Chromatic FM is now Live!

Sam Tarantino
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read

Eight months ago, Chromatic FM forced me to a choice: either fold up and go home or learn to code and finish what we started. Doubts flooded my mind. How could I do what Josh, my genius former partner did? I’m neither a math person nor as smart as he was. How could I learn five programming languages having never written a line of code in my life all the while keeping up with the bills that keep Chromatic alive? The enormity of what I had to learn and the prospect of getting to the finish line seemed completely impossible to achieve.

Eight months later and many, many breakdowns and moments of overwhelming impossibility, moments when I wanted so bad to just throw in the towel, Chromatic FM is now in its first finished form. When Josh and I first started Grooveshark 12 years ago, I never in a million years would have believed that I’d be learning Bash/Systems, Python, Swift, Postgres, Redis, Go, Git, Linode, HTML/CSS and Firebase to finish this product. I know I have an infinite amount more to learn but that has become the joy in it. Just like when I’m in the mountains there are infinite peaks to climb and lines to ski. The beauty is in simply creating.

I can now say as someone who knew nothing of code, that anything is achievable with effort and time; that the only thing stopping us is ourselves; that we can accomplish anything we want by working on it a little bit each day. Nothing is impossible with enough scale and momentum. With focus, determination and learning the human mind and body can achieve wonders.

Ironically it was the very things I was most afraid of — being left completely alone and learning what I thought was an impossible skill, that rekindled my drive and purpose. Out of loss and pain came hope and excitement. With the help of my mentor, my family and the many friends who have been there to help me learn when I was stuck or simply be there for me when I was overwhelmed, this impossible dream has become a reality.

Seeing the hundreds of lines of code that I contributed to the project in action and working is a kind of invigorating feeling that I never imagined. It made me recognize what it was that I lost three years ago with the end of Grooveshark and the loss of Josh was in fact not lost at all — that I am whomever I choose to be.

Chromatic FM

Away from the age of boring, repetitive, commercial-interrupted, & algorithm-controlled radio. Chromatic FM is a platform for tastemakers & listeners to connect & share content they’re currently jammin’ to.

Sam Tarantino

Written by

Founder and CEO of @ChromaticFM former CEO of Grooveshark. Musician. Engineer. Mountaineer.

Chromatic FM

Away from the age of boring, repetitive, commercial-interrupted, & algorithm-controlled radio. Chromatic FM is a platform for tastemakers & listeners to connect & share content they’re currently jammin’ to.

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