Classic FM and overseas listeners

9 June 2006

Last month I described how a new licensing regime has meant that listeners from outside the UK may no longer listen to British independent radio stations. But certain stations, including Classic FM, only required the listener to enter a valid UK postcode to listen.

Then, at the start of this month, something changed again, and people outside the UK could no longer connect to Classic FM even after entering a correct postcode. I’ve received lots of messages from disappointed listeners who wanted to know if there was a way they could still listen.

How to listen

Please note: These instructions are intended for use by people in the UK whose IP addresses are identified as being overseas, preventing them from listening to Classic FM. While the instructions may also work for people located outside the UK, it is the responsibility of the reader to ensure that they are not breaking any laws of their country by listening, and that any royalties due are paid.

Update 11 June 2006:
To listen, open the following URL in your media player:

http://gcap5.planetwideradio.com/ClassicFM

For example, if you use Windows Media Player, go to File > Open URL, then enter that address.

Listening via a proxy

If the above URL doesn’t wory for you, you could try listening via an anonymous proxy server located in the UK. A list of these may be found on the Great Britain (UK) Open Proxy List. Note that sometimes servers on this list are not in the UK as claimed, and that others won’t allow audio to be streamed via them. At the time of writing, 213.177.255.60 (port 80) appears to suit our purposes.

I don’t endorse the use of Microsoft products by any means, but I’ll assume most people are using Windows Media Player (WMP). The principles remain the same whatever media player you are using.

In Windows Media Player, go to Tools > Options… > Network. You should then see “Streaming proxy settings”. Select “HTTP” and click “Configure”. Choose “Use the following proxy server” then enter the IP address and port number of the proxy given above.

Now you are ready to listen. Go to File > Open URL and enter the following address: http://mediasrv.musicradio.com/classicfm
The station should now start playing!

There are several things that can go wrong. The proxy might be down, in which case you won’t be able to connect. Latency is another problem: the extra stage of using a proxy might cause interruptions to the stream. If you have problems, try using a different proxy, or tweaking settings in WMP such as the buffer size.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any problems, or if you have any listening tips to share.

Posted in Media, Music, Technology on Friday, 9 June 2006 at 12:22

34 responses to “Classic FM and overseas listeners”

  1. Jeff 16 June 2006 at 3:55 pm

    Jonathan,

    Thank you very much for all the info. It is a pleasure to be able to listen to Classic FM again. It’s like having an old friend back again.

    Jeff

  2. John FJ 30 July 2006 at 4:54 pm

    I am so grateful! I read your help and within a minute I had got Classic FM back again! I thought it had gone for ever, and I was as heartbroken as the dozens of other overseas listeners. It is indeed like an old friend, and it has brought the colour back to my life. (I am a UK citizen and live in Germany)

  3. Peter 30 August 2006 at 8:29 am

    Dear Jonathan,
    Thankfully, I just discovered your articles and the subsequent correspondence on the Classsic FM difficulty, with a hopeful Google search. I was shocked and dismayed after recently finding the reference to overseas streaming on the Classic FM website! I am a New Zealander, about to repatriate, and I was looking forward to tuning in to Classic FM when I get home, having become “addicted” to the station over the past two years. I am encouraged by the developments recorded in your newsletter. Presumably, the same techniques described will work in NZ? I would be grateful for anyone’s experience on the NZ situation regarding Classic FM

  4. John Shannon 2 October 2006 at 10:29 pm

    Hi Jonathan

    You helped me to listen to Classic FM for a few more weeks. Today when I clicked on the http://gcap5.planetwideradio.com/ClassicFM address I got an immediate white page with the nfollowing message:

    The page cannot be displayed
    Explanation: The Web server connection was closed.

    Try the following:

    * Refresh page: Search for the page again by clicking the Refresh button. The timeout may have occurred due to Internet congestion.
    * Check spelling: Check that you typed the Web page address correctly. The address may have been mistyped.
    * Access from a link: If there is a link to the page you are looking for, try accessing the page from that link.
    * Contact website: You may want to contact the website administrator to make sure the Web page still exists. You can do this by using the e-mail address or phone number listed on the website home page.

    Technical Information (for support personnel)

    * Error Code 64: Host not available
    * Background: The connection to the Web server was lost.

    Something tells me the game is really up this time. What a pity.

    John

  5. Lori 4 October 2006 at 3:20 pm

    Hi Jonathan,
    I live in Fort Myers Florida and a friend in Wales suggested I listen to Classic FM (UK) about 2 years ago. Ever since, I have LOVED having their station on my computer all day! I cannot connect anymore either. DAMN!
    I have all my exotic birds listening to it too. We sure will miss it.
    DO YOU HEAR US, CLASSIC FM EXECUTIVES????

  6. Jonathan 4 October 2006 at 4:59 pm

    This week, the “planetwideradio” server appears to have been taken offline. The following URLs can be used instead (you should be able to open them directly in your media player):
    http://mediasrv-the.musicradio.com/ClassicFM
    http://mediasrv-sov.musicradio.com/ClassicFM
    These reportedly work outside the UK too.

