Radioplayer - all of UK radio in one place
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions
Listening to the radio online has a history. The first station in the world to stream radio across the Internet was North Carolina student radio station WXYC in late 1994.
BBC radio programmes have been available on the web for over fifteen years. A 1995 experiment by BBC Radio 3 also included what we've come to know as 'user-generated content' and webcams.
In March 1996, Virgin Radio in London became the first station in the world to be streamed online round-the-clock.
Later in 1996, BBC Radio 1 began streaming live radio regularly.
In 1999, Virgin (which you'll now know as Absolute Radio) scored another first with an 'interactive' online player that provided information about what was playing.
In 2002 the BBC Radio Player was launched and two years later the BBC became the first UK broadcaster to podcast programmes (with In Our Time, now past its 500th episode). It's safe to say that every other British radio station can now be heard online.
But for the whole of this history the UK radio industry has provided no single place to listen to all of your favourite stations - no equivalent to the transistor radio in your kitchen. You had to visit each web site in turn and accustom yourself to a different way of listening at each.
That is now officially history. Radioplayer is a partnership between the BBC and the UK commercial stations to provide a single, consistent interface to UK radio online. To begin with, 157 stations are in the Radioplayer and that will rise to 228 soon when radio stations owned by Bauer and UTV are added.
For BBC radio listeners, Radioplayer upgrades the existing BBC radio console by allowing you to search across all the stations involved and save presets of your favourite stations. We've made it easier to share favourite BBC programmes with your friends and see information about what is now playing.
Watch the video for further information and leave a comment here to let us know what you think of it.
Radioplayer is available on BBC online now. Tomorrow, we'll publish two more blog posts about it - one here on the Radio blog by Tim Davie, Director of Audio & Music at the BBC, and one on the BBC Internet blog by Dave Price, the manager responsible for building Radioplayer (Dave's post will have more technical detail).
Steve Bowbrick, blogs editor
- More information and FAQ on the BBC Radio web site.
- Radioplayer has a blog.
- If you know about other online radio landmarks, leave a comment to let us know.





Comment number 1.
At 16:38 30th Mar 2011, martyjw wrote:I had a quick look today, i have just one niggle.
When listening back to radio programmes through the older interface 'BBC Media Player' (currently still on iplayer), it was easier to move to an exact time. With the radio player it takes a lot longer as you have to jump about 5 mins ahead.
Apart from that looks good!
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Comment number 2.
At 08:48 31st Mar 2011, Bolanis wrote:The new Radioplayer looks good. Unfortunately, when playing BBC stations, the iPlayer console seems to be slightly larger than the set parameters for the console window. Thus requiring the window to be stretched to see all the console. When the station is changed the window 'reshrinks' to the original radioplayer size.
I am using a laptop monitor with resolution 1366x768, when stretched out (so that the scroll bars are not visible) the console does not fit onto my screen unless I autohide the taskbar.
This is only a problem with the BBC stations so I wanted to let you know. If this could be sorted out then the console would be great.
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Comment number 3.
At 09:08 31st Mar 2011, mandym wrote:BBC stations taking ages to load outside of UK (Sweden). I cannot get onto R4 at all, which pretty much ruins my morning! Commercial stations seem faster and hassle free, but I want my R4 fix!!
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Comment number 4.
At 09:34 31st Mar 2011, Iain Lackie wrote:Within the Flash movie on the radio player, I can see a lot of improperly labelled buttons and unlabelled graphics. this is not good for people like me who because of visual impairment have to use screen reading software. We are told the BBC takes accessibility needs seriously. If this really is the case, this must be dealt with very quickly.
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Comment number 5.
At 13:10 31st Mar 2011, Steve Bowbrick wrote:Thanks to you all for your feedback. I've passed it to the Radioplayer technical team. Please keep it coming!
Steve Bowbrick, blogs editor
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Comment number 6.
At 13:51 31st Mar 2011, Joe Schofield wrote:What did you do about 5pm on Tuesday March 29th? I can'd get online BBC radio any more. I get Radio Player with Flash stencilled on in the window. I hear nothing. I click Flash. I hear nothing.
Mac OS10.6.7, Safari 5.0.4
How can you do this to me?
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Comment number 7.
At 14:42 31st Mar 2011, Damian wrote:The only gripe I have with the new Radioplayer is that when you move the slider across the top, it doesn't show you the time changing, as was the case with the old system. Now, it only shows you the new time when you stop sliding. This seems to be an oversight and if it can be rectified then the system will be fine.
