Live Audio

RadioReference provides over 1500 Live Audio Feeds. This page outlines all the information needed for both listeners and broadcasters to effectively use the RadioReference platform for live streaming audio.

Listening to Feeds

Tips, Tricks, How To, etc for listening to feeds. Instructions, help etc.

Feed Details

Feed Options - Please see the graphic below that describes the different feed options available:

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Set your default audio player

• Premium Subscribers can set their default audio player by editing their MyRR Personalization Settings in their account settings. (Your account details link is at the top of every page on the site.)

ACCOUNT -> MyRR Personalization

Mobile Device Support

• See our Live Audio Mobile Device Support page for more details on the many clients available for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android mobile devices

Official and RR Owned Feeds

• RR Owned Feeds represents equipment that RadioReference owns to broadcast feeds.
• Official Feeds represents feeds officially broadcast by a public safety agency or other organization.

Broadcasting Feeds

Applying To Broadcast A Feed

Introduction

If you have a scanner you're not using and you would like to provide a scanner feed for RadioReference.com, you can fill out a feed provider application at the following link:

My Live Audio Feeds

This page is found on your account page, on the "My Live Audio Feeds" tab.

Providing a live audio feed does not require a second computer - you can use the computer you normally use to surf the web as long as you leave it on all the time. In addition, you'll also need a DSL or Cable Modem connection to the Internet and an audio cable to connect the earphone jack of your scanner to the Line In input of your computer's sound card. RadioReference will provide a free customized software package that you can install and run to broadcast the feed - no other software is required.

In addition, providing a scanner feed will not slow down your Internet connection - the digitized audio that is sent to our servers uses only a fraction of the upload portion of your connection, the part of your connection which you use very little of anyways. Providing a scanner feed will use approximately 5GB of bandwidth per month.

Everyone that provides a scanner feed receives:

• A RadioReference.com Premium Subscription (worth $30/year)
• Access to lots of feed statistics (such as peak and number of unique listeners for feeds over the past week, 2 weeks, month, etc) for the scanner feeds.
• A feed provider "badge" on your RadioReference Forums Profile
• Lots of grateful listeners and a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart.

Applying for an Official Feed

Feeds can only be designed at official if the agency broadcasting the feed sends a letter to RadioReference.com, on official letterhead, requesting that the feed be identified as officially broadcast by the organization.

The letter needs to contain the name and location of the feed broadcast, as well as a statement indicating that the organization wishes to have the feed marked as an provided by an official agency.

The letter should be sent to:

RadioReference.com LLC
ATTN: Lindsay Blanton
18160 US Hwy 281N Suite 108-133
San Antonio, TX 78232

What a good Live Audio Feed and description should include!

Before you decide to become a feed provider, please read the entire article for various policy and procedure guidelines. Following these feed request guidelines as this will help us process and approve your feed request in a timely manner. A feed request lacking a good feed description and other information may result in us having to go back to you asking for more information, clarification of what you what to stream etc. This will result in a delay in approving your feed request or denial of the stream request.

Your feed description

Here are examples of Good feed descriptions for a single scanner (mono) stream:

• Gwinnett County Police, Fire and EMS

• Gwinnett City Police and Fire

• Maricopa County Law Enforcement

(includes County Sheriff, Phoenix,Tempe, Mesa, Apache Junction and Gilbert Police Departments / DPS)

• Fulton County Public Safety

(Includes Sheriff, Police and Fire)

• Fargo-Dilworth BNSF Railroad Road and Yard Channels

• Boone County Sheriff and Fire:(includes Belvidere Police and Fire and Capron Fire, covers Winnebago County)

• Dubuque area Marine and Railroad

• Amateur Radio Repeaters in Santa Cruz County and the Monterrey Bay Area:
  (W6WLS, W6MOW, W6WLS, WB6YAM, WR6AOK, K6BJ, K6LY, WB6ECE)

Here are examples of Good descriptions for a two scanner (stereo) stream:

• San Mateo County Fire and CAL FIRE:
  

LEFT Side - San Mateo County Fire Service
RIGHT Side - CAL FIRE for the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond

• Contra Costa County Fire and Antioch / Brentwood Police:
  

LEFT Side - Contra Costa County Fire dispatch
RIGHT Side - Contra Costa County Fire tactical channels, Antioch / Brentwood Police, and CAL FIRE

• Bureau County Sheriff, Fire, EMS and StarCom21:
  

LEFT Side - Bureau County Fire
RIGHT Side - StarCom21

Here are examples of Bad descriptions: (resulting in feed processing delays or non approval)

• Music
• SouthWest Iowa Music, Police Scanner, and Talk Radio
• Pager Tones
• Police Scanner
• All feeds
• Electric
• Police
• Public Safety
• Home Scanner
• Gwinnett County
• Gwinnett County TSYS
• Fulton County and Surrounding Counties
• TPD, TFD, and STFD
• Baltimore County Talkgroups ( change to Baltimore County Public Safety)

Avoid duplicate feeds:

Please check the existing county listings in your state before you decide to become a feed provider. Look at what is already there because we want to avoid complete duplication of existing feeds.

