Add your station to Classic Radio Network

Developer API

The same API runs the form above. Requests and responses are JSON over HTTPS, CORS is open, and you don't need an account. Each station gets its own key when it's submitted.

Quick start

1. Validate your stream with POST ?action=validate. Nothing is saved, and you see your tier right away.
2. Submit with POST ?action=submit. Store the returned id and station_key securely, because the key is shown once.
3. Later: change your listing's details with POST ?action=update and the same key.
4. Optional: push the current track with POST ?action=push_now_playing on each song change to stay Premium.

Base URL: https://classicradio.network/api.php. Send bodies as JSON (Content-Type: application/json). Form-encoded bodies work too.

Authentication: endpoints that act on a station take its key in one of these, in order of preference: Authorization: Bearer KEY, then X-Station-Key: KEY (use this if your host strips Authorization), then a key parameter.

Validate a stream

Connects to the stream, follows redirects and .pls/.m3u playlists, confirms it sends real audio (MP3, AAC, Ogg/Opus or FLAC), and looks for now-playing data. Only stream_url is required. You can add np_method and np_url to test a JSON feed.

curl -X POST "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=validate" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"stream_url": "https://stream.example.com/radio.mp3"}'

The response has the same validation object shown under Submit. suggested holds name, genre, description and URL read from your stream's ICY headers, which you can use to pre-fill a form.

Submit a station

curl -X POST "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=submit" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name":        "Golden Oldies FM",
    "stream_url":  "https://stream.example.com/radio.mp3",
    "email":       "[email protected]",
    "genre":       "Oldies",
    "description": "The best of the 50s and 60s, 24/7.",
    "logo":        "https://example.com/logo.png",
    "website":     "https://example.com",
    "np_method":   "auto"
  }'

Response

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
{
  "success": true,
  "id": "CS1A2B3C4D5E",
  "station_key": "9f2c…40 hex chars…e1",
  "status": "pending",
  "tier": 2,
  "tier_name": "Premium",
  "message": "Your station passed validation and is waiting for a quick review before it goes live.",
  "important": "Save your station_key now — it is shown only once …",
  "validation": {
    "valid": true,
    "errors": {},
    "warnings": [],
    "stream": { "playable": true, "url": "https://stream.example.com/radio.mp3",
                "format": "MP3", "content_type": "audio/mpeg", "bitrate_kbps": 128, "https": true },
    "now_playing": { "artist": "The Platters", "title": "Only You",
                     "text": "The Platters - Only You", "source": "icy" },
    "tier": 2,
    "tier_name": "Premium",
    "suggested": { "name": "Golden Oldies FM", "genre": "Oldies", "description": "", "url": "" }
  }
}

A submission that fails validation returns 422 with validation.errors keyed by field name. If the stream is already listed, you get 409 with the existing id.

Check submission status

curl "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=submission&id=CS1A2B3C4D5E" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_STATION_KEY"

Returns status (pending · approved · rejected with a reject_reason), tier, online, the detected np_source, the current now_playing track, and a listing_url once you're live.

Update a listing

Change your station's details after it's submitted, using its key. Send id plus only the fields you want to change; anything you leave out stays as it is. Changes show in the directory straight away and don't send the station back for review.

The stream URL can't be changed here: submit the new stream as a new station. Now-playing settings follow your pushes (see below). A station that wasn't accepted returns 403.

curl -X POST "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=update" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_STATION_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "id":          "CS1A2B3C4D5E",
    "description": "The best of the 50s and 60s, 24/7, commercial free.",
    "logo":        "https://example.com/new-logo.png"
  }'

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
  "success": true,
  "updated": ["description", "logo"],
  "data": { "id": "CS1A2B3C4D5E", "name": "Golden Oldies FM", "status": "approved", … }
}

updated lists the fields that were applied, and data is the same view of your station as Check submission status returns.