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Comment number 8.
At 14:42 31st Mar 2011, Tim Acheson wrote:Excellent!
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Comment number 9.
At 15:00 31st Mar 2011, Tim Acheson wrote:This web app is arguably the most exiting thing to happen in media since the era of Internet streaming began!
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Comment number 10.
At 15:32 31st Mar 2011, KernowChris wrote:Shame the commercial icons don't differentiate between the variants of the same channel so that the correct version is selected.
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Comment number 11.
At 16:39 31st Mar 2011, proust1922 wrote:Using Radioplayer for first time and while it looks easy to use, have failed several times over to "Add current station" to the presets panel. Nothing happens with a station up and running when you click the ADD button. When you search and move to another station, the previous one leaves its logo on the No 1 preset slot headed "Last station", but each new station you play overwrites this first position, and cannot be added in the No 2 slot. On screen instructions would help for idiots like me. Incidentally, as this is my first hour on the Radioplayer having sought a dozen or so stations to test, I find the "FOR YOU" selection being offered very spooky indeed. Based on what, may I ask???!!!
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Comment number 12.
At 16:45 31st Mar 2011, proust1922 wrote:Ditto ChrisCornwall's complaint above. The player's list of search results delivers not only every nationwide version of XFM and Capital, but also timed programme strands on those stations (not readily apparent in the station logo), many of which simply deny you access for the obvious reason that they're not on-air live this minute and probably not avail "on-demand". What's then annoying is that there's no instant way back to the player from that error message window.
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Comment number 13.
At 17:02 31st Mar 2011, jstone wrote:JUST LIKE Joe Schofield wrote, I have not been able to HEAR ANY RADIO PROGRAMMES Via the station site schedule Play links FOR OVER A DAY!!
CANNOT EVEN VIEW ALL OF THE CONSOLE, NO SLIDER BARS, INCOMPLETE TEXT AND UNLIKE Auburn Time Lord CANNOT STRETCH THE THING TO SEE ANY MORE!!
Have been Listening Again to R2/3/4/6/7 for YEARS using the same PC set-up and now cannot do so.......so THAT IS AN IMPROVEMENT?
Have had to revert to listening to music so you have now lost a listener and DEPRIVED all the programme makers, I have supported FOR YEARS, of some of their audience.
DO THEY KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?
CHECK THE IPLAYER BOARDS FOR MANY OTHER COMPLAINTS......IT DOES NOT WORK FOR PC USING LISTENERS!!
[all evidence copied for main NON BBC news media, as this is clearly yet ANOTHER BBC technical disaster and deserves the MAXIMUM EXPOSURE]
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Comment number 14.
At 18:59 31st Mar 2011, JoChristian wrote:Same problem as post 11. I can't add channels, so every time I want to switch to another BBC channel, I have to go back to the main page and do it, very irritating when it's been working fine for ages, if it ain't broke etc. Personally I only listen to BBC channels so I find no added value in having commercial channels included.
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Comment number 15.
At 20:25 31st Mar 2011, Paul Ivor Rayner wrote:Can't "Add Current Station" ? - Me neither. (Windows XP with latest updates, cookies enabled, & IE 8.0.6001, if that makes any difference).
Using MY STATIONS for the first time, it would be useful to be able to see a list of all available stations so as to add my own choices in bulk to "MY STATIONS".
Website www.radioplayer.co.uk has useful alphabetic "Browse" option to see all available stations, but most of the A to Z buttons have nothing in them - It would be useful if these said "NONE" when the mouse pointer passes over them.
Otherwise a nice idea. Overseas radio stations next?
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Comment number 16.
At 20:50 31st Mar 2011, Ivan wrote:No cigar, I'm afraid.
Problems with the new (huge) pop-up:
1. Pops up wrong size with sidebar and scrollbar.
2. Changes back to wrong size with sidebar and scrollbar with each change of station.
3. Saved stations all disappear every time station is changed or pop-up closed.
4. Stations cannot be dragged and dropped as stated.
5. Search "tip" box shows every time despite clicking "do not show again".
6. Its huge.
And why the wretched thing simply does not simply start me off by carrying over my previous pre-set stations (which are still on the iPlayer Homepage) I do not know.
