Can you tell me how to listen online please?

As you were so polite, definitely! Make sure your speakers are switched on and turned up (not too loud mind you, we wouldn't want to upset the neighbours now would we?) and click our Listen Online button. You can find this at the top of the page on the far right hand side.

Will I need any special software to hear Smooth Radio?

Nothing which is particularly special. You just need to ensure you have Windows Media Player installed. We suggest the latest version which is currently available from Microsoft to ensure your media player is as secure as possible and the stream is brought to you in the best possible quality.

Listen Online doesn't work. Why?

This could be for a variety of reasons. A pop up blocker could prevent our "Listen Online Player" from opening. But don't panic, if your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox) tells you it has blocked a pop up, simply ask it to allow Popups from us.

The "Listen Online Player" should then open normally. If the player opens fine and you still have no joy, please make sure that sound is working on your computer. Try playing your favourite song which you have on the computer, (you can sing along if you wish). If this doesn't play, just check those speakers are switched on, else your PC maybe a little unwell and you will need to seek advice from your computer supplier.

If your favourite song did play, we would then ask you to ensure that your Windows Media Player is the latest version and that you have run it at least once. Running Windows Media Player (Start Menu > All Programs > Windows Media Player) can often clear up any problems in itself because sometimes it just needs you to give it a little helping hand to get it working.

You may also want to check that your firewall is not blocking Windows Media Player from connecting to our site. Please refer to the software's help on allowing programs outbound access.

If you are still having problems despite following the steps above, please feel free to contact us and give us as much information as you can (about your computer).

I'm listening but it keeps telling me it's buffering or it keeps cutting out. What do you suggest?

These issues are normally caused by an Internet connection somewhere that can't keep up with our stream. This could be anywhere between you and us. In the first instance, we would suggest that you try us again later and hopefully network conditions would have improved. If the problem still exists, please feel free to contact us.

I want to listen to Smooth Radio outside the UK but it doesn't work. What do you suggest?

Unfortunately, Licensing Laws prevent us from providing our programmes anywhere outside of the UK. So if you are trying to listen outside of the UK and you are greeted with a voice telling you that "The stream is not available outside of the UK", our only advice would be that you consider joining us by moving to the UK!

I'm in the UK and I get a voice coming out of my speakers telling me "The stream is not available outside of the UK", so how do I listen?

If you are a UK resident, you will be seeing this because your Internet Provider is routing traffic via another country. AOL are known to do this. This is also common for large companies to route traffic through a "head office" in another country if they are a particularly large company.

Unfortunately, licensing restrictions mean we are unable to resolve some of these issues at the moment, but we are constantly looking for new methods to provide our streams to all UK residents.

This problem may also be caused by web acceleration software as these will also route traffic via another country. If you are running such software we recommend you try disabling it and see if it makes any difference.

If you continue to receive this problem, please send us an email and we will advise you on whether there is anyway we can assist.

I have a Mac and can't hear you!

You aren't alone. Unfortunately at present, our streamswill only work with certain configurations of Mac. The common factor is that you will require Flip4Mac which is available from Microsoft.

After installing you should be able to listen online to us using Firefox or Safari.