Why won't the streaming audio play for me?

Inability to hear the audio can result from any one or a combination of these reasons:

• If you click the Windows Media Audio link and nothing happens, confirm you have Windows Media Player installed as your default player. 
• If your Media Player launches, and you have no sound, check to make sure your speakers are on.
• If your Media Player launches and you have no sound, make sure you haven't pressed the Mute button.
• If you click a link and no audio plays, confirm that you are clicking an actual audio link.
• If your Media Player launches and the audio starts in the middle of the program, and/or is playing out of order, deselect Shuffle.
• If your Media Player loads but seems to take a long time to actually start the audio stream, or if the stream stops and starts a lot, you may have an issue with buffering.

When I click a Windows Media Audio link, nothing happens. Why?

If you have at any point installed a different media player on your computer, you may need to change your default player settings in order to access our Windows Media Audio streams. If another player is set as your default, it will try to play the stream instead, but won't be able to. You'll have to reset Windows Media Player as your default player. To do so:

1. Click on Start
2. Open Programs
3. Open Accessories
4. Select Entertainment
5. Select Windows Media Player

This should launch your version of Windows Media Player. Once launched, follow these steps:

1. Click on Tools
2. Select Options
3. Open Format
4. click Select All
5. Click OK

This will reset your default player to Windows Media Player.

What is "buffering," and why do I get it when I try to listen to an audio stream?

If you are having problems with continuous buffering in your Windows Media Player, or are stuck connecting to media when trying to listen online, then you may need to adjust your HTTP and TCP transport methods in your Windows Media Player.
 
Please follow these directions very carefully so you don't inadvertently change a setting that will affect the usefulness of your player.
 
This change will not affect the performance of any other media that you may want to play. Once this change is complete, you will not have to repeat this process to listen online.
 
To change the transport method: 

1. Double Click on your Windows Media Player Icon to launch it. 
2. Click the word 'Tools' in the top toolbar of the player. 
3. Click the word 'Options' from the drop-down menu. 
4. Click the 'Network' tab in the Options window. 
5. In the protocols section you want to make sure that ONLY the HTTP and 
6. TCP boxes are selected. Deselect the others if they are selected and do not change the Proxy settings. 
7. Click the 'Apply' button at the bottom of the Window. 
8. Click 'OK' in that Window to close it, and then click 'OK' again in the Options window to close that too. 
9. The change in transport types is now complete. 

When the change is complete, return to the website that you were experiencing the problem to verify that the change was effective.
 
Other Possible Reasons:
 
As you are accessing content which is deemed "Higher Security Streaming", it requires authentication which could create problems with firewalls. In most firewalls, you can select the option to permit/allow high security streaming. You may wish to check with the support for your firewall to determine the best way to choose this option.
 
Another possible cause for buffering could lie with your router. Many homes have multiple computers now, requiring a router to split off internet access among them. Many routers have built in firewalls for security, and you would be able to tell if a router is being the source of your problem when you simply bypass it. This means taking the cable line that comes into your home, unplugging it from the router and plug directly into the computer. If the audio plays fine then you know that the router was the source of the problem. You would then want to contact the support site for your router to have them assist in adjusting the settings. Make sure your router has port 80 and port 8080 open.
 
One last bit of troubleshooting advice: If you are accessing from work, one of the easiest tips to determine the source of the problem is to try access from a co-worker's computer. If the audio plays flawlessly then we have narrowed the issue to your computer. If the same issue occurs on the other person's computer, then it's likely a work firewall or security reason, and you would want to contact your IT department to see if they can assist.

Why is playback choppy for certain streams even though I have a high speed connection?

First, remember that even high speed connections sometimes suffer service degradations. Cable modem users share a connection with many others in their neighborhood, so during peak hours bandwidth availability may be limited.You may want to try manually setting your connection speed in Windows Media Player, to avoid any issues of it misdetecting your connection. 

To check and fix this:

1. Click Tools
2. Click Options
3. Under the Performance tab, manually specify your connection speed

Users of firewalls should also make sure they have a fully updated version of their software, with the latest drivers. Finally, please make sure that you have all current drivers installed for your audio card. Some older cards have conflicts with Windows Media Player; the latest drivers will usually fix this problem.

I use Zone Alarm from Zone Labs as a personal firewall, and streams don't work. How can I fix this?