  7. Ed 6 October 2006 at 12:15 am

    I ran into the same problem starting on October 2nd (I live in the states). Yesterday, I tried the REAL RADIO web url (http://audio.musicradio.com/classicFM.asx) and it worked. Good Luck!

  8. John C 24 October 2006 at 3:38 pm

    Jonathon,

    The post code option finally failed for me in the last few days – I could no longer get through to a field to put in a postcode. Fortunately, both of the links you put up on 4 October work for me in Dublin.

    Thanks, John C 24 October.

    PS I can get Classicfm on my radio when driving near the border with Northern Ireland. Should I contact Classicfm to see if I owe them royalties??? :-)

  9. Grace 12 November 2006 at 2:08 pm

    hi,
    So I’ve tried the link to Classic FM, but seems sometimes my internet is poor. Anyways, thanks!

    Cheers,
    grace

  10. Yigal 20 November 2006 at 10:39 pm

    Hi Jonathan,

    I live in Israel. I used to live in London. Ever since, I have LOVED having KISS 100 fm on my computer all day! I cannot connect anymore either.

    THEIR WEB SITE IS http://WWW.TOTALKISS.COM

    Clearly, I don’t have a British IP

    Please……..Help

    Many thanks

  11. Ken 26 November 2006 at 2:28 pm

    Has anyone been able to listen to either of these addresses with a Audiotron player?

    http://mediasrv-the.musicradio.com/ClassicFM
    http://mediasrv-sov.musicradio.com/ClassicFM

    Thanks

    Ken

  12. Eileen 18 January 2007 at 12:31 pm

    I have tried all over the ‘net (including leaving a messge on the Classic FM website!) to get this URL address for my music system – I’d not before have believed how difficult it is to get this sort of inofrmation! I am very grateful to you for supplying the address I needed! Many thanks!

  13. Eileen 18 January 2007 at 12:35 pm

    I’ve just read Ken’s message – I am now sucessfully (thanks to this site!) playing Classic FM through my Sonos system (could be similar to the Audiotron) using http://mediasrv.musicradio.com/classicfm. Don’t know if this helps!

  14. Del Dickson 21 January 2007 at 8:23 pm

    Thank you very, very much for helping me re-connect to classicfm here in sunny California. I had to play around with your instructions for awhile, but finally got the following combination to work.

    I opened up my Windows Media Player preferences (I have a Mac) and using the list of UK proxy settings you provided a handy link to, I set the proxy and port settings to:

    proxy: 194.80.38.242
    port: 3127

    With that, your classicfm player url address worked like a charm:
    http://mediasrv.musicradio.com/classicfm

    Thank you again. You really did a great public service for those of us who enjoy listening to classicfm.

  15. Del Dickson 24 January 2007 at 2:53 pm

    Update: The connection is somewhat unstable and usually drops after a half hour or more. I can reconnect a couple of times and then I am usually blocked from listening. Changing to a new proxy address lets me back in.

    Currently I am alternating between 194.80.38.242 and .243, both using port 3127. It is easy to alternate between these two settings, but it is mildly irritating to have to go through these gymnastics every couple of days.

    If anyone comes up with a more stable solution I would be happy to hear about it. Likewise, if I figure out something that works better I will post it here.

  16. Peter 27 January 2007 at 3:41 pm

    Not sure what player you use. If it’s Windows media just go File -> open URL and enter http://mediasrv.musicradio.com/classicfm.

    If you use Winamp enter http://mediasrv.musicradio.com/classicfm/.wma making sure WMA has been added in the Winamp preferences as a recognice file extension.

    Peter

  17. Del Dickson 7 February 2007 at 7:02 pm

    Peter– Thank you for the help. Your addresses don’t work for me unless I use a UK proxy server, so the instability I noted above remains the problem. But thank you for the suggestions– much appreciated.

    I did see that Classic FM is now offering a pay-for-play service through Real Media for listeners outside the UK, but it looks like it only works for PC users, not Mac users, so that isn’t an option for me yet.

  18. Richard 21 February 2007 at 5:44 am

    Thank you! I’ve been trying to figure out how to listen to my favourite London radio station ever since I moved to the US. I knew it was possible via a proxy server, but wasn’t able to find one which worked until now – the btopenworld one works well.

    mms://live2.interoutemediaservices.com/heart1062

  19. Mat 14 June 2007 at 3:22 am

    Richard Said on21 February 2007 at 5:44 am :
    I’ve been trying to figure out how to listen to my favourite London radio station ever since I moved to the US. …
    mms://live2.interoutemediaservices.com/heart1062

    Thank you to all contributors here in this blog.
    Heart 106,2 is my favourite radio station, too.
    But I tried nearly all UK-based Proxies
    and all the links of the routing-services.

    Nothing ever worked. :-(

    So, my only sad solution to this silly “licencing thing” is:
    Forget your UK-based webradio when you’re situated outside the UK.

    Listen to all the other cool webradio stations around the world, instead.

    When you loved to listen to Heart 106,2 FM in the UK, try for example one of the stations of http://www.hotmixradio.fr

    I loved to listen to the Heart 106,2, when I was cruising around London and Southend-on-sea. If the UK music industry doesn’t want their music to be spread around the world via the internet, something seems wrong.

