Frequently Asked Questions

This page is for answering your questions about Chill. If you have a question, you can email us - chill@helpmechill.com - or drop a comment below.

LISTENING TO CHILL
How can I listen to Chill on a radio / what frequency are you on?
Chill broadcasts on DAB digital radio in London and Birmingham. You can see if we are on in your area by entering your postcode at this handy DAB information site.

One nice thing about DAB is that the radio automatically scans for stations and shows them by name - no numbers to remember! If you can't find us on your DAB radio, and you feel sure we should be on near you, try getting the best possible signal and doing an "autotune" on your radio. You get the best signal by making the aerial vertical and putting it near a window.

I can't listen on DAB - how else can I listen to Chill?
There are lots of ways to chill with us! You can listen online - click the links on this site (check the right hand column), or go to our original station site to get the official Chill online player.

For a limited time, Chill is also on Sky (channel 0177) and Virgin Media (channel 961 - yes, we know it says "theJazz", but it is really Chill!)

If you don't fancy listening on a PC or TV, why not try a wireless internet radio? They are great for putting anywhere in the house, like the kitchen, where you just want music and not a computer. They are also getting cheaper - £40 is getting to be a common price.

What do I need to listen to Chill on an internet radio? (apart from the radio...)
You need a broadband connection and, ideally, a wireless router (most internet radios will also have a slot for a cable, but that makes it harder to make the thing portable...). There is a good chance you already have both of these. If you can get nice fast internet in your house with no wires, you're sorted. If you need to go wireless, the good news is that this is also getting cheaper - £30 will get you a good wireless router.

Errr... what's a wireless router?
Ah, sorry. It's a box which shares your broadband connection around the house, so you can connect several things to the internet at once. You can check them out on Amazon or any consumer electronics site.

So if I get a wireless router and an internet radio, how do I get Chill?
Internet radios pick up thousands of stations from around the world. Finding the one you want can be a bit tricky the first time you use one. Most radios have a search facility, accessed using the remote control, and a list of popular stations. Chill is often listed at "Chill (UK)"

However, if you can't find us, there is usually a way to enter the address of our audio stream directly. (Sometimes this is through a keyboard, but more often you can do it through your computer - the manufacturers set up clever ways for your PC to talk to your radio - check the manual...)

What is the address of your audio stream?
We have a 128k MP3 stream at http://media-ice.musicradio.com/ChillMP3
We also have a 48k AAC+ stream at http://media-ice.musicradio.com/Chill
(Don't be put off by the low bitrate, by the way, AAC+ is much newer than MP3 as an idea, and it sounds great. The two streams sound pretty similar to us.)

Is there anything I need to know about listening online?
We don't think you can ever do too much chilling. But if you have a broadband package with limited bandwidth - a fixed amount of stuff you can download each month - you can use this up quite quickly if you do a lot of online listening. Be careful you don't overdo things and end up with a big bill!

If your limit is less than 10Gb a month, you should definitely use our 48k AAC+ stream, and make sure you have a tool which tells you how close you are to your limit. Your internet service provider probably provides one, or you can try this free software which can also do the job for you.

Are there any other ways to listen to Chill?
Yes - more and more new phones have internet access, and can sound pretty good too. If you have an iPhone, there are lots of radio applications, including the free "FStream". You need one where you can enter the address of a stream - then just enter one of our addresses:
http://media-ice.musicradio.com/ChillMP3 (for the MP3 stream)
http://media-ice.musicradio.com/Chill (for the AAC+ stream)

Several other phones have applications which can also use those addresses. In the future, we are also planning podcasts featuring music from artists who want to share with you - so keep an eye on this site for announcements!

MUSIC

What track were you playing just now/last night/three weeks ago?
We have a live update on this site of everything from the last hour or so, and if you want to go back further, you can check our archives here.

I can see the name of a mix (like "Fluidnation mix 35") but that doesn't help!
For technical reasons, we can't list all the tracks for the daily DJ-produced mixes in the same way we do for the rest of the day. However, you can contact all of the producers through our schedule page, which also tells you who is on when. The producers usually leave track lists online, and they are also very happy to hear from listeners with questions about the music.

Who picks the music for Chill?
Our daytime playlist has evolved from Chill founder Bern Leckie's music collection as listeners have shared the music which helps them chill. Bern and the rest of the team receive thousands of suggestions, which form the bulk of today's Chill music library. They also keep an ear out for the best new stuff from around the world.

As well as Bern, our team and knowledgeable friends include:
* Ben Mynott (half of Fragile State, a legendary muso and now a top chillout producer and DJ - watch out for his Fluidnation nights!),
* Ben Eshmade (creator of the Chiller Cabinet, and a busy promoter of chilled music events in London and elsewhere),
* Bruce Bickerton (a.k.a. Alucidnation, another of the UK's foremost chillout artists and producers - and you should see him sing from behind the decks in his live shows!)
* Pete Lawrence (producer, artist, and co-founder of The Big Chill festival - there is no-one in chillout that Pete does not know!)
* Paul Noble (runs The Big Chill's festival radio, and works a music consultant across the world - be prepared for him to be in a random time zone if you ever phone him!)
* and many more artists, DJs and producers who have befriended us and generously shared new tracks, guest mixes and stacks of ideas to help you chill!

I am a chillout artist - how can I send you a track?
You can get directly to our inbox by uploading the track here.
If you want to post something, our address is: Chill, 1 Passage Street, Bristol, BS2 0JF

If you are a member on this site, you can also upload a track to your own music player, and tell everyone about it (in the forums, for example). Listeners who like it can also add it to their players, if you let them. And we are always looking for popular tracks within this network!

Can I upload anything to my music player?
Technically yes, legally no - check the terms of service.

We are asking you to make sure you only load up tunes you made (and aren't restricted from posting by other agreements, e.g. with record labels or performing rights societies) OR tunes which are clearly authorized for sharing by a Creative Commons licence. You can find lots of these at sites like Jamendo.

What's the point of sticking to Creative Commons tracks?
As well as being legally sound, we want to encourage artists who want to share their music in this way. It can be hard for us to find great tracks among the millions available online, but if you can recommend something which has helped you chill, it will help that track/artist to grow a fanbase, and will help us find more great music to play on Chill.

We'll be looking and recommending our favourites too. So we hope that we can help you chill by bringing you the best in original and Creative Commons chillout music.