I use Chrome as my default browser (latest version of this and latest version of Adobe Flash) but with IE9 it seems to work perfectly (apart from the hugeness). The thing is, I don't want to have to open a different (inferior) browser every time I want the Radio Player pop-up (which is every day, several times a day).
Apart from that, it's every bit the glorious triumph that was the update to the iPlayer desktop that I can no longer use for downloads as it crashes my laptop.
Once more, this could be so good but implementation bungled. Once the finest presence on the web, Auntie is losing her grip.
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Comment number 17.
At 22:41 31st Mar 2011, John99 wrote:@ jstone #13
Radioplayer should work in both Firefox 3.6 and the newest Firefox 4.0 it certainly does for me (using Windows XP) i will try to post a reply to your iPlayer [url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/NF13735684?thread=8069566&latest=1#p107715647]post[/url] after that messageboard re-opens.
(this is not previewing posts, I wonder is it the Embeded Media Player causing a problem)
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Comment number 18.
At 23:29 31st Mar 2011, Scurra wrote:Complete failure to Add Stations here too. But I do like the understated way it makes all stations equal (although - as others have pointed out - some are more equal than others in terms of presence!) And I too recall how terrible the first incarnation of the iPlayer was, so I'm sure it will all work out in the end.
p.s. I do not believe that the original In Our Time download can be called a "podcast" since it surely predates the term - which I really hate because it is meaningless!
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Comment number 19.
At 00:59 1st Apr 2011, John99 wrote:@ Ivan #16
Does Chrome allow you to force the Radioplayer popup to run as a tab instead. ( Firefox does see )
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Comment number 20.
At 12:24 1st Apr 2011, nhojb wrote:The Radio 3 live stream in the new player is working ok expect that when I pause/re-start the player the stream never restarts and just ends up buffering for ever. I'm using Safari 5.0.4, Mac OS X 10.6.7.
And I'd agree with other posters that the popup is too large. The old player was big enough, but the new player seems to use/waste even more space. I'd like to see a "mini" version of the player that did away with the superfluous search/what's-next chrome. I just want to play the radio, I can do the other stuff elsewhere.
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Comment number 21.
At 14:43 1st Apr 2011, archgrumpy1 wrote:Could only find i-player links on BBc radio but it lead me to a completely new screen, my old favourites had disappeared and it is not intuitively clear how to restore them. Fine if you've got oodles of time.
I listen on line as we get no DAB here nor I understand are there any plans to bring that to me, fine as long as FM is available - for the car!
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Comment number 22.
At 14:56 1st Apr 2011, francacne wrote:I note comparisons between the new radio player and our old transistor radios. It would be ok if this were true but when they are busy trying to fade out analogue radio in favour of the farcicle, digital radio i fear for the sanity of the bbc bigwigs. When will it sink in that digital is a cheap sound from a cheap codec, which no body asked for and now we have a radio player which has a lot of beta style issues which need to be sorted out. the bbc should not mistake progress as merely change for the sake of change. as this new venture goes to show.
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Comment number 23.
At 21:02 1st Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:Well, as asked, we kept it coming. We just got no answers.
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Comment number 24.
At 10:15 2nd Apr 2011, Ches wrote:Hi,
I have been trying to get on to BBC 4 Extra all morning but to no avail.
This new station is not shown on the iPlayer and a search on BBC website returns no hits.
Finally got the webpage via Guardian Newspaper, but when I select "listen", nothing happens. It just says "loading".
Would have thought that these glitches would have been ironed out before the launch.
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Comment number 25.
At 13:40 2nd Apr 2011, 44fez wrote:"Add current station" not working for me either so it is not proving possible to do other than listen to a station and then go back to "search" to change stations. A "help" button/section would be useful as well.
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Comment number 26.
At 16:38 2nd Apr 2011, IBI wrote:Normally I listen to all the programs that interest me that day on radio 4 and radio 7 on my netbook before going to sleep using listen again but for the last few days since radioplayer has come in they haven't been working and I've been forced to go through the iPlayer website and click through the A-Z and episiode list of each program rather than just going to that program's tab and hitting the listen again link.
Radioplayer seems to work fine for other stations, I've tried two or three programs of each type (live and recorded) and they've all worked fine.
BBC Live radioplayer streams work and as I mentioned recorded streams through BBC iPlayer (bbc.co.uk/iplayer) still work. The More or Less Podcast and the pop-out old-style iPlayer on the Today website also work fine.