  20. Mike 22 August 2007 at 8:32 pm

    Jonathan – you are brilliant!

  21. terry stride 7 February 2008 at 9:07 am

    You will find that Campus FM rebroadcasts cLassic FM most of the day

    http://campusfm.um.edu.mt/pages/schedule.html

  22. terry stride 7 February 2008 at 10:06 am

    Better connection http://campusfm.um.edu.mt/

  23. Will 10 February 2008 at 2:12 am

    Is there an mp3, ogg, pls, or m3u stream of Classic FM that can been listened to outside the UK? I have a device that won’t allow Windows Media streams like .asx or .asf. PLEASE HELP!!!

  24. Robert Heitler 21 February 2008 at 4:14 pm

    I have been unable to get through to classic fm, even with your ideas. Do you have any new ones? Without out classic fm the only culture and good taste seems to be yoguret with friut in it.

  25. Terry Stride 21 February 2008 at 5:51 pm

    I have found that you can listen to all the UK broadcaste via satellite if you are in Europe, all you need is a digibox off ebay and a satellite dish pointing to the Astra Satellite on 28.2, then you are in business, you will find all the Radio listing that you should be able to pick up on http://www.wildsat.com just look at free to air. there is also a lot of usful information on the website “digital spy” just look in there forums under satelliite/ freesat hope this helps

  26. Pete Hunt 22 March 2008 at 4:47 am

    I live in Honduras, Central America and have a Honduras ISP and IP address (and no proxy settings). I connected to http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk and did a search for Classic FM. A click on the link and Classic FM was streaming through Windows Media Player. So maybe the restrictions have been lifted ??

  27. Pete Hunt 22 March 2008 at 4:52 am

    An addition to my last post – Heart 106.2 works perfectly too!

  28. Bill & Dorothea King 29 March 2008 at 4:21 pm

    Jonathan,

    You have a great web site. I have bookmarked you and will visit regularly. We have only recently discovered ClassicFM, and for a month have been listening nearly non-stop. Then, today, suddenly……..nothing!

    It looks like they found us! An out of the country IP address (Germany.) I had no idea they worked this way, since their sign-up lists every country in the world in the drop-down menu.

    We find it unbelievable in today’s world of blogcasts, iTunes broadcasts, etc., that we are locked out of listening to the UK’s Classic FM! I can listen to radio stations from all over the world on my computer here. Without your web site’s explanation, it would never have occurred to us that the location of our IP address made ClassicFM no longer available to us.

    Thanks for your help. Keep up the good work! The Kings in Heidelberg

  29. David Treacy 6 August 2008 at 8:52 pm

    I have difficulty in getting Classic Fm in my sisters Co Dublin home which is 700 feet above sea leavel. The fm band is so jammed up with junk stations, that it is a nightmare. Reciantly a friend from Belfast told me that The DAB radio service is going to be improved in the next year or so, and that Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and 4 etc will become available all over Ireland. I fear that this is too good to be true!
    It is great to be able to vote on each piece of Classic Fm music, but a computer with a broad band connection is not very portable.
    David Treacy
    Castletown Co Laois.

  30. Nigel 12 October 2009 at 2:27 am

    I think it’s time for a serious international review of copyright, patent & licence restrictions – Not only are overseas people prevented from listning to UK radio, but I assume I in the UK am prevented from listning to fascinating radio from overseas. (Part of the problem is that copyright is granted for far too long).

    Radio used to be an international medium. Back in the days when mediom wave (AM) was more common, the BBC used to publish the schedule of forighen stations in the “Radio Times” (UK’s main listings mag) – there was an encouragement to listen to overseas radio.

    Then FM came along, with shorter coverage range, but much better quality, and most people only listened to ther local/national stations.

    With the web we (should) have the best of both worlds, international radio (TV too in the future perhaps) with good quality. But as usual it’s the copyright & patent lawyers who have to spoil it all for us.

    I’ve often wondered why copyright extends to 70yrs after the creator’s death but patents only last for 5-20yrs (10years seems enough for both to me)

    Nigel

  31. paul curuthers 17 March 2010 at 9:00 pm

    Unable to get classic fm out here in 1930s ireland it breaks up on satellite can get the dear old bbc radio 2 but not classic, the irish are not into classic music or for that matter culture. help.

  32. Terry Stride 18 March 2010 at 8:50 am

    You might try adjusting your sat dish, its may be a little off beam. works fine here in Malta

  33. Ken 6 April 2012 at 4:10 am

    Hi Jonathan,
    I don’t know if you still update this page. Seems a while since anyone added to it but it has been a fave of mine for the past 5 or 6 years.

    Until recently, I have used http://mediasrv-sov.musicradio.com/ClassicFM to acces CFM from all over the world, most recently from China. Until a week ago or so and it suddenly stopped working for me. I can still access it through the website but would rather stream it through windows media player.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Ken

  34. Jonathan 6 April 2012 at 7:32 pm

    I have now posted an update on the Classic FM streams as of April 2012. Please post any future comments on that article.

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