diff --git a/internal/api/handlers/responses.go b/internal/api/handlers/responses.go
index f936342..df844ca 100644
--- a/internal/api/handlers/responses.go
+++ b/internal/api/handlers/responses.go
@@ -41,13 +41,19 @@ type APIError struct {
 	Message string `json:"message"` // e.g. "channel not found"
 }
 
-// respond writes a JSON response with the given status code and data.
-// Logs if encoding fails since the header is already written at that point.
+// respond encodes before committing the status, so an unsupported value cannot
+// turn a serialization error into an empty success response.
 func respond(w http.ResponseWriter, status int, data any) {
+	body, err := json.Marshal(data)
+	if err != nil {
+		slog.Error("api: failed to encode response", "component", "api", "error", err)
+		status = http.StatusInternalServerError
+		body = []byte(`{"error":{"code":"internal_server_error","message":"Unable to return this response."}}`)
+	}
 	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 	w.WriteHeader(status)
-	if err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(data); err != nil {
-		slog.Error("api: failed to encode response", "component", "api", "error", err)
+	if _, err := w.Write(append(body, '\n')); err != nil {
+		slog.Error("api: failed to write response", "component", "api", "error", err)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/api/handlers/responses_test.go b/internal/api/handlers/responses_test.go
index 4450f1d..3204e05 100644
--- a/internal/api/handlers/responses_test.go
+++ b/internal/api/handlers/responses_test.go
@@ -5,11 +5,31 @@ package handlers
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"math"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 )
 
+func TestRespond_EncodingFailureIsJSONError(t *testing.T) {
+	for name, value := range map[string]any{
+		"nonfinite signal": map[string]float64{"snr": math.NaN()},
+		"unsupported type": make(chan int),
+	} {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+			respond(w, http.StatusOK, value)
+			if w.Code != http.StatusInternalServerError || w.Header().Get("Content-Type") != "application/json" {
+				t.Fatalf("status %d, headers %v", w.Code, w.Header())
+			}
+			var body map[string]APIError
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(w.Body.Bytes(), &body); err != nil || body["error"].Code != "internal_server_error" {
+				t.Fatalf("invalid error response %q: %v", w.Body.String(), err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRespond_StatusAndContentType(t *testing.T) {
 	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
 	respond(w, http.StatusOK, map[string]string{"hello": "world"})