The fact it’s only happening to one Radio station only tends to point to that Internet connection as being your issue, maybe contact them and see if they can offer an alternative connection to their service. The speed of the internet is irrelevant if something is interrupting their streaming service en-route to you.

From a Sonos perspective you could do these few things to ensure less Interference…

1. Even though you use an ethernet connection, Set your router to use a fixed 2.4Ghz non-overlapping WiFi channel 1, 6 or 11 and set the channel width to 20MHz. Also set your SonosNet channel so it is at least 5+ channels away from your chosen router channel.
2. Ensure that any device ‘wired’ to the router is set at least 4 feet away from the router, or other wireless device/AP.
3. Consider using different ethernet cables, just in case one of them is faulty 

The above may help to reduce local interference, but if it’s the connection to the radio station, it will still make little, or no difference.

Hi Ken

Many thanks for your suggestions. I have been suspicious that it is the radio station in question as all other stations stream onto the same Sonos speakers in the same way perfectly. In saying that the radio station assure me that it isn’t them!!!!

I have changed the ethernet cables just to check, but the problem still persists…. Guess I will just have to change my listening habits..

Thanks again for your help.

Hi @Ron in Australia 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I recommend you submit a diagnostic the next time this occurs and then get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system.

Hi Corry

Many thanks for your reply. I’ve just had the problem happen yet again and on your advice I’ve submitted a diagnostic report.

The confirmation number is 1429987611

I hope this throws some light on the problem

It seems that I did not have tunein added to my sonos system… instead it was playing via Sonos radio alone and this is where the problem was… hopefully… the next few days will tell…

Hi @Ron in Australia 

Your diagnostics indicate trouble at the source, as in the speakers were unable to receive the stream reliably enough to play continuously. As both your speakers are ethernet-connected and not indicating any issue with the cables, I presume this is an issue either with the actual online source, or the path the data takes to get to your speakers. Do you have a network switch? If so, please try wiring Sonos directly to the router or use WiFi.

If you have another device on your network that’s using up the bandwidth of your internet connection periodically, that could be another cause. If the one station that won’t play has a higher than average bitrate, this may explain why it only seems to be one station affected.

Sonos Radio gets it’s station list from Tune In, so that shouldn’t be the problem, but you can certainly also try installing radio.net or myTuner services (which are also collections of radio stations and free) to see if the same station plays more reliably from one of those.

If this doesn’t help, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team for some detailed and real-time troubleshooting.

Hi again,

Just a quick update - sadly the problem is still there. I’ve now added Radio App to the Sonos system as as I”m typing this the station is behaving itself….

Yes, both my Sonos one speakers are connected into a network switch as its not possible to connect directly into my router given its in a different room. I have data sockets throughout my home with various items all connected ie, BluRay players, Smart TV, Freeview Tuner / recorder, Media player, NAS drives and a Receiver. All these are connected with ethernet with various network switches in different rooms all connected back to my router.

Many thanks again for all your help - always welcomed.

Regards Ron

What advice did you receive from the technical support team?

Hi Ron,

I’m in Perth, and trying 6IX now and will let you know if I have the same issue - thought it’s worth a try. Been about 10mins and so far no problems - streaming via S2 to new Roam speaker, via WiFi.

...It did stutter after about 40mins, dropping out for half a second repeatedly like a badly scratched DVD, and nearly cut out completely. However, it did seem to return to normal without restarting, it’s been an hour now perhaps.

Andy

I spoke to technical and they found I did not have tuneIn listed under the “Music & Content” services. I had always been streaming via Sonos Radio. Anyway, TuneIn now added but found the same problem. I’ve now added RadioApp to the Sonos “Music & Content” services and am now streaming via that.

Time will tell if that continues problem free. I would say once again it is only this 1 radio station (6Ix) that I have this problem with - all others stream fine as are all other connected devices I have in the house connected by both ethernet and wi-fi

Many thanks to everyone for assistance here

Ron

Latest update - sorry to say the problem still exists with 6Ix Perth radio station. I’ve tried everything that has been suggested so now have to admit defeat I think and re-tune to any other station which I know will stream with no issues.

Ron

The symptoms that Andy reported above are exactly the same as I’ve been experiencing - ie stuttering and then cutting out before then re starting - surely this has to be the radio station itself or the way its being streamed - but why so different from other streamed radio stations???

For me its the same on TuneIn, RadioApp and Sonos Radio - all problematic…

Ron

Hi @Ron in Australia 

Given that it only seems to happen with one station, I would indeed now come to the conclusion that there is an issue with the station itself. They may not be aware, so if you can find a way to report it to them, they may be able to fix it.