The BBC Radioplayer comes up fine, there's no big gaps anywhere indicating something might not be loading, the length of the program comes up correctly and the pointer changes to a hand over the play button.
But the program doesn't start automatically and clicking the play button doesn't do anything.
Comparing it with another computer the main differences I can see are:
1. The play button doesn't highlight on mouse over and doesn't go down when you click it.
2. The station animation (semicircles for radio 4) is above the program information obscuring it all. Blocking it with flashblock shows the program information is underneath.
3. The volume icon is greyed out and doesn't show the volume bar on mouse over.
4. The player window only opens at half the width it should do, and also runs off the bottom of the screen rather than being an appropriate size and providing a scrollbar (although the last iteration of the iplayer had this latter problem as well).
System-wise I'm using an Asus eee 701/4G with Firefox 2.0.0.11, Adobe Flash 9.0.115.0 and the latest updates to the eee's Linux distro. I'm aware neither are the latest version available generally but unfortunately Asus has been very poor at providing official support so short of changing the entire operating system I'm stuck with them. The system is less than three years old though, and if a slightly older version of flash/firefox is the cause then there really should be a large warning that the BBC is only supporting very recent versions.
I hope this isn't the case though, and whatever the problem is can be easily fixed.
As to the Radioplayer generally, it does seem to be a bit of a downgrade. Like the last iteration of the iPlayer it has the same problem of opening a window that's far too long for my screen rather than just providing scrollbars. The controls also provide less information than the iPlayer, with no indication of the time when you drag the program slider and no volume numbers (although the BBC has never been great at putting programs on iPlayer a consistent volume).
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Comment number 27.
At 17:02 2nd Apr 2011, Russ wrote:I discovered by accident, and after much frustration, how to add a station to my stations. Forget trying to click on the '+' sign - it does nothing. Forget trying to click on the 'Add' box next to it - that also does nothing. Instead, you get a line of text underneath it saying 'to my stations'. You have to hover over that text until it underlines itself, and then click on the underlined text.
Nul points, BBC and RadioPlayer, for not explaining this arcane bit of design. Very unprofessional.
Russ
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Comment number 28.
At 20:49 2nd Apr 2011, campanadeplata wrote:I have been listening to Radio 4 online for years, with no problems.
However, the new Radioplayer has short breaks in its transmission, which is incredibly frustrating and unsettling to listen to, as one misses hearing whole words and hence often the sense of the sentence.
The breaks last about 1 second. Using a stopwatch I found that they occur after 60 seconds of listening, then about 8 more seconds, then another 59, then another 8, and so on. Thus they seem to follow a pattern. (60, 8, 60, 8, 60, 8...)
It's very odd, and I don't see anyone else with this problem but I imagine I'm not the only one this is happening to!
It doesn't seem to happen when 'listening again' to programmes, only when listening live. It also doesn't happen when listening to any other radio station (I've tried Radio 2, 3 and 5,) only Radio 4, which is my usual station.
I'm afraid this will probably put a stop to my listening online.
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Comment number 29.
At 20:53 2nd Apr 2011, campanadeplata wrote:Correction: the same breaks also happen on Radio 4 Extra.
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Comment number 30.
At 22:58 2nd Apr 2011, Paul Ivor Rayner wrote:Remember the old definition? An engineer designs a system that anyone can use; A scientist designs a system that only he/she knows how to use. Radioplayer must have been designed by one of us scientists.
Our eternal thanks to Russ for working out how to 'Add Current Station' (and for enlightening the whole world!).
'Me too' on the momentary breaks in live Radio 4 and 4+; On my PC, at roughly 73 seconds, 11 seconds,73,11,...
Like Ches, Radio 4 extra 'Listen Live' gave me a BBC 'Page Not Found (Error 404)' screen. Eventually I got it through the Listen Live icon on the 4 extra schedule page.
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Comment number 31.
At 23:10 2nd Apr 2011, Gorton_Radio wrote:Sounds like a good idea to separate radio from the iplayer.
Just one question, do you have any plans for local internet radio
stations to appear on the item lists.
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Comment number 32.
At 08:50 3rd Apr 2011, justme wrote:Not being a techy, all I can tell you is that my desire to listen to i player, radio 7/ 4 xtra 'listen again' has now been thwarted by the fact that they are being broadcast from under water.
The air bubbles are burbling around and making listening impossible.
