How to Add Any Radio Station to Bluesound by Its Stream URL

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Title card for the guide: How to Add Any Radio Station to Bluesound by Its Stream URL, in amber on black with an equaliser motif

BluOS, the system inside Bluesound players and other BluOS streamers and amplifiers, finds a great many stations through TuneIn and the other radio services in the BluOS Controller app. For a station that is not there, BluOS saves the station's stream address as a Custom Station among your TuneIn favourites. The steps follow BluOS's own support article.

What you need

  • The BluOS Controller app on a phone, tablet or computer.
  • The station's stream address. This is the direct link to the live audio, not the station's website; BluOS points this out too. The radio stream URL finder gives you the address the open Radio Browser directory lists for any station in it: type the station's name and copy it.

On a phone or tablet

  1. Open the BluOS Controller app and go to the Music tab.
  2. Under Music Services, choose TuneIn.
  3. Tap Favorites, then Add Custom Station.
  4. Enter the name you want the station to appear as, paste the stream address, and tap the check mark at the top right.

The station now appears among your TuneIn favourites.

On Windows or a Mac

  1. In the BluOS Controller app, choose TuneIn in the navigation drawer on the left.
  2. Select Favorites, then Add Custom Station.
  3. Enter the name and the stream address, then click Submit.

Make it a preset

A custom station can also be saved as a preset, so it is one touch away; BluOS's help centre has a separate article on presets.

If a station will not play

  • Use the stream address, not the website. A station's home page is not something a player can play.
  • Try another address for the same station. Many stations are listed with several addresses in different formats in the stream URL finder; if one does not play, try the next.
  • The station may have moved its stream. Stations change their addresses from time to time. Look the station up again and update the custom station.
  • Play it from your phone instead. BluOS players take AirPlay, so on an iPhone, iPad or Mac you can play the station, in a radio app or in the browser on 72FM, and send it to the player.

Other streamers take a station's address the same way: see adding a radio station to Sonos by URL and adding a station to WiiM.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add a custom radio station to Bluesound?

Yes. In the BluOS Controller app, open TuneIn, then Favorites, then Add Custom Station, and enter a name and the station's stream address. The station is saved among your TuneIn favourites.

Where does a BluOS custom station appear?

Among your TuneIn favourites in the BluOS Controller app. It can also be saved as a preset.

Why does my custom station not play on Bluesound?

The address is often the station's web page rather than its stream, which BluOS warns about. Use the stream address, and if it still does not play, try another entry for the same station in the stream URL finder.

Where do I find a radio station's stream URL?

Type the station's name into 72FM's free radio stream URL finder. It shows the address the open Radio Browser directory lists for the station, with a button to copy it.