Hello,

I have some bad news to report about some upcoming changes to Chill's DAB coverage.

Next week, Chill will cease to broadcast on DAB in a number of areas: Bristol, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Cardiff, Exeter & Torbay, Kent, Norwich, Peterborough, Plymouth & Cornwall, Reading & Basingstoke, Southend & Chelmsford, Sussex Coast, Swindon and Severn Estuary.

This has been decided for business reasons by Chill's parent company Global Radio and Arqiva, the company which recently took ownership of a number of DAB multiplexes we have been broadcasting on. These companies have been fantastic for hosting Chill in so many places for so long, and I would really like to thank them for that. (They also have some exciting new stations coming to DAB in Chill's place. This will vary from area to area, so check your radio to find out more.)

No-one expected that Chill could ever reach so many people, or the massive response we would get from you. From emails to web chatter, fan forums to social networks, a community has formed around you, and it is still growing online every day. The technology is advancing surpringly quickly too, and this is why we have good news:

It's easy to keep listening to Chill in lots of ways - online, with a computer or an internet radio, with an iPhone, or with our growing number of free download podcasts for your MP3 player, now including music podcasts of our Tuesday night shows from Arctic Circle. For all the links, see our blog or our new community base www.helpyouchill.com

If you want to get involved and help the chilling community, please come and join us - the producers, listeners and fans of Chill - at www.helpyouchill.com. You can listen to Chill there, and we are making new things to share, like playlists of new music. You can also send us your messages and even write your own blog to share with the world and
help people chill.

In a stressful world, we're still here to help you chill, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Bern

This week we are looking at new and convenient ways to listen to Chill, and chill with us.

Chill has new music podcasts available weekly

Chill producer Ben Eshmade, brains behind the Chiller Cabinet and legendary "Arctic Circle" live music gatherings, has the answer to your downloading needs. His new weekly radio shows The Hut and The Circle (Tuesdays 10pm to midnight on Chill) feature a variety of chilled songs, soundtracks and guest mixes.

You can listen online or freely download them any time from www.jointhecircle.net/radio

BEST BITS: easy to get, great variety of chilled music, free
NOT SO GOOD: errr... can't think of anything!
OVERALL "HELP YOU CHILL" SCORE: 10 out of 10

Frequently asked question - why can't we offer all our shows as free downloads?
Much of the music we play belongs to artists and record labels who make their living from selling their music. This makes it hard to give it away legally - our broadcast licence doesn't cover free downloads. However, Ben has done some exceptional work with artists who want to share what they do, and has licensed music to share as part of his Arctic Circle project. It has taken several years to get everything together for these exceptional shows! The tremendous response to the Arctic Circle shows has made all the work worthwhile, so we're hoping to produce more shareable shows soon.

Chill Meditation podcasts

About a year ago, we tried an experiment. Chill listener Deborah de Vries got in touch to suggest a way we could help people chill through engaging, creative meditations. We made some, offered them as podcasts for free downloads, and then watched an incredible reaction as the spread around the world.

Not only were they last summer's number 1 health podcast on the UK iTunes chart, they spread to the USA and became the highest UK podcast (of any genre) on the American chart too. Messages flooded in from around the world as these podcasts spread by word of mouth/email/Facebook/Twitter.

The original ten Chill Meditation podcasts are still available free - just search for Chill Meditation on iTunes or Google.

Deborah has recently been making new meditations available as audio books. You can find them on iTunes (for £2.95 each) or at audible.co.uk (£3.49 each) - search for Deborah de Vries.

BEST BITS: extremely relaxing, and creatively engaging - a unique style of meditation
NOT SO GOOD: you'll need to clear a few minutes to get fully involved
OVERALL "HELP YOU CHILL" SCORE: 9 out of 10

Other Chill podcasts

"Living a Chilled Life" is another experimental series from last summer which featured stories and advice on dealing with stress. It has had a long interruption (as Bern has been following the advice on the value of cutting things back!) but will return with more free downloads in the near future. You can get the original 13 podcasts from iTunes and other sites - just search for "Living a Chilled Life" on iTunes or Google.

"Chill Nutrition" features top consulting nutritionist Claudia Norris with practical advice on keeping chilled through healthy food choices. Claudia doesn't recommend gimmicks or drastic diets, but she does love food and relaxation. If you would like to eat to feel good, search for "Chill Nutrition" on iTunes or Google and get the free downloads.

Tomorrow: more ways to find Chill's music online. Why are we on so many social websites, and what can you get out of them to help you chill?

Every day this week we are looking at new and convenient ways to listen to Chill and our favourite tunes.

You'll already know that we are online at www.helpmechill.com. But many people want to listen in the kitchen, lounge, bedroom, or somewhere else they don't want a computer. So how can you listen to Chill's internet stream without a PC?

Chill is available on internet radios
There is now a wide range of devices which look and work just like familiar radios, but with a twist - they make an internet connection through your wireless broadband, and are designed to serve you thousands of radio stations from around the world.

Making all of these stations findable is the real trick, and the hard work is done for you. Internet radios read a directory of stations online, listed by name, type of music or location - so if you really want dance music from Bulgaria, you can find it. If you want Chill, you will find us listed on all the major directories, so we're almost certain to be on a new internet radio when you enter our name.

How much is an internet radio?
There is now a wide range - see this Amazon selection: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_tref_widget_0?ie=UTF8&node=310195011&keywords=internet%20radio

The most popular models currently cost between £100 and £130 - for this price, you tend to get excellent sound and build quality at a small premium over a similarly built DAB radio. The popular Pure Evoke Flow combines DAB and internet radio in the same box, so you might be able to flick between Chill on DAB and the internet (and maybe you'll agree with me that the internet version sounds better...)

However, competition to produce new, popular internet radios is getting fierce, so you can often get bargains on older models as new ones come out seasonally. Tescos and other retailers have been seen to offer internet radios as cheaply as £30. You won't get the world's best sound quality for this, but you do get the convenience of thousands of stations in places you wouldn't want an expensive computer.

Popular choice: Pure Evoke Flow (£119 from amazon.co.uk)
This is based on one of the most popular and iconic DAB radio designs, and features the Evoke's renowned sound quality which usually surprises first time listeners. You can also connect other audio devices (like an iPod) to listen to through those high quality speakers. Like other Evoke radios, one mono speaker is standard, but a second matching speaker can be purchased for stereo for an extra £35.

The directory of stations includes live streams, "listen again" streams and even podcasts. Chill is easy to find, and if there is anything you can't find, you can add the addresses of whatever you find with a computer.

MP3s from computers on your network can be played through the Evoke Flow, although it can be hard to navigate large lists of songs.

And if you're in the mood for a retro experience, you can also listen to FM or DAB radio built into the set, with all the trimmings (from RDS data to a wake-up alarm) you would expect from a good radio.

BEST BITS: great sound, easy to find Chill, easy to set up
NOT SO GOOD: second speaker costs extra, MP3 navigation fiddly
OVERALL "HELP YOU CHILL" SCORE: 8 out of 10

Personal choice: Pinnacle Soundbridge R1000 (£130 from computerwebstore.co.uk)
This is the radio I use to listen to Chill at home. It has exceptionally supportive bass and detailed treble speakers, sounding like a much bigger system than its rugby ball size suggests. The database of stations is comprehensive, but Chill is easy to find, and you can assign it to a preset button to make it pop up instantly if you like.

Like the Evoke Flow and many other internet radios, the Soundbridge will also play MP3s from computers on your network, or from a built in SD card slot - ideal for a home made party compilation.

Setting up can be a bit fiddly, because this model is a couple of years old, and needs a firmware update to talk to the latest wireless routers and get some popular channels like BBC national stations. It's not hard, just a little annoying, but if you're prepared for a little hassle, you get an amazing radio for about half of its original cost. Newer radios eliminate this annoyance.

BEST BITS: superb sound, easy to find Chill
NOT SO GOOD: fiddly to set up initially
OVERALL "HELP YOU CHILL" SCORE: 9 out of 10 for confident gadget fans, 5 out of 10 for others who might need to ask around for help setting up

What else do I need for an internet radio to work?
As well as the radio, you need a wireless broadband internet connection. If you're not sure if you have wireless, check the box which plugs into your phone or cable socket - chances are it's a "router" - read its name and model number and check on Google to see if offers wireless connections. If it doesn't, you can purchase a wireless router from about £30. Cable customers need a different type from BT/landline broadband customers, but this is usually made clear on the box or in a description online so you know which one to get.

Tomorrow: more new ways to chill with us
Ever wanted to take Chill with you on your MP3 player to play any time? We'll tell you how...

One of the questions I'm asked a lot is how you can chill with us if (like most of the UK) you find we are not on DAB in your area. The good news is that there are LOTS of ways, too many to list all at once, so I'm going to post some new ones every day this week.

Chill is available on the iPhone and iPod touch.
If you have one - lucky you! - there is even a choice of ways to chill with us. You will need to get a radio application from the App Store, and here are my two favourites:

FStream (free)
This simple application does the minimum needed to get you chilling. You need to enter the address of our stream (see below), then it connects you, and remembers for next time. It even keeps playing when your phone goes to sleep, so you can set it, pop it in your pocket, and forget about it.

Here are the addresses you will need to enter:
MP3 stream (128k) = http://media-ice.musicradio.com/ChillMP3
AAC+ stream (48k) = http://media-ice.musicradio.com/Chill

That's the hard bit. The rest is easy - just click the big "play" button, and it will connect you for listening through the speaker, headphones or hi-fi (there are lots of accessories to connect an iPod or iPhone).

Like all App Store applications, it only lets you listen to audio when it is active, and you can only use one App at a time, so it will stop itself when the phone rings - and you can't listen while browsing the web.

BEST BITS - it's free, and simple to use when it's set up
LESS GOOD - you need to type in the stream address yourself, and you can't do other things on the phone while listening to the radio
OVERALL "HELP YOU CHILL" SCORE - 7 out of 10

WunderRadio (£3.99)
This is my overall favourite radio application. Not only is it simple to listen to Chill (just search for "Chill" and we are top of the list), but you get an amazing choice of other stations from around the world already set up for you. It's easy to feel spoiled for choice.

Even better, it has a built in web browser, so if you want to get on with reading websites, checking your webmail or a bit of light Twittering while you listen to Chill, you can do this on your iPhone.

Chill sends all of its track information to Twitter (username "chilldab") and WunderRadio even has a button to connect you straight from listening to the radio station. So if you want to know what is playing, or what you heard a few minutes ago, just press the Twitter button and you can browse the list.

One thing which gets in the way of chilling online is hearing the music stop and start when the connection is less than perfect. WunderRadio does lots of tricks behind the scenes to keep the music flowing and deals with this pretty well. If you are technically minded, you can fine tune it to get your ideal balance of sound quality and reliability, but if not, you rarely have to worry about the audio stopping. With the iPhone, you can even listen on the move when you have a 3G or Edge signal, although you should check your service agreement to see if your provider is happy for you to do this.

There are other radio applications which are slightly cheaper. But I've not found one which has a more comprehensive set of stations, in great quality, gives you live track information and lets you do many of the things you might want to do on the phone at the same time.

BEST BITS - simple yet comprehensive, amazing choice of stations, reliable audio (even on the move), and you can browse the internet while listening
LESS GOOD - it costs £3.99, but that's a lot cheaper than buying a separate radio!
OVERALL "HELP YOU CHILL" SCORE - 9 out of 10

Tomorrow we'll look at internet radios - are they worth considering as an alternative to DAB?

Thanks for all of your messages from the weekend. On Sunday late afternoon we had a big technical hassle which knocked out our planned set list and shows. I had emails from some very passionate listeners and it's always great to know how much you appreciate what we do!

Everything is back to normal today, so thanks for bearing with us, and if there is anything you would like to suggest for Chill, please do contact me at this address - chill@helpmechill.com

Many thanks,
Bern

Moby has his exclusive Chill mix ready to go, and it's on from 9pm tonight.

The track list is now up at http://bit.ly/mobychill

Next week, look out for a fantastic album giveaway which will help you to help your friends chill!

Cheers,
Bern

You know what it's like to get emails that look too good to be true? I don't normally follow them up (how many lotteries can I really win in a week?) but last week I heard from Moby's team, asking if he could make us an exclusive mix for us to play on Chill.

A couple of "is this for real?!" conversations later, and it's on the way!

We've always been big fans of the man whose first albums became a widely used soundtrack to everything cool, and shaped the sound of music people make to chill with today. Since "I Like To Score", "Play" and "18", Moby got more into experimenting with bands and live shows - I've seen a few, they've been very good - but I always wondered when he might get back to the kind of soundscapes that inspired us and helped create Chill.

He has a new album "Wait For Me" which, I think, does just that - and Moby is going to include some of those tunes + lots of other artists which help him chill.

You can hear Moby's exclusive mix for Chill on Sunday 5th July at 9pm - hope you can chill with us then!

Bern

People often ask me if they can get the sound of Chill on a CD. Some of our producers do make CD versions of their shows - like Ben Mynott's new "Chillout Lounge" selection from his Fluidnation shows.

There is also a brand new compilation called "Classic Chilled Ibiza" whose makers are so keen to share it with us, they have sent a stack for us to give away to you. It features some of our big all-time classics like Zero 7 "Destiny", Lamb "Gorecki", A Million Suns "Misti Blu" and Coldcut "Autumn Leaves". There are some fun lounge numbers like Kinobe "Slip Into Something More Comfortable" and I Monster "Daydream In Blue", dance anthems such as Three Drives "Greece 2000", and chilled surprises like The Doors "Riders On The Storm". You can get a full tracklist here.

If you would like to win a copy, simply write a blog post on our new community site helpyouchill.com about anything that helps you chill, or something you think will help someone else chill. It could be a short note about your weekend, or an big idea about something you have always wanted to do. We're not judging the entries, because we'll simply put every post into a big floppy festival hat* and randomly select five winners at the end of June. The more blog posts you write, the greater your chances of winning.

(* new competition regulations force me to confess that we might not actually have a floppy festival hat or, if we do, we might not admit to it. I'll ask around the office and take a picture if anyone is brave enough to bring theirs in!)

Thanks for being part of this community and sharing what helps you chill - it's going to make a big difference to our summer! Bern

Last night's Arctic Circle Radio debut seemed to go down very well - thanks for all your comments to me and producer Ben Eshmade.

If you didn't get a chance to hear "The Hut" and "The Circle", these shows will be repeated on Friday night (Saturday morning) from midnight on Chill.

Thanks to some fantastic work by Ben to clear the music for distribution, the shows are also available as podcasts, free to download from www.jointhecircle.net/radio/

Why not give them a go, and let us know what you think?

You can also find (and share) music from our listener community and Creative Commons-licensed tunes from around the world at our new community site - www.helpyouchill.com

Hope to see you there!
Bern

I am very excited that we have TWO brand new shows starting tonight on Chill. They have been a very long time in the making, under the careful craftsmanship of Chiller Cabinet maker Ben Eshmade.

Ben has been working with chilled artists to produce unique events called "Arctic Circle" for some years now, and he has been finding amazing soundtracks and songs along the way.

The music is all beautiful, but some didn't quite fit the Chiller Cabinet. In fact, it is so varied that it didn't really fit one show at all - so Ben made two:

"The Hut" (Tuesdays 10pm, Friday night/Saturday morning midnight) - here is how Ben describes it: "A weekly velvety soft sonic celebration brought to you by Arctic Circle Radio. The Hut is a refuge, a cocoon of the finest in new music, spinning a warm glow from the outer-reaches of the snowy wastelands. Presented and produced by Ben Eshmade (with additional sounds and magic from Sone Institute), the Hut is a one-hour transmission from an intensely beautiful musical world."

"The Circle" (Tuesdays 11pm, Friday night/Saturday morning 1am) - "Brought to you by Arctic Circle Radio, the Circle is a new weekly pad-cast that takes you on a one-hour journey based on the most simple and significant of shapes. Every Circle is unique; formed from a guest curator’s musical landscape and they all share the same revolutionary quality: each one ends at the point where it began."

One of the best things about these new shows is that Ben has put in the hard work with artists and labels to let you hear them online at any time, and even download them as free podcasts.

To see the tracklists and get the shows for yourself, join Ben at http://www.jointhecircle.net/radio

The Chiller Cabinet remains on Chill, Thursdays 10pm and Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight.

Please let us know what you think of the music - I hope it helps you chill with us tonight!

Bern