If there is an existing stream in your county for “Home County Sheriff and Fire”, please do not request another matching feed. However you could request a feed for “Home City Police and Fire (also includes Home County Sheriff and Fire). This is at least a different feed.

Look at other feed listings:

Please look at the many other feed listings and what others are scanning. This will aid you in choosing what to scan and how to list it.

Using proper spelling etiquette:

Nothing would look more embarrassing then having a feed with with incorrect grammar.When submitting a feed application PLEASE pay attention to your Spelling, Punctuation, and Capitalization. Please do not submit feed requests in either all upper or lower case.

Include details in the feed information page:

Please include the following in your feed information page:

• Type of radio or scanner, antenna, computer or streaming device, and streaming software used
• List all agencies on the feed.

Feed Providers are not allowed to broadcast:

• SWAT "type" operations if on dedicated channels or talkgroups
• Narcotics / CID / Investigations or other tactical operations
• Dedicated channels or talkgroups for Ambulance to Hospital Communications
• Dedicated Federal Government or Military Communications (exceptions include any fire fighting or EMS operations, space shuttle launch or ISS communications, park ranger operations)
• Any commercial service broadcast (FM/AM/TV etc)
• Music or talk show of any kind (commercial or non-commercial)
• DJ or other type of similar activity (commercial or non-commercial)
• Open Microphones
• NOAA Weather Radio (See Wunderground for a host)

Feed Notification Settings

Time Down      Action
============================================
15 min         Email Notification to Feed Owner
6 Hours        Email Notification to Feed Owner
24 Hours       Email Notification to Feed Owner
7 days         Email Notification and feed set inactive
               resulting in feed provider losing premium subscriber status
14 days        Email notification and feed deactivated.
21 days        Feed deleted. 

• NOTE:Feed must be online to receive premium subscriber status

• NOTE: If prior arrangements are made with the Live Audio Administration staff we can prevent a feed from being deleted if it needs extended downtime.

• NOTE: Feed Owner will also receive an Email Notification when feed goes back online.

Feed Status Messages (Feed Owners)

The audio administration team has noticed that feed broadcasters have been using their feed status message to communicate all sorts of information, including soliciting donations, promoting other Web sites, showing Feed hours of operation or any feed online / back online messages, Advertisements, Links, and providing descriptive information on what is being broadcast.

Types of status messages which are NOT allowed:

• Soliciting Donations
• Promoting other Web sites
• Providing descriptive information on what is being broadcast
• Feed hours of operation or any feed online / back online type of messages. (If the feed is working, there is no need of a message.)
• Advertisements
• Links
• Other

The feed status message was designed to give listeners the status of a feed that is either down or having problems. We request that any other information regarding your feed either be placed in the description of your feed or be moved to your feed information page.

Below is an example of the proper use of the feed status message:

Request A Feed Change (Feed Owners)

If you need something changed about your feed or have a problem, please use the "Request A Feed Change" button on your feed owner page, DO NOT use the "Report A Problem With This Feed (File:Inline.gif)" button to request a feed change.

The "Report A Problem With This Feed (File:Inline.gif)" button should only be used by people listening to your feed that are reporting a problem to you (the feed owner).

RR Live Audio Policy

Use of the "Secondary Description" field:

The purpose of this field is to provide additional descriptive details about what your feed is broadcasting. The RR Staff reserves the right to edit and update this field to comply with this policy. No Ads, no HTML. (Max 255 characters, text only)

Use of the "News and Feed Alerts" field:

This field will expire 2 hours after being updated. Please use this field ONLY to alert users to a breaking incident or noteworthy event happening on your broadcast. (Max 255 characters, text only)

Broadcasting Software

RadioReference provides customized broadcast software for users that want to broadcast their feeds from a Windows based PC (Windows 2000/XP/Vista). This download and setup information is sent to every feed provider when their feed application is approved. (Note: Software and setup information is sent to the email on your RadioReference account)

For individuals who want to use alternative software, the Icecast configuration settings you should use to configure the client you select can be found at the bottom of the owner's page for your feed.

When configuring a client, for a mono feed select a bitrate of 16kbps, for a stereo feed (where you have two scanners providing the audio) use a bitrate of 32kbps. In both cases, select a samplerate of 22050Hz to make sure the audio is compatible with as many players as possible.

RR Live Audio Streaming Ports:

The RR Live Audio application normally uses port 80. You can also use ports 8000, 8080, or 8500. The alternate port numbers are typically used to get around firewall problems.

You may also need to set up your router to do port forward. Contact your router manufacturer for these details.

