The Story Behind Wizard Waves

In Orlando in late 2024, I was attending a conference for work. I had the afternoon off and of course, like any Harry Potter fan with a few extra dollars saved up in his bank account, I went to check-out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando: Specifically, Diagon Alley (in Universal Studios) and Hogsmeade / Hogwarts Castle (in Islands of Adventure).

I did all the stuff: Window shopping at Diagon, train ride to Hogsmeade, castle ride, dinner at the Three Broomsticks (so tasty), motorbike ride at sunset, return to Diagon and an everything-goes-wrong tour of Gringotts’ vaults … all of it was brilliant.

What did I take home with me besides a souvenir butterbeer mug and windswept hair from Hagrid’s motorbike? I could not get out of my head how much I loved just walking around the place – listening to the music from the Harry Potter film series. Something about actually walking the Diagon Alley street – mixed with the noises of fire-breathing dragons and the film music, already etched on my brain, did something to me. And I wanted to keep it.

Back in the office, every now and then I’d pop on my headphones and immerse myself in the sounds of Potter while I plunged into the work of managing and troubleshooting muggle tech. I could play any Potter song I wanted. But something wasn’t right: It wasn’t spontaneous. It wasn’t quite as fun.

Sometime later, while watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I saw Ron Weasley obsessing over his wizard radio – waiting to hear the names of his family read among the other victims of Voldemort’s string of terror attacks. That’s when I realized what I was really wanting: Wizard Radio.

I hit-up the muggle internet immediately: Google searches, web radio indexes, Harry Potter fan sites, Amazon music channels, podcasts – I search desperately to find not just magical music, but a live or semi-live broadcast connecting the community of Potter music fans. I found some “radio stations” which were essentially playlists of popular Disney tunes – that’s the closest I got. And while there is no shortage of Disney influencers churning-out nearly round-the-clock content live from Disney parks, there was nothing like the true Wizard Radio I envisioned.

So I gave up looking – and started making. But I didn’t just want to cast a playlist of music from the Potter films. I wanted Potter talk and news as well. With the upcoming Harry Potter television series starting to appear on the horizion, and “Potter Merch” being more available than ever, I knew interest in Potter was hardly dying.

It took so much research, work, mistakes, entire failures and re-dos – but I finally got something workable off the ground: True round-the-clock radio featuring magical music and fun, whimsical spoken content.

I realized quickly that, as much Potter music as we have (from the films and from Hogwarts Legacy), I was going to have to expand the music library to have the kind of variety I wanted. So we threw music from Disney and other magically-themed properties and stories into the mix – and I loved the result: So many memorable tunes, both played and sung. Listening at work, in my car, or on walks or runs wasn’t a chore – Each new surprise piece of music brought back to my memory time spent with characters, family, and friends. It was musical comfort food for the mind.

So that’s it: Wizard Waves became the musical happy place I was seeking but never found. I hope you enjoy what’s there, and look forward to what’s ahead!

-Quin Swallow