Is it cheaper to have an underwater studio, or is it that the recordings are being stored in the ocean to save space at broadcasting house.
Which ever it is BBC, this is a bad move. Radio 4 Xtra, just the name will turn away younger listeners.
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Comment number 33.
At 09:53 3rd Apr 2011, carbon2wheels wrote:Radio4 on the player is having irregular sound glitches - aggavating blip every 10 seconds at worst. Just listened to Radio 2 which played smoothly. Also my browser is resized to 1/3rd screenwidth.
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Comment number 34.
At 11:17 3rd Apr 2011, Markio wrote:Firstly, I am now getting a half second drop-out on Radio 4. Same problem with browser resizing, and also I am unable to add stations? This doesn't seem to be progress to me...
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Comment number 35.
At 12:11 3rd Apr 2011, Markio wrote:Solved the add station problem: thanks Russ post 27, but why do you need a dropdown when there is only one option?
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Comment number 36.
At 14:14 3rd Apr 2011, Ananix wrote:Problem with listening via Firefox - whereas I could listen to the old iPlayer with no problems, I could not with the new one. Then realising that it depends much more on Flash technology I added it to Flashblocks 'white list (Tools - Add Ons - Flashblock - Options - add www.bbc.co.uk to the white list). Then all was well. I have had Flashblock as an add on for so long that I had forgotten all about it. Hope this helps someone.
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Comment number 37.
At 18:02 3rd Apr 2011, Mark Vickers wrote:Same problem for me - the volume of most programmes oscillates wildly. Most programmes are totally unlistenable. What a train crash - on all channels!
Surely the BBC could have tested this before switching over to the new iPlayer - or at least have given us the choice to stick with the old one while they figure out what's broken?
And it looks like everyone's gone home for the weekend in the hope that it's somebody else's job to sort it out.
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Comment number 38.
At 20:08 3rd Apr 2011, Russ wrote:Markio, I’ve no idea about the madness beneath this. Only the designers can answer that, and it is generally axiomatic on BBC blogs that BBC personnel will never answer any questions, even if they are capable of doing so - which is usually not the case. No doubt Steve will pass the comment on, but the chance of getting a sensible reply is approximately zilch.
Russ
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Comment number 39.
At 07:38 4th Apr 2011, Markio wrote:Still having the drop-outs. Do not have Flashblock, but Adblock has a flash element so I tried disabling this, but no success! Really annoying now!
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Comment number 40.
At 08:00 4th Apr 2011, Chris Balfour wrote:Agree with a lot of what is said above. I think it's a great idea, but the execution needs to be spot on and so far it's not.
I also find it annoying that the slider can't be done with the timestamp being shown so you can go back/forward to precise timings. Also, the pausing I get when listening are so annoying. It happened on the old player (but a lot less) and at least you saw the "buffering" message.
I think BBC need to take a look and iron this stuff out
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Comment number 41.
At 22:17 4th Apr 2011, Dave Price wrote:Thanks for the comments to date, we definitely appreciate the feedback. First off, I’d like to touch on a couple of the UX issues raised, specifically problems with scroll bars appearing in Chrome and the confusing UX for ‘Add to my stations’, the good news is, both of these will be fixed in a release on Wednesday. Secondly, some listeners have commented on issues with playback, accessibility and usability in the BBC Radioplayer media player, I can confirm this feedback has been captured and we’re currently working with the Engineering and Test teams to address. We’ll keep you posted with progress against these issues. In the meantime, please keep sending your feedback.
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Comment number 42.
At 02:30 5th Apr 2011, dpomic wrote:“But for the whole of this history the UK radio industry has provided no single place to listen to all of your favourite stations - no equivalent to the transistor radio in your kitchen. You had to visit each web site in turn and accustom yourself to a different way of listening at each.”
“If you know about other online radio landmarks, leave a comment to let us know.”
The RadioCentre (trade organization for UK commercial radio) introduced their RadioCentrePlayer in May 2007 (before partnering with the BBC in March 2009 to develop the Radioplayer), featuring their more than 300 commercial radio stations and also offering the BBC, the rest of the UK, and the rest of the world. (With presets, email links, and extensive search for stations, shows/podcasts, and episodes). It was revised in December 2007 to link directly to individual station player pages and to industry contact, listening, and licensing databases. While targeted for industry use, it has remained available to all (and now offers more than 1,000 UK stations, including community, student, hospital, and Internet-only).
