diff -r 80e1201f6c9a -r a0f39cc47387 src/jdk.jfr/share/classes/jdk/jfr/internal/consumer/AbstractEventStream.java
--- a/src/jdk.jfr/share/classes/jdk/jfr/internal/consumer/AbstractEventStream.java	Fri Nov 22 09:06:35 2019 -0500
+++ b/src/jdk.jfr/share/classes/jdk/jfr/internal/consumer/AbstractEventStream.java	Fri Nov 22 17:20:43 2019 +0100
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 import jdk.jfr.internal.LogLevel;
 import jdk.jfr.internal.LogTag;
 import jdk.jfr.internal.Logger;
+import jdk.jfr.internal.PlatformRecording;
 import jdk.jfr.internal.SecuritySupport;
 
 /*
@@ -50,19 +51,19 @@
     private final static AtomicLong counter = new AtomicLong(1);
 
     private final Object terminated = new Object();
-    private final boolean active;
     private final Runnable flushOperation = () -> dispatcher().runFlushActions();
     private final AccessControlContext accessControllerContext;
     private final StreamConfiguration configuration = new StreamConfiguration();
+    private final PlatformRecording recording;
 
     private volatile Thread thread;
     private Dispatcher dispatcher;
 
     private volatile boolean closed;
 
-    AbstractEventStream(AccessControlContext acc, boolean active) throws IOException {
+    AbstractEventStream(AccessControlContext acc, PlatformRecording recording) throws IOException {
         this.accessControllerContext = Objects.requireNonNull(acc);
-        this.active = active;
+        this.recording = recording;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -229,7 +230,7 @@
             if (configuration.started) {
                 throw new IllegalStateException("Event stream can only be started once");
             }
-            if (active && configuration.startTime == null) {
+            if (recording != null && configuration.startTime == null) {
                 configuration.setStartNanos(startNanos);
             }
             configuration.setStarted(true);