Zone Alarm may prohibit you from logging into our site. If you're having difficulty logging in, please follow these simple instructions:

1. Launch ZoneAlarm.
2. Click the "Privacy" tab on the left.
3. Locate the slide bar labeled Cookie Control and set at Medium or Off. This will allow the cookie needed to access the website. This setting may be required each time you visit the website, or login.​

If you were able to login but are having troubles with streaming audio or video, then try the following:

1. Launch Zone Alarm
2. Open Firewall tab. Click "Advanced."
3. A window will pop up with 5 boxes. Click on "Allow uncommon protocols at High Security."
4. Click "OK" at the bottom of the pop up box.

How do I continue surfing the Internet without causing the Flash player to stop playing?

If you’re listening to one of our programs in your browser with the Flash-based player, you can use the player’s “pop-out” feature to open the player in a separate window. This allows you to continue browsing in your main window without stopping the audio or video stream.
 
To pop-out the player, simply click on the icon immediately below the player that looks like a small square on top of another square. This is immediately to the right of the player’s volume control icon.
 
To close the pop-out player, simply click on the red “X” in the upper right corner of the window.

Why can't I get audio or video to work on my Android device?

As we continue to work on updating our audio and video players to keep up with the ever-changing mobile technology field, we will from time to time experience an unexpected glitch that causes some functionalities of our mobile players to temporarily stop working properly. This is particularly true of Android devices, as there are so many possible combinations of OS and hardware on the market today. For example, our sites see over 250 unique combinations of Android OS versions and phone/tablet models daily, and it would be impossible for us to own and constantly test all of these different setups. As such, we're happy to offer general guides on Android usage of our mobile sites, but we cannot guarantee that every Android device on the market will be compatible with all aspects of our site.

Recent changes in Google's own policies mean that devices running Android 4.1 (JellyBean) or higher no longer support Adobe Flash, the media platform on which our previous player was built. Our newest player attempts to rectify this situation by also incorporating an HTML5-based platform for these devices, while continuing to offer Flash for earlier devices. We have successfully tested this configuration on all of our in-house devices, and we feel confident that the vast majority of our Android users will also meet with success. If you are one of those who still has trouble accessing the audio or video in your phone's browser, we offer the following suggestions:
 
Make sure that your device's operating system and firmware are completely up to date. The method for doing this can vary greatly from device to device, but typically you will find it under Menu > System Settings > About Phone > System Update. If your device varies from this path, please contact the manufacturer for additional guidance.
 
If you have Android 2.3 or older and the player is not working at all, make sure you have Adobe Flash installed on your device. Unfortunately, Google no longer makes Flash available in the Google Play Store due to their lack of support for the platform, but it can still be installed manually. You might search the Adobe Flash user forums for more information on this possible solution, though since it is an "after-market" solution, we cannot offer any direct advice. Android 4.0 and higher should be fully compatible with HTML5, so installation of Flash should not be necessary.
 
If you're not having success in one browser, you might try another. Individual browser specifications change constantly, so if you're having success in the default Android browser one day but not the next, you might try switching to another browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Dolphin. Free versions of all these browsers and more are available for download from the Google Play Store, so experimenting with which one works best for you won't cost anything. 
 
Contact your device's manufacturer or mobile carrier to see if they have any suggestions on optimizing for Flash and HTML5 streaming services. They may have suggestions for your specific model that we're unaware of.
 
If streaming via the custom player absolutely won't work for you after trying the above suggestions, you can also try downloading the mp3s directly to your device. Again, for some devices this will work, for others it won't – it all depends on your device's specific configuration and limitations.
 
We acknowledge that these answers are incomplete, and that some people's phones and tablets will still not be compatible with our mobile players. However, we believe that these suggestions will work for the vast majority of our listeners, and we strive to continue updating our systems to bring the best possible listening experience to the largest number of Android users.
If these suggestions don't work for you, please contact us with the following specific details about your Android device. We can't guarantee we can offer you a fix, but we can at least pass the details on to our development team so that they can investigate as they continue to refine the system.
 
Please provide:

• Phone model and manufacturer
• Android OS version
• The specific webpage/episode you're trying to access when you encounter an error
• The specific nature of the error, and any corresponding error messages you may receive.