The introduction of the UK Radioplayer is a great accomplishment. A great next step. Uniting the BBC and the commercial radio industry in their offering player platform and their promotion. Making radio listening much easier. Increased ease—to find, play, and save to play again—is valuable to Listeners. But, the overwhelming accomplishment is political, not technical. The ability to work together and to promote together—to encourage and gain Listeners’ confidence and satisfaction. To grow the numbers of online radio Listeners, as well as their listening hours.
The initial complaints are real, valid. Some are unavoidable without broader use beyond testing. Refinement in the next days, weeks, and months should resolve.
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Comment number 43.
At 16:38 5th Apr 2011, Russ wrote:When switching between iPlayer non-console and console modes, why doesn’t the time-played duration coordinate? (Which I think it always used to.)
Russ
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Comment number 44.
At 16:58 5th Apr 2011, Russ wrote:The adding stations thing is definitely crazy. My first station (let’s call it station A) occupies my first ‘slot’, on the top left, which is labelled ‘Last Station’. (Somewhat of a misnomer, but let’s not go into that.) If I then change to another station (let’s call it station B), it puts that station B on top of station A, so station A then becomes obscured. This seems to apply even if station B is already in the list of selected stations, and in this case, station B is shown twice, once in the first slot as ‘Last Station’ and in its other slot, and now denoted as ‘Playing’. The first slot cannot be removed or moved, because the edit function applies itself only to other slots. The only way I can see of getting back to my original selection of stations is to close the console. Secondly, if you are misfortunate enough to have a station in your first slot that you don’t intend to listen to again, there seems to be no way of ever getting rid of it except by taking out a new BBC ID and starting all over again.
Can someone explain this madness? This is one of the most absurd and arcane interfaces I have ever encountered.
Russ
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Comment number 45.
At 13:42 6th Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:Having managed to set the stations by disabling blocking of third party cookies to carry out this operation and then resetting the blocking after, I now have the problem that a stream that has been stopped will not restart when you go back to it.
Getting around this requires Starting a stream for another station and then going back to the station you actually wanted.
Also, the now and next no longer keeps up with what is actually going on and, once more, you have to go to another station and back again in order to reset and update it. Or not, because that does not always work either.
Oh, and it's now Wednesday and the scrollbars keep reappearing with every launch of the pop-up or with any change of station.
I also notice that in your iPlayer help section you have now admitted that your release version did not support the station presets already chosen by the user on iPlayer. Genius.
Basically, after last years iPlayer desktop debacle you have released another unusable application.
Very disappointing.
I'm using Chrome/Vista.
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Comment number 46.
At 17:28 6th Apr 2011, Ian Wood wrote:I've just tried Radioplayer for the first time, and I'm also frustrated at the poor degree of control using the new progress bar compared with the iPlayer. I can't manage less than two minutes' change forward or back and the loss of the time stamp as you slide makes it a lottery as to where you end up.
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Comment number 47.
At 16:44 7th Apr 2011, colinfreeman wrote:Still trying to sort out the station pre sets. Cannot believe why I am bothering.Pre sets on my kitchen digital radio were simple.
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Comment number 48.
At 18:25 7th Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:Re. Comment 41 by Dave Price
We're still waiting.
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Comment number 49.
At 02:01 8th Apr 2011, lifeonearth wrote:I still can't get any station in the new player to show the progress bar. And now that World News has switched away from the wonderful, small, no-graphics player to Radioplayer, I can't get World Service at all (outside the UK). I read on the message boards that Firefox 3.6.1 (what I'm using) isn't working for Radioplayer, but 3.6.6 is (sometimes) and 4.04 does work. I will try this, but have to upgrade my operating system first. Fun and games.
I'm on Ubuntu 8.04, due to upgrade to 10.04 soon.
By the way - As of March 2011, Firefox is the second most widely used browser with approximately 30% of worldwide usage share of web browsers. (Wikipedia)
And - Ubuntu has an estimated global usage of more than 12 million. (Wikipedia)
Two reasons for BBC to get their act together BEFORE they upgrade the radio player. Listeners are NOT beta testers!
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Comment number 50.
At 02:08 8th Apr 2011, lifeonearth wrote:Just in case it isn't clear, when I said I have no visible progress bar on any radio station, I also mean that there is no audio at all.
Every listener in the world has not upgraded to the latest version of everything they seem to need to access what they've had for years at BBC Radio. In fact, I bet there are millions who haven't and don't know what's going on.
