How we verify a radio stream before promoting it
Technical checks, timeouts, security and quality signals used to decide whether a radio stream can be surfaced and indexed.
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Multi-layer verification #
A useful check does more than confirm that a URL exists. Protocol, redirects, public hostname, server response, codec and continuity over time all contribute to the decision. Private or local addresses must never be reachable through public proxy endpoints.
Timeouts and limits #
Remote requests have timeouts and size limits. This protects the Worker from slow servers or unexpected payloads. For images, for example, the limit is enforced while the stream is being read rather than after the whole file has already been buffered in memory.
Separate temporary failure from degradation #
One timeout does not mean a station has closed. The system accumulates signals and applies progressive downgrades. The goal is to react quickly to real problems without making sitemap decisions oscillate because of incidents lasting only a few minutes.
Canonical and aliases #
When a record is a high-confidence duplicate, the canonical station can collect SEO value and the alias may redirect. If confidence is insufficient, the records stay separate. Semantic safety comes before reducing catalogue size.
Method transparency #
The World Radio Index and Data Hub describe sample, version, methodology and licence. Reports remain `noindex` when the sample is too small. Publishing data limitations is part of quality: a metric should not appear more complete than it really is.