Why isn’t Iheart radio working when I ask alexa to play on my beam in the past 2 weeks. Will work if I go through my phone or computer
Answered
alexa and iheart radio on beam
Best answer by Corry P
Hi
Apologies - I just now came across some documentation regarding this issue.
We are aware of an issue whereby users will be unable to start iHeart Radio playback via Alexa command, and are investigating. We do not have an ETA on when a fix might become available, but I will update this thread when I hear of it.
I can only recommend initiating playback from the Sonos app, as you have been doing, in the meantime.
I hope this helps.
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+19Hi
Welcome to the Sonos Community!
Sorry to hear of the issue you are having with playing iHeart Radio via Alexa.
I am in a region that does not support iHeart Radio, so I cannot confirm, but I believe this should just be a case of removing iHeart Radio from your Alexa app and adding it again.
This is done by opening the Alexa app: Alexa app » More » Settings » Music & Podcasts » iHeart Radio » Disable Skill, then Enable to Use.
If this does not work, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.
I hope this helps.
+19Hi
Apologies - I just now came across some documentation regarding this issue.
We are aware of an issue whereby users will be unable to start iHeart Radio playback via Alexa command, and are investigating. We do not have an ETA on when a fix might become available, but I will update this thread when I hear of it.
I can only recommend initiating playback from the Sonos app, as you have been doing, in the meantime.
I hope this helps.
Where is the documentation regarding this issue that you are referring to?
I’ve had the same problem for about 3 weeks. So I have been using the Sonos app instead of Alexa.
I’ve given up on trying to figure out why Sonos stopped working the way used to work. I have spent way too much time trying to work around new Sonos issues where the function worked previously. They fix one bug and cause 2 more bugs.
I have been very frustrated with Sonos for what is coming up on a year since the new and unimproved disaster of an app became available. I am very worried about the company’s survival and my investment in 10 Sonos devices.
I've been having the same issue and actually contacted Sonos customer support. The issue was quickly dismissed as an Amazon issue and I was told to contact Amazon customer support. Meanwhile, iheartradio works fine on all my Alexa devices. Frustrating.
I chatted with Sonos after I posted my comment above. After they verified with me that Alexa works fine for everything else as well as other music services they told me the following:
“I have report your issue and we are currently investigating with no ETA for now. I would suggest to Play manually with iHeart until we have an update.”
They gave me a case number and said that I can call/chat back for status.
+1I’ve had the same issue for months now. Everything works with Alexa and Sonos except iHeart radio. I can manually start it using the Sonos app, but not via Alexa. I’ve disabled skills, uninstalled and reinstalled, relinked apps, rebooted the network, routers and speakers, checked for updates.
No change.
That’s odd. Unfortunately, I always use the Sonos app/controller to initiate my baseball games on my Sonos devices, so I’ve not run in to this issue.
I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.
There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.
When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.
Bruce
+1As of April 11 2025:
“Alexa, play Star 101”
“Sure, playing Star 101.3, on iHeart Radio. Playing on Sonos. I’m having problems with that right now.”
That’s odd. I’ve been playing ball games on KNBR on iHeart radio without issue, but I’m not using voice control. Have you called Sonos Support directly to discuss it?
When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.
Bruce
Yes, a number of us have called or chatted with Sonos. I was told it will be fixed with no ETA. So I have been waiting and trying every day using Alex and then defaulting to the Sonos App when it didn’t work.
For me it was fixed as of yesterday. When I say “Alexa, play 850 KOA”, it now works. As does just “Alexa, play KOA” and “Alexa, play KBCO”.
I tried “Alexa, play KNBR” and it also works.
I tried “Alexa, play Star 101.3” and it works. When I tried “Alexa, play Star 101”, she responds with “Playing Star 101.5” and some times it plays 101.5, sometimes 101.3, and sometimes nothing is played with no response for Alexa. I used to get the same error that SpawnyWhippet is getting before the problem was magically fixed.
If anyone else has a station we all can try, please post it and I will try since Alexa, Sonos, and iHeart are now working for me.
That an interesting test, thank you for doing that. It suggests that Alexa is somehow misunderstanding, or misdirecting the Sonos what to play. I’d be awfully tempted to contact Amazon for a fix, rather than Sonos.
Although I also wonder how it responds on an Amazon device without redirecting the output to a Sonos. I would expect the same issue, since Sonos only plays what it is told to by the Amazon server that is interpreting the command.
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