Radio Galaxy FX merge audit fixes applied on 2026-03-22

What was fixed:
1. data/nowplaying.php
   - removed hard exit behaviour that was cutting off index.php and popout-player.php
   - made direct endpoint safe for AJAX refreshes and safe for page includes
   - removed temp file write/delete flow
   - added no-cache headers for direct requests

2. index.php
   - moved comment submission handling before page output
   - fixed comment PRG redirect so submissions now redirect correctly to ?comment=sent
   - kept homepage poll/comments sections rendering after now playing failures
   - cleaned load order so header redirects can happen safely

3. admin/chat.php
   - removed incorrect include for admin/includes/footer.php
   - kept correct admin/includes/admin_footer.php include

Validation completed here:
- PHP syntax check passed on patched files
- Homepage now renders past now playing area even when metadata is unavailable
- Homepage poll section renders
- Homepage comments section renders
- Comment submission now stores correctly and returns 302 redirect to /index.php?comment=sent

Still requires real server click-through after deploy:
- admin approve/reply flow
- live stream metadata with your real Icecast response
- stream-proxy.php on server with PHP cURL enabled
