I’ve had to reinstall avast after some serious problems with my computer…all working ok except now when I try to listen to the radio it keeps stopping and starting :(…I’ve consulted ‘real player’ and made some adjustments but the problem persists…there is mention of ‘firewall’ being a problem…not sure if the ‘new’ avast had anything to do with it…I don’t know what to do…all advice highly appreciated!
avast isn’t a firewall so that isn’t an issue, I don’t know if there is something in the streaming radio over the http port 80 that isn’t quite right and the web shield isn’t able to scan the traffic.
So if you know the IP address for the site you could add that to the Web Shield, Customise button, 'Ignored address: field, see image. Does that help ?
Welcome to the forums, netta. 
Just for clarification and better understanding of the problem, what type of internet connection do you have?
netta,
With dial up you will experience streaming media stop & buffering then playing again a lot. It has been a long time since I used dial up.
I use Real Alternative to listen to RealPlayer streaming media & play it with JetAudio. Media Player Classic will crash if a link won’t work. You can get Media Player Classic with a download of Real Alternative.
I listen to SonLife Radio over the internet. The RealPlayer link sometimes won’t work due to little bandwith. It is available through a Windows Media Player link that virtually always works (much more bandwith).
Does the radio you listen to have an alternate link?