Push now-playing

This is the most reliable way to stay Premium. Call it once each time the track changes. Body fields: id (required), title (required), artist, and artwork (an https image URL). If you only have one string, send text as "Artist - Title" and we split it for you. Your first push switches the station to push mode, and auto-detection stops.

curl -X POST "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=push_now_playing" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_STATION_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"id": "CS1A2B3C4D5E", "artist": "The Platters", "title": "Only You"}'

import requests

API         = "https://classicradio.network/api.php"
STATION_ID  = "CS1A2B3C4D5E"
STATION_KEY = "your-station-key"   # keep this secret

def push_now_playing(artist: str, title: str, artwork: str = "") -> None:
    """Call this every time the track changes."""
    r = requests.post(
        f"{API}?action=push_now_playing",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {STATION_KEY}"},
        json={"id": STATION_ID, "artist": artist, "title": title, "artwork": artwork},
        timeout=10,
    )
    r.raise_for_status()

push_now_playing("The Platters", "Only You")

// Node 18+ (built-in fetch)
const API = 'https://classicradio.network/api.php';

async function pushNowPlaying(artist, title, artwork = '') {
  const res = await fetch(`${API}?action=push_now_playing`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.CRN_STATION_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ id: process.env.CRN_STATION_ID, artist, title, artwork }),
  });
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Push failed: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
  return res.json();
}

await pushNowPlaying('The Platters', 'Only You');

<?php
function crn_push_now_playing(string $stationId, string $stationKey, string $artist, string $title): array {
    $ch = curl_init('https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=push_now_playing');
    curl_setopt_array($ch, [
        CURLOPT_POST           => true,
        CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
        CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 10,
        CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['Content-Type: application/json', 'X-Station-Key: ' . $stationKey],
        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => json_encode(['id' => $stationId, 'artist' => $artist, 'title' => $title]),
    ]);
    $body = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    return json_decode((string)$body, true) ?? [];
}

# Liquidsoap 2.x — push every metadata change
crn_id  = "CS1A2B3C4D5E"
crn_key = "your-station-key"

def crn_push(m) =
  thread.run({
    ignore(http.post(
      "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=push_now_playing",
      headers=[("Content-Type", "application/json"), ("X-Station-Key", crn_key)],
      data=json.stringify({id=crn_id, artist=m["artist"], title=m["title"]})
    ))
  })
end

radio = source.on_metadata(radio, crn_push)

https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=push_now_playing&id=CS1A2B3C4D5E&key=YOUR_STATION_KEY&artist=ARTIST&title=TITLE

Now-playing sources

With np_method: "auto", we check these in parallel and keep the first one that returns a real track:

1. Icecast status: /status-json.xsl on your server, matched to your mount
2. SHOUTcast v2 stats: /stats?sid=1&json=1
3. SHOUTcast v1: /7.html
4. In-stream ICY metadata (StreamTitle): most encoders (BUTT, Mixxx, RadioBOSS, SAM, Liquidsoap, AzuraCast) send this when "update metadata" is on

We ignore placeholder titles like "Unknown", "Live" or your station name, because they don't identify a song. Use np_method: "json" with np_url if you already publish a feed:

// Any of these shapes works for np_method "json" (first match wins):

{ "artist": "The Platters", "title": "Only You" }              // plain
{ "title": "The Platters - Only You" }                         // combined
{ "now_playing": { "song": { "artist": "…", "title": "…", "art": "https://…" } } }   // AzuraCast
{ "data": { "artist": "…", "title": "…", "artwork": "https://…" } }                  // SHOUTcast Widgets
{ "songtitle": "The Platters - Only You" }                     // SHOUTcast v2 stats
{ "song": { … } }  { "current": { … } }  { "track": { … } }    // nested variants

Read the directory

The read endpoints include community stations ("source": "community", with tier and tier_name):

curl "https://classicradio.network/api.php?action=community_now_playing"

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "CS1A2B3C4D5E",
      "name": "Golden Oldies FM",
      "tier": 2,
      "tier_name": "Premium",
      "now_playing": {
        "artist": "The Platters", "title": "Only You", "text": "The Platters - Only You",
        "artwork": "", "updated_at": "2026-11-02T18:04:11+00:00"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Errors & limits

Every response includes success. Failed requests also return a machine-readable error and a readable message.

• Validate: 30 per hour per IP. Submit: 10 per hour per IP.
• Push: at most one every 3 seconds per station. Once per track change is enough.
• We re-check listed streams regularly. Offline stations are hidden until they're back.