Hi Corry

I have reverted to Wi-Fi connection and have accessed the radio station in question ( Perth 6Ix ) from TuneIn, RadioApp, Sonos Radio, Mytuner etc etc and in all cases the problem still persists. I have even started afresh and connected to my network from scratch - still the same problem. I can only assume there is some miss-match between this radio station and Sonos but can you tell me please - are there differences in the way that radio stations stream their content as it is ONLY this one radio station that is the problem and only on Sonos ( other Wi-Fi speakers I have ( Sony, Google ) are all ok )

Ron

Hi @Ron in Australia 

I had a look at your diagnostics, and the issue appears to be at the source. The errors we see are Access Denied, which probably means that the station changed their streaming URL and didn’t update TuneIn or other services about the change. I really do think that only the radio station themselves will be able to resolve this.

Your other speakers may be pulling the station’s URL from a different source, which could explain why they are able to play, but it still needs to be the station themselves that fix the problem - they need to inform the Radio Aggregators (like TuneIn) of the change in streaming URL.

Hi Corry

I would like to thank you for all your help here - most helpful.

I will once again contact the Radio Station ( 6Ix Perth ) once again and hope they will check out your suggestions.

Hi Corry

I have just sent the following to Greg Spencer the technical guy at 6Ix radio station here in Perth.

Maybe there is something here that may throw some light onto my problem.

1. My system consists of 2 x Sonos One Gen 2 speakers configured for stereo ( with voice control but not activated and never used )
2. In case it makes a difference my home has fibre to the premises and I'm on a 100mbs service from LBNCo via Exetel.
3. I have tried the connections both with Wi-Fi and ethernet connections to my router.
4. I have tried 2 different routers but with no improvement.
5. All music sources work perfectly whether streamed or played from devices with the Sonos app installed ie tablets, smart phones, Windows 10 computer etc.
6. The only radio station that will not consistently play is sadly 6Ix.
7. When I start 6Ix from any device with the Sonos app installed it will start to play perfectly but after 20 - 40 minutes will start to stutter, this gets worse and worse over a 3 - 5 minute period before cutting out completely. When re-started all works well again but repeats over again.
8. My Sonos speakers stream 6Ix from TuneIn by default but I have also tried from RadioApp, Sonos Radio ( which is TuneIn of course ), My tuner Radio and in all cases I experience the same problem.
9. I also have in my home Wi-Fi speakers from Sony and Google and they do not have any problem with 6Ix from any source.

Based on the above information the problem would certainly point towards the Sonos product and some form of incompatibility but as previously mentioned 6Ix is the only radio station that I have this problem with. I listen to 6PR, 6GT, Mix 94.5 amongst others and they all work fine all of the time.

If this throws any further light on things I would love to hear back from you.

Hi Corry

I thought you may like to see the answer I received from Greg Spencer, technical dept of 6Ix Radio here in Perth.

Do any of his remarks provide a hint of the problem I wonder?

“From Greg Spencer - Group Engineering Manager 6Ix

Thankyou for your detailed description in relation to your Sonos device.

Does your Sonos device provide any logs in relation to data downloaded?

I’m wondering if you may have a buffer overrun problem with the device.

I’m going to lodge a support ticket with our streaming service provider Triton Digital and see if they can shine any light on the problem.

It might be a few days before I get a response being a listening agent problem but soon as I have some info I will let you know.

Kind regards

Greg”

Hi @Ron in Australia 

Quite the opposite, I’m afraid - your speaker is reporting constant stream underflows, as in, there is not enough information coming through to maintain playback. Additionally, these underflow errors are interspersed with Access Denied errors.

Hi Corry

I am now at desperation stage with this issue - I have looked on the internet and found it littered with people from around the world with exactly the same issue when streaming just one particular Radio station whatever it may be onto Sonos products. Surely you must be aware of this and can give me an idea of why this should happen.

Please give me an honest assessment to this situation.

Hi @Ron in Australia 

Given the steps you’ve taken, and the fact that only one station is affected, I have to presume that there’s something wrong either with the URL from which the radio playlist is taken, or with the playlist itself (I say “playlist” because many radio stations play chunks of the broadcast in order, something you won’t actually hear happen as there are no gaps (though this is often how location-specific content is injected into the feed)).

Many services provide streams via different servers when playing on Sonos, and I presume that is why you only have trouble playing the station on Sonos.

Given where this problem is, only the station themselves can organise a fix (or perhaps the aggregator).

However, there is a possible work-around. Have you tried manually adding the radio’s streaming URL to Sonos? You can see how on our Add an Internet radio station to Sonos help page, and you should be able to get a direct streaming link from the station’s website.

Hi Corry

Thank you for that info, I’ve passed that information onto the radio station and they are investigating.

Right now I’m listening to 6Ix from “ a manually added radio station “ on my Sonos system. Its too early to tell yet but so far so good. I noticed from the URL that it is an mp3 stream just for your information.

Hi @Ron in Australia 

You were receiving AAC feeds and m3u8 playlists before, so it seems something significant has changed.

Fingers crossed!