diff --git a/docker-compose.jsonnet b/docker-compose.jsonnet
index 16d3f05..36dcdb5 100644
--- a/docker-compose.jsonnet
+++ b/docker-compose.jsonnet
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@
   },
 
   // Twitch channels to capture. The first one will be used as the default channel in the editor.
-  channels:: ["desertbus"],
+  // Channels suffixed with a '!' are considered "important" and will be retried more aggressively
+  // and warned about if they're not currently streaming.
+  channels:: ["desertbus!", "db_chief", "db_high", "db_audio", "db_bus"],
 
   // Stream qualities to capture
   qualities:: ["source", "480p"],
@@ -133,6 +135,9 @@
     for key in std.objectFields($.db_args)
   ]),
 
+  // Cleaned up version of $.channels without importance markers
+  clean_channels:: [std.split(c, '!')[0] for c in $.channels],
+
   // docker-compose version
   version: "3",
 
@@ -174,7 +179,7 @@
     [if $.enabled.backfiller then "backfiller"]: {
       image: "quay.io/ekimekim/wubloader-backfiller:%s" % $.image_tag,
       // Args for the backfiller: set channel and qualities
-      command: $.channels +
+      command: $.clean_channels +
       [
         "--base-dir", "/mnt",
         "--qualities", std.join(",", $.qualities),
@@ -229,7 +234,7 @@
           if location != $.default_location
         ]),
         $.db_connect,
-        $.channels[0], // use first element as default channel
+        $.clean_channels[0], // use first element as default channel
         $.bustime_start,
       ] + if $.authentication then [] else ["--no-authentication"],
       // Mount the segments directory at /mnt
@@ -267,7 +272,7 @@
     [if $.enabled.segment_coverage then "segment_coverage"]: {
       image: "quay.io/ekimekim/wubloader-segment_coverage:%s" % $.image_tag,
       // Args for the segment_coverage
-      command: $.channels +
+      command: $.clean_channels +
       [
         "--base-dir", "/mnt",
         "--qualities", std.join(",", $.qualities),
diff --git a/downloader/downloader/main.py b/downloader/downloader/main.py
index 1f82aa6..6a94e7a 100644
--- a/downloader/downloader/main.py
+++ b/downloader/downloader/main.py
@@ -109,11 +109,14 @@ class StreamsManager(object):
 	* A worker is older than MAX_WORKER_AGE
 	"""
 
-	FETCH_MIN_INTERVAL = 5
+	# Important streams are retried more aggressively when down
+	IMPORTANT_FETCH_MIN_INTERVAL = 5
+	FETCH_MIN_INTERVAL = 20
+
 	FETCH_TIMEOUTS = 5, 30
 	MAX_WORKER_AGE = 20*60*60 # 20 hours, twitch's media playlist links expire after 24 hours
 
-	def __init__(self, channel, base_dir, qualities):
+	def __init__(self, channel, base_dir, qualities, important=False):
 		self.channel = channel
 		self.logger = logging.getLogger("StreamsManager({})".format(channel))
 		self.base_dir = base_dir
@@ -122,6 +125,9 @@ class StreamsManager(object):
 		self.latest_urls_changed = gevent.event.Event() # set when latest_urls changes
 		self.refresh_needed = gevent.event.Event() # set to tell main loop to refresh now
 		self.stopping = gevent.event.Event() # set to tell main loop to stop
+		self.important = important
+		if self.important:
+			self.FETCH_MIN_INTERVAL = self.IMPORTANT_FETCH_MIN_INTERVAL
 
 	def mark_working(self, worker):
 		"""Notify the manager that the given worker is up and running,
@@ -219,7 +225,9 @@ class StreamsManager(object):
 					self.start_worker(quality)
 		except Exception as e:
 			if isinstance(e, requests.HTTPError) and e.response is not None and e.response.status_code == 404:
-				self.logger.info("Stream is not up. Retrying.")
+				# Log about important streams being down at info, but others at debug.
+				level = logging.INFO if self.important else logging.DEBUG
+				self.logger.log(level, "Stream is not up. Retrying.")
 				self.trigger_refresh()
 			else:
 				self.logger.exception("Failed to fetch master playlist")
@@ -563,12 +571,15 @@ class SegmentGetter(object):
 			stat.set(max(stat._value.get(), timestamp)) # NOTE: not thread-safe but is gevent-safe
 
 
-@argh.arg('channels', nargs="+", help="Twitch channels to watch")
+@argh.arg('channels', nargs="+", help=
+	"Twitch channels to watch. Add a '!' suffix to indicate they're expected to be always up. "
+	"This affects retry interval, error reporting and monitoring."
+)
 def main(channels, base_dir=".", qualities="source", metrics_port=8001, backdoor_port=0):
 	qualities = qualities.split(",") if qualities else []
 
 	managers = [
-		StreamsManager(channel, base_dir, qualities)
+		StreamsManager(channel.rstrip('!'), base_dir, qualities, important=channel.endswith('!'))
 		for channel in channels
 	]