Alternative Broadcasting Clients

Windows

• ScannerCast - Free, supply your RadioReference.com username and password to have it configure itself.
• ProScan
• SimpleCast from SpacialAudio

Mac

• Nicecast from Rogue Amoeba

Linux

• DarkIce
• Ubuntu and Darkice Configuration HOWTO

Standalone (no computer needed)

• Barix Instreamer 100 Network Audio Encoder

Basic Barix Instreamer 100 stream set up

Audio:

• Input source: Select Line
• Channel Mode: Set to Mono or stereo as needed (mono for one radio, stereo for two radios)
• Encoding+Frequency: Set to "22.05kHz"
• MPEG Encoding Quality: Set to "0"
• /D amplifier gain: Set as needed. Depends on signal level but 6-7.5bd max

Streaming

• Own Name: Enter your stream name (Example: Home City Fire)
• Streaming mode: Set to "send always"
• Buffer Underrun mode: set to "skip"
• Streaming strategy: Set to "lowest latency"
• Radio path: (Mount point) Set to what ever is supplied by RR
• icy-url / SIP user: Set to http://www.radioreference.com/
• icy-genre: Set to Scanner
• Shoutcast stream: Set to Public
• Type of Service/DSCP: Set to 0
• Under Stream to: Set to Iceast Source
• Connection Type: Select "Icecast source"
• Enter supplied IP address for the address of the server and specify 80 for the port number. You will need to contact RR Live Audio for this IP address.

Security: Password:

• Ice/Shoutcast: Enter what ever is supplied by RR.

You can find the needed RR settings by looking at the feed owner page for the feed in question. Then copy and past the Server, Port, Mount, and Password info in the Instreamer 100 as needed.

Basic Mac & Nicecast stream set up

Mac Sound Settings:

• Set for Line In
• Set Input Volume as needed but poss no higher than the first line.

Nicecast Server Section:

• Name: Enter your stream name (Example: Home City Fire)
• Server type: Set to Icecast2
• Password: Enter what ever is supplied by RR
• Address: Enter what ever is supplied by RR
• Port: 80 or possibly 8000
• Mount point: Enter what ever is supplied by RR

Nicecast Broadcast Section:

Source Tab:

• Select Built in Line.

Info Tab:

• Name: Enter your stream name (Example: Home City Fire)
• URL: http://www.radioreference.com/
• Genre: scanner
• Description: Enter same as your stream name.: (Example: Home City Fire)

Titles Tab:

• Should all be set automatically

Quality Tab:

• Preset: Set to Custom
• Bitrate: Set to 16kbps for a mono (one scanner) feed or set to 32kbps for a stereo (two scanner feed)
• Sample Rate: Set to 22,025Hz
• Channels: Set to Mono or stereo as needed (mono for one radio, stereo for two radios)
• CPU Usage/Quality: Set to what you need. I have mine set to a little more than 2/3.

Share Tab:

• Should be set automatically

Effects Tab:

• Turns ON & OFF effects.

After all above is set, exit Nicecast and relaunch to save the settings.

You can also set Nicecast and the Mac to reboot when power is returned.

Press "Start Broadcast" in the Nicecast Broadcast Section. If there is a connection to RR, State will show On Air.

You can find the needed RR settings by looking at the feed owner page for the feed in question. Then copy & past the Server, Port, Mount, & Password info in Nicecast as needed.

Integrating Feeds with Your Applications

Licensing Use of Live Audio Feeds

Use of the live audio feeds on RadioReference.com in commercial applications that are sold at a cost, such as mobile device applications, require a license from RadioReference.com. Licenses issued include access to the Live Audio Feed Catalog API as outlined below.

For more information on licensing the live audio components of RadioReference.com, please contact Lindsay Blanton via Email: lindsay (AT) RadioReference.com with the details of your application and contact information.

Live Audio Feed Catalog API

RadioReference provides a live audio feed catalog to licensed users. The API provides a real time interface into audio feed broadcast details, including feed statuses, mount points, broadcast servers, locations covered, and other details.

More information can be found on the Live Audio API section at:

Audio Feed Catalog API

Integrating Feeds in your Web Site

Embedding Your Audio Feed on Your Web Page

Feed broadcasters are allowed to embed their feeds in their own web pages, for free, provided they use ONLY the following process for doing so:

First, you need to apply for a domain key:

Your Account - API Configuration

Make sure the domain that you specify to be licensed is the domain you plan on embedding the feed. Once approved for a domain key, follow the instructions in the "Embed Feed in a Web page" section on your feed owner page to add the player.

Displaying Your Feed Statistics on Your Site

You can display your feed's status and # of listeners by inserting the following script on your site:

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://api.radioreference.com/audio/listeners.php?feedId=####">
</script>

where #### is the ID for your feed.

This script will return the number of listeners you feed is serving if online. If offline, the script will return the string "Offline."

You can find the feedID value for your feed on your feed owner's page: