Work these five checks in order the moment a broadcast sounds wrong. Most dropped streams are resolved at step two or three without contacting support.
Every host page shows the studio transport bar at the bottom. A dark ON AIR lamp means the station is flagged off the air — press "Go on the air". A glowing red lamp with zero listeners usually means audio, not availability, is the problem.
If the amber ON FALLBACK badge is showing, your live source stopped publishing and backup audio took over. Listeners are still hearing something — reconnect your encoder and the badge clears on its own.
Reopen the live-source wizard and re-copy the server URL and stream key: a rotated key is the most common cause of a refused connection. Icecast/Shoutcast source modes are not accepted — use RTMP, SRT or WHIP.
Watch your encoder's input meters. A connected stream with a flat meter means the wrong audio device is selected, or a muted mixer channel. Fallback audio only kicks in on disconnect, not on silence.
Contact support with your station name, the time the drop started (local time and timezone), your encoder and version, the connection type, and whether the ON FALLBACK badge appeared. That set of five details is usually enough to resolve on first reply.
The live-source wizard has a “Download setup sheet” button that saves your endpoint, encoder steps and recommended settings as a text file — print it and tape it to the console.