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Comment number 51.
At 23:58 8th Apr 2011, Big Jim wrote:No sound.
I go to www.bbc.co.uk,
I click on listen live to any radio programme - ususlly 4 or 7
A window pops up - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_fourfm
It tells me what is playing but there is no sound and there is no 'play bar' - that shows the time line playing.
This use to work until a few weeks ago. Why not now ?
The popup window has changed.
I haven't changed what I do.
Big Jim
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Comment number 52.
At 13:17 9th Apr 2011, anonymous2009 wrote:re post 42, and the quote regarding "the UK radio industry has provided no single place" and then details of the RadioCentrePlayer... As someone who has long been interested in radio and the internet, it's definite "news to me" that this facility was available. Even if it was "available to all" it seems to have existed behind a curtain of secrecy :)
I know it was not exactly part of the "radio industry", being mostly a personal project with some appeal to radio industry people, and (until closed to public view) radio enthusiasts also, but MediaUK (.com) had its own radio player. Admittedly only kept up-to-date by informal / user-feedback methods, and therefore unlikely to be as comprehensive, it served me for years as a way to locate audio streams, to complement radio-directory.fm (which indexes most N American stations, some internet-only stations, and some international broadcasts too).
As for 'podcasts' - I really have laughed at the BBC idea of podcasts where items could be downloaded within a small time window, where nearly all other podcast producers offer their 'library' of output for weeks/ months/ years. The BBC (until very recently, when policy has started to change) has been too tied to short-term access (with perhaps some exceptions, though only found by those who happened on specific items and by chance found many more programmes were available online).
PS not sure if this blog input form is faulty, but with Firefox I'm seeing only 2.75 lines of text vertically so like writing my comments on a large sheet, viewed through a letterbox, making it less that ideal to review... and the 'post' button was missing until I reloaded the page!
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Comment number 53.
At 22:36 9th Apr 2011, Ginimags wrote:How can I listen to iplayer listen again programmes on my iPad? Apple does not allow adobe flash. Is there anything else I can use?
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Comment number 54.
At 00:20 10th Apr 2011, Steve Bowbrick wrote:Thanks again for all your comments. Those relating to problems with audio or the Radioplayer interface will all be brought to the attention of Dave Price and his team. anonymous2009, it's worth noting that the BBC Trust has recently lifted some of the restrictions on the availability of podcasts. About two-thirds of Radio 4 podcasts, for instance, are now available for download in perpetuity. More details on the BBC Radio blog.
You'll also find that many BBC radio programmes are now available for online listening for longer too. Try the new Desert Island Discs archive where you'll find over 500 historic programmes. And the In Our Time archive - also over 500 programmes to listen to. And 'series catchup' now applies to radio series too - details on the Radio blog.
Ginimags, search your app store for the iPad iPlayer app. It supports live and on-demand listening - and doesn't require flash.
Steve Bowbrick, blogs editor
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Comment number 55.
At 21:34 11th Apr 2011, csfriel wrote:It's been a real pain to try to get Counterpoint on Listen Again since the changeover. Currently I am somehow (hit and miss, trial and error and a lot of frustration and wasted time) managing to find it in iPlayer rather than radioplayer, which gives me the blank console I see a lot of other people are experiencing.
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Comment number 56.
At 16:00 13th Apr 2011, soundgeek wrote:Since 30-March-2011 (since the new Radioplayer interface came in?) I have been unable to play any radio stream over the internet. It was working fine before that.
I am running Firefox 3.6.3 over Windows XP.
Listen Live doesn't work either.
Is this a general problem?
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Comment number 57.
At 16:05 13th Apr 2011, soundgeek wrote:Also have you now abandoned Win98 users. Up until the new player, Win98 + Firefox (the last version which worked with Win 98) worked fine. Win98 would also play iPlayer TV too. Neither work now.
Not all of us can afford to support Microsoft's policy of built-in obselescence. Youtube works. Come on BBC!
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Comment number 58.
At 20:40 14th Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:Comment 41 by Dave Price
The promised fixes have still not materialised and you have failed to come back on here to tell us what is going on.
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Comment number 59.
At 22:32 14th Apr 2011, nerdsunited wrote:Radioplayer showed such potential for great radio listening, but the sound drop out issues are a disaster (I'm using firefox 4). No programme lasts for more than 30 seconds without the sound completely dropping out. This needs to be fixed fast or there will be massive damage done to the reputation of this product and internet radio in general.
