One of the ways that “real” radio has Internet radio beat is in its ease of use. Even when things are working perfectly on my end, I get plenty of emails from people having a difficult time connecting to the HossTheBoss.com stream. That’s just the way our computer world is. It kinda sucks, and I don’t know if it’ll ever change, so long as the world’s computer geeks keep churning out new browsers, new ways to connect to the internet, new operating systems, new security systems, new gadgets (and they’re even talking about the “new internet”) faster than everyone else can keep up.

But here’s the good news:  if you willing to work at it a little you can get my dang stream working on just about anything that’s not connected to the internet via old fashioned dial-up.

I need all the listeners I can get. So I’ll be glad to help you personally. (HTB is so low budget, I can’t even afford to hire support guys from India.) If none of the stuff on this page helps you figure out why you can’t hear my stream, just click the contact link above and send me a note. If I can’t get you going with one quick reply, I’ll send you my dang phone number — or call you if you send me yours — so we can chat in “real time.”

Also, please feel free to use the “comments” section of this page to report problems and help others. I respond to those as much as I do email.

Solutions to Frequent Problems

The “Click to Hear the Dang Stream” button doesn’t do anything:

• First make sure that you didn’t just miss a little message that sometimes appears at the top of your browser when the pop-up blocker can’t  decided if a pop-up is something useful or an annoying ad. The message will usually say that a pop-up has been temporarily blocked and give you the option of opening the window anyway. If you exercise that option, you will likely not ever have to do that again. The browser will usually automatically “learn” that pop-ups on HossTheBoss.com are the good kind, not annoying or destructive advertisements. (A cool little article about the basics of pop-up-blockers.)
• If you don’t see the message I’m talking about, then look through your browser’s “preferences”, “tools” or “options”  (browsers use different terms) menu to find a setting that says something to the effect of “enable javascript.” If it turns out that your javascript was not enabled, that’s more than likely the reason the button didn’t work.
• If none of that works, try simply restarting your browser.
• If that doesn’t work, try simply restarting your computer.
• If that doesn’t work, try installing a different browser. (Some common ones: Firefox , Internet Explorer , Safari, Opera.) If it’s any consolation. I’ve got all of these installed on my main computer, and it quite often happens that certain features of certain websites don’t work right in certain browsers. Just opening the site in a different browser often does the trick. Annoying, yes. But it works. I say every responsible web surfer needs to have several different browsers available. And by the way, all new features of HossTheBoss.com get tested on the latest version of each of the browsers I linked above before I go live with them. But that doesn’t mean that issues specific to your operating system or with older versions of the browser won’t cause problems. The Internet can be a frustrating world!
• If none of this  works, try the solutions I recommend for the next problem.

The Stream Window Opens, but I Don’t Hear Anything
(or I’m getting weird messages about plug-ins and stuff)

• Just switch to a new different dang player. The one in my site’s stream window requires that you have “Windows Media Player” working properly with your browser, and, apparently you don’t. No biggie really. Just click one of the links to files that work on other players (preferably a player that you’re pretty sure you have installed on your computer, but if  you’re not sure what you have, just click any link). The links are all at the top of every page of the site, and on the window itself, but I’ll toss them in right here, too: iTunes , VLC Media Player , WinAmp , Real Player or QuickTime.
• If all is working well, you’ll get a message asking if you want to “save” or “open” the file. Click “open,” and the next thing you know — if your computer has a program that can play that type of file — the station will be playing.
• If that doesn’t work, click “cancel,” and try another of the player links.
• If none of that works, I recommend you download the most reliable player available today: The VLC Media Player. Once you’ve got that installed, the links to the VLC Media Player file will more than likely finally work.

My Company Doesn’t Trust Me, So The IT Guys Block Streams

• If you want to risk getting in trouble (as I’ve been known to do, to be honest), the web has a lot of tips for ways to get around that block. Here’s just a few (albeit outdated) I found. Google will lead you to more, I’m sure. If you do work around this and end up getting in trouble, I can’t help you financially or legally, but you do have my moral support. IT Departments (outside of places like China, North Korea, Cuba and Iran) have no business censoring the internet, dang it!

I’ll put more tips here as I think of them and hear about them from listeners.