Technical FAQ
for The Last Radio Station
updated 10/30/05
When I click on the listen link for a stream, I get a page with
gibberish numbers on it
This should
almost never happen in Internet Explorer. If it does, go into
Winamp’s preferences and click on file types and make sure that m3u
files
are checked. This applies for Netscape as well. I have not seen this
error
myself, but I do know that everything related to The Last Radio Station
works for me
and several other computers I have tested. You must make sure that .m3u
files are associated to your application that
is playing the stream. We prefer to use Winamp since it is
much better at this than RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. The site
is
properly configured to know how to handle the playlists that connect
you
to our stream, so chances are, if you are getting a short text page
with
a bunch of numbers, go into Winamp or download it and make sure to
associate
m3u files with the program by clicking preferences, file types, then
checking
the m3u box.
The stream is skipping - what’s up with that?
This can’t
always be helped, unfortunately, but there is a
way to hopefully minimize it or greatly reduce it. First of all, if you
are
a dialup modem user, you may be S.O.L. Our broadband stream is
64K and 56K
modems just can’t handle it. DSL/Cable modems are highly
recommended.
If skipping still occurs, go into Winamp, if you are using it, and
click
Preferences, then Plugins, then Input. In the list, click the Nullsoft
mp3
decoder and click configure. Then click the streaming tab and push the
two
sliders to the right. You may also want to uncheck title streaming if
you
are on a shared connection, that might help you out. There is also
something
called the data buffer size, it is set at 64, increasing it to 96 or
128
may help as well. When you finish making your changes, click ok, then
close
the preferences and relaunch the stream. The stream will take longer to
load,
but hopefully skipping will be reduced. Internet streaming audio
is
not a perfect science. It’s kind of like static on FM or AM radio
stations.
We just have to deal with it. The phone company is installing
fiber
optic lines in my neighborhood even as I write this, so perhaps the
situation
will improve soon.
I am having problems with rebuffering.
The
steps in the previous question should also help you in alleviating
buffering
problems. I have found that AOL customers have the most trouble,
so chalk it up
to AOL just plain sucking when it comes to this. If increasing the
buffer size
does not help, try tuning in later on in the day. I have found that
during
the day, when net traffic peaks, is when I hear the most skipping and
rebuffering myself. It may very
well be my software, which I am hoping gets fixed in future SHOUTcast
plugin
versions. For now, if you tried the steps above, try to deal with it or
tune
in at a later time. I am working to fix all skippage and buffering
problems.
I tried to connect to the stream, and it is down.
If you get a
404 or a 401 Error in Winamp, that means the
stream
has been dropped off of the servers. This may happen for several
reasons.
Usually, Winamp crashed on me and I havenn’t discovered it yet.
The
cable may have gone out on me as well, or maybe the power to the
house.
Sometimes when I return to my home planet I forget to leave the stream
running. Often it's just me taking the station offline to create
a new playlist, do
maintenance, rebooting, or letting my kids use the computer. The
best
solution, try again in a few minutes. And of course, please
make sure if you are typing in the
IP numbers yourself to use the correct ones. Of course, all other
things
being equal, there's a good chance we just plain aren't on.
Remember,
the Last Radio Station broadcasts 24 hours but not necessarily in a
row.
Why does your stream sound like crap?
If you are
referring
to the content, then boy did you hit the wrong site. If you mean
the
quality of the sound itself, Internet streaming is really not for modem
people. Sorry, it is the best we can do. The 64K stream sounds
better and is geared
for cable and DSL people. Cable and DSL is better suited for listening
to
audio. If you can afford it, upgrade to a cable or DSL service and you
will
totally love it if you are a music and/or Net junkie.
The stream stopped dead in its tracks.
This may be due
to a crash, or server problems. It may also
be due to net congestion or some other factors. It might even be that
my
computer has burst into flames. If you find yourself clicking
play
a lot in Winamp, one way to save yourself a headache is to check the
repeat
button. This will force Winamp to reconnect to the stream whenever it
stops
assuming nothing else is in your Winamp playlist. While it won’t stop
the
dropouts, it will save you the trouble of continuously clicking play.
See
the other questions for how to possibly stop dropouts.
What if the links on the site don’t work and/or the site is down? How
can I listen?
If we're
offline, you can't. But if you still can’t get the links on our
listen page to work, or if the
site is down, there is a really easy way to listen without ever going
to shoutcast.com
and searching for us there or going to our site. Open Winamp, press
control+L
or click the Open Location button, and type this address and port
number:
http://24.162.240.182:8000/
To make matters
even easier, if you have the stream loaded and playing
in Winamp, click the pl or playlist button, or press alt+E. Make sure
the
playlist window is open, use control tab if you have to, and click save
or
press control+S. Type a name for your playlist file and save it to your
desktop
if you want. Then, when you want to listen to The Last Radio Station no
matter what, find
the m3u or pls file you saved and double click it. As long as Winamp is
the
default m3u or pls player, it will open and load the stream. You can
also
add us as a bookmark in Winamp. When the stream is running, press alt+I
or
go into the menu and click bookmarks and then add current as bookmark.
To
view bookmarks, open the Winamp menu and click bookmarks and we will be
listed
in the resulting menu.
Windows Media users can cut & paste http://24.162.240.182:1197 into the
"Add URL" window, but at this time we don't show continuously updated
title information on the WMA stream. We're working on it and hope
to have it displayed there soon.
What is the best player to listen to your stream?
I only use
Winamp and highly recommend you do, too. As
far as I am concerned, Winamp 2 is da bomb. Winamp 3 and above are a
bit too buggy for
my tastes. Winamp can be downloaded from www.winamp.com,
and you need only get the light version which can fit on a floppy disk.
You
can find us on SHOUTcast by going to www.shoutcast.com and typing "The Last
Radio Station" in the search field and clicking the search button.
How can we contact the show for comments or to let you know of problems?
All our contact
info is on the front page of this site, but I will list them
here for the lazy.
AOL IM: TYSON3255
Yahoo IM: TYSON3255
Skype: gt.tyson
Email: KeithLake7@netscape.net
All messages
will be read, but immediate responses are contingent upon whether
money or nude Polaroids are included therein, or whether or not I am
actually in front of the computer at the time.
Do you guys read e-mails?
Yup. See
the Listener Feedback page for some of the nicer ones. You should
read some of the ones I left out.