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Comment number 60.
At 23:30 18th Apr 2011, nda1 wrote:Since the changeover to Radioplayer about three weeks ago I have not been able to listen to any radio programmes online. When I select a channel to listen to the Radioplayer starts, displays moving patterns etc., but there is no sound whatsoever, neither is there any indication as to why I am being deprived of this service.
Reading through this forum, there are a couple of posts that could be construed as being from BBC staff (those with the blue background), who exhort us to keep reporting our difficulties, but there is no reason given at all as to why we are experiencing the various difficulties described here, nor is there any attempt to offer solutions to our problems.
In the absence of any constructive, helpful, postings from anyone at the BBC I will offer my own opinion, based upon my own experience: The BBC has made a commercial arrangement with other parties involving the introduction of the Radioplayer. This commercial arrangement benefits the employees of the BBC by increasing the BBC's income. The fact that the new arrangement does not work for some people, such as myself, is of no concern to those people at the BBC because they will get paid whether I can listen to their output or not.
It seems to me that the wishes of the licence-payer count for nothing with the BBC when they have the opportunity to make more money for themselves. They seem to have no regard whatsoever for those of us like myself who have been cut off from the opportunity to listen to radio programmes at a time that suits us.
I challenge anyone from the BBC to justify as a benefit to the listener the changes that have been made, and to explain why people like me have been cut off from the online radio service.
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Comment number 61.
At 21:36 21st Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:Still no update from Dave Price though as of yesterday the scroll bars problem in Chrome is fixed.
However, the problem with a stream that has been stopped not restarting when you go back to it persists.
Getting around this requires starting a stream for another station and then going back to the station you simply wanted to restart.
Is it too much to ask for Dave Price to come back on here and answer the licence payers to whom he is answerable?
Or will it take a formal complaint in regard to his contempt for those who pay his wages?
And why was a piece of kit released that required the disabling of third party cookie blocking in order to set stations and then leave customers to work this out for themselves?
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Comment number 62.
At 20:04 22nd Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:It's pointless I know but I should add that "Last Station" never is the actual last station. Indeed, it seems to be stuck.
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Comment number 63.
At 01:37 24th Apr 2011, Paul wrote:Doesn't work for me too.
Using Mac OSX 10.5.8 and Safari 5.0.5 on a PowerPC Mac. RadioPlayer loads but no sound comes out.
Not sure what the benefit of the player is. Am only interested in Radios 3 and 4. Frustrating that there is no adequate technical support or acknowledgement that there are problems - I spent ages trying to work out what the problem was before realising it was the switch from iPlayer.
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Comment number 64.
At 15:43 25th Apr 2011, soundgeek wrote:Running Win98SE & Firefox 2.0.0.20, also a Norton Firewall. Just tested iPlayer with BBC2 TV Newsnight from last week & also Torchwood from Radio4extra, Sunday, so iPlayer runs fine on both TV and Radio. Thank you BBC!
Then I tried the same Torchwood programme on Radioplayer. It loads the Radioplayer interface, it starts the annoying "bubbly" video graphic, it displays the progress bar and the triangle Play button. Then I click the button and it does... nothing. It doesn't play.
Clicking the progress bar or the "speaker" volume symbol does nothing either.
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Comment number 65.
At 12:57 26th Apr 2011, Dark-Avised wrote:soundgeek, have you tried clearing the flashplayer cache? See my comment https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/NF13735684?thread=8140656&latest=1#p107777533
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Comment number 66.
At 20:22 26th Apr 2011, soundgeek wrote:Dark-Avised, thanks for that advice. Looks like we users are unwitting beta-testers and left to fend for ourselves.
I wasn't aware there are all these hidden settings for Flash! Maybe Flash isn't the way to go? Fancy feature, yes, but more complexity & mystification for the users. BBC, please apply KISS principles. (Beebotron seems to work fine).
I cleared the list of sites. Radioplayer works on Win98SE with Firefox 2.0.0.20 now :)
Thanks again.
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Comment number 67.
At 00:02 28th Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:Where are you Dave?
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Comment number 68.
At 12:17 28th Apr 2011, Ivan wrote:On latest Chrome release, the pop up has started to come up wrong size with the last few millimetres of the right-hand side missing.
Is there any point in posting here?
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