Ears TV does not fill gaps with music from somewhere else.
These are audio stations, not simulated FM broadcasts. There are no DJs, news breaks, or outside commercials. The television part is the guide, channel number, scheduled flow, and the feeling that something is already on.
How to Set Up Plex Music Stations in Bunny Ears TV
1. Prepare the Plex music library
The music must first be available in a Music library on Plex Media Server. Plex recommends organizing it by artist and album, with track numbers and names inside each album folder. Its official music folder and naming guide covers the expected structure.
Before opening Bunny Ears TV, play a few representative tracks in Plex. Check the artist, album, genre, artwork, duration, and playback. Clean metadata matters because Bunny Ears TV uses it both to decide whether a station fits and to show what is playing.
Genre is especially important for focused Plex Music Channels. If an album you think of as jazz is tagged only as “Vocal,” it may not land on the Jazz station. If a track is attached to the wrong artist, that mistake follows it into the channel.
2. Select the music library
In Bunny Ears TV, open Settings > Server & Library > Manage Libraries. Select the Plex music libraries you want the app to use, save the selection, and let the refresh finish.
This does not copy the audio to a Bunny Ears TV cloud service or change the library on Plex. The app reads the selected server's music information and requests the files for playback. Removing a library from Bunny Ears TV later does not delete its tracks from Plex.
3. Enable the Music package
Open Settings > Channel Packages and enable Music. The Music package contains the 68 Radio stations and is part of Bunny Ears TV+.
The guide includes only stations that have enough matching material to behave like a station rather than a very short playlist. At the time of writing, a Radio filter needs at least 10 matching tracks totaling 30 minutes. A broad station can appear even when a narrow one does not.
If you just changed a large library or corrected a group of genres, refresh the selected library and give the guide time to rebuild before deciding that a station is missing.
4. Tune to a 1000-series station
Return to the guide and move to the 1000-series range. Choose a station that fits the room rather than the most precise label in the list. All Music is the fastest test because it asks the least of the metadata. A decade or genre station is a better second check.
Full-screen Radio shows the current album artwork, track title, artist, album, and playback progress. The schedule advances through the station in order. If one file cannot play, Bunny Ears TV can skip it and continue when another valid track is available.
Radio has its own Audio Streaming Quality settings. Original Quality keeps the source when the route supports it. Auto can use Direct Play on a healthy local network or ask Plex for an audio-only stream on a limited remote or mobile route. The result depends on the file, server, network, and device rather than one universal “always direct plays” promise.
Apple TV Plex Radio
Apple TV is where the station idea is easiest to see. The 1000-series music channels sit in the program guide beside the video lineup. Tune to one and the screen becomes an album-art player with the current song's details.
It is useful for the ordinary moments when picking an album feels like unnecessary work: cooking, cleaning, reading, or leaving music on while people move through the room. Channel surfing also makes it easy to move from 80s Music to Jazz without backing through artists and albums.
Apple TV stops Bunny Ears TV playback when the app leaves the foreground. Background audio is an iPhone and iPad feature, not an Apple TV promise.
iPhone Plex Radio and Background Listening
On iPhone, Plex radio can leave the guide behind. Start a station, then lock the screen or open another app. Radio's Background Audio policy defaults to Always, and you can change it under Settings > Playback > Background Audio > Radio Stations.
The choices are:
- Always, which permits an eligible Radio session to continue in the background
- Full Screen Only, which requires the session to have started in full screen
- Off, which stops Radio when Bunny Ears TV leaves the foreground
When the session is active, Bunny Ears TV publishes album artwork and track information to the iPhone's system Now Playing surfaces. Lock Screen, Control Center, AirPlay, and compatible hardware media controls can handle the basic playback actions.
This is the most practical iPhone Plex Radio setup for a walk or a pocketed phone. Start with All Music if you are testing the route. Move to a narrower station after you know background playback and the selected Audio quality work on that connection.
iPad Plex Music Stations
iPad has the same Radio lineup and background-audio policies, with more room for the guide and station artwork. It works well as a small now-playing screen on a desk or kitchen counter, especially when the iPad is already connected to speakers.
An iPad Plex music station can also continue through the device's active output when its background policy permits it. Wi-Fi and cellular-capable iPads keep separate network behavior, so test the route you actually plan to use rather than assuming the home result proves the mobile one.
Plex Radio in CarPlay and Connected Cars
Bunny Ears TV is not a standalone CarPlay app and does not add a separate station browser to the CarPlay Home screen.
The supported path starts on the iPhone or iPad. Tune a Radio station while parked, leave its Background Audio policy on Always or the appropriate setting, then send audio through the device's active connected car route. The app publishes system Now Playing information and responds to compatible media controls while the session remains eligible.
That distinction matters for searches such as CarPlay Plex radio or Plex music stations in the car. The audio can follow the iPhone into the car, but station selection still belongs in Bunny Ears TV on the Apple device. Vehicle behavior can vary with the head unit and active route, so test it in the car you use.
See Plex Background Audio on iPhone and iPad for the current policy details and screenshots.
Add Your Plex Music to Weather on 20
Weather on 20 is a separate free Basic channel, but it can borrow the same Plex music library for its soundtrack. It is the closest Bunny Ears TV comes to the old local forecast channel left on in the background.
“Custom music” needs one honest qualification. You can use music from your own selected Plex library, but you cannot currently assign one exact playlist or hand-pick a Weather queue. Bunny Ears TV chooses the soundtrack automatically.
To configure it:
- Confirm that a Plex music library is selected under Settings > Server & Library > Manage Libraries.
- Open Settings > Weather.
- Choose Update Location and allow location access when the device asks.
- Open Units and select Automatic, Fahrenheit, or Celsius.
- Turn on Weather Music. It is enabled by default, so this may already be set.
- Return to the guide and tune to 20 Weather on 20.
Weather Music first looks for smooth material tagged as jazz, smooth jazz, easy listening, lounge, bossa nova, new age, or instrumental. If that group is too small, it falls back to other suitable music while excluding spoken-word, comedy, children's, and holiday categories. One playable track is enough for the ambient queue, even though the regular Radio stations require a broader shelf.
If no suitable song is available, the forecast keeps running silently. A broken or unavailable track should not take the weather information off the screen.
What Weather on 20 shows
Channel 20 rotates through four information pages:
- Current Conditions shows temperature, condition, feels-like temperature, high and low, wind, humidity, UV index, visibility, pressure, dew point, and cloud cover. A Tonight card adds the expected low, sunrise, sunset, and moon phase.
- Hourly Forecast shows the coming hours with temperature, condition, precipitation chance, and a short summary of rain, wind, and the overnight low.
- Extended Forecast shows seven days of conditions, precipitation chance, and low-to-high temperature ranges.
- Almanac shows the moon phase and illumination, sunrise, sunset, daylight duration, wind, humidity, and visibility.
A ticker keeps shorter local details moving along the bottom. The scene changes with conditions and time of day. Weather data comes from Apple Weather, and the location choice stays on the device rather than syncing a household location to every screen.
The limits are straightforward. Weather on 20 depends on location permission, Apple Weather availability, and a usable network or recent cached forecast. It does not support DVR seeking, Restart, or Ad Bumpers. You can leave Weather Music off and use the forecast without a soundtrack.
For screenshots and the current feature summary, visit Weather on 20.
Plex Music Channels Versus a Plex Music Video Channel
Audio and video are different shelves in Bunny Ears TV.
The 68 Plex music stations in the 1000 range use audio tracks from selected Plex music libraries. They are organized by built-in metadata rules. You do not create a new audio Radio station from a playlist today.
Music Video Mixtapes on channel 19 uses videos from Plex playlists, collections, and video libraries you choose. It can balance multiple sources, keep the same artist from returning too quickly, favor recent additions, schedule Artist Spotlight sets, and show Song IDs over the picture.
That makes Channel 19 the right place for searches such as Apple TV Plex music video channel, custom Plex music video station, Plex music video playlist channel, or MTV-style Plex channel from a personal library. It does not supply music videos or reproduce a licensed cable feed. It schedules videos that are already available through your Plex server.
Follow How to Create a Plex Music Video Channel for the full Channel 19 setup.
Common Questions About Plex Radio Stations
Does Bunny Ears TV include music with its Plex radio stations?
No. The stations use audio files from the Plex music libraries you select. Bunny Ears TV does not provide an internet-radio stream or licensed music catalog.
Can I make a custom Plex music station from a playlist?
Not as an audio Radio station. The 68 Radio channels use built-in genre, mood, style, era, and library-state rules. Channel 19 accepts selected Plex sources for a custom music-video mix, but it is a video channel.
Why is a Plex music channel missing from my guide?
Check that the Music package is enabled, the correct music library is selected, and enough tracks match the station's metadata. At the time of writing, a regular Radio station needs 10 matching tracks totaling at least 30 minutes. Refresh the library after correcting metadata.
Can I use iPhone Plex radio with CarPlay?
You can play through the iPhone's active connected car audio route when Background Audio permits it. Bunny Ears TV does not provide a separate CarPlay browsing screen, so start or change the station in the app while parked.
Can I choose an exact Weather on 20 playlist?
No. Weather Music automatically chooses smooth tracks from the selected Plex music libraries, preferring jazz-related genres before a broader fallback. You can turn the soundtrack on or off.
Are the audio stations and music video channel free?
Weather on 20 and Music Video Mixtapes on channel 19 are in the always-free 26-channel Basic package. The 68 Radio stations are in the Music package included with Bunny Ears TV+.
Start With the Broadest Station
Do not begin by repairing the metadata for an obscure subgenre. Select the music library, enable the Music package, and tune to All Music. Let it play long enough to catch a wrong artist, missing cover, failed file, or abrupt genre jump.
Then fix the library problem you actually heard. The point of Plex radio is to spend less time arranging the shelf and more time letting it play.
