Alexa doesn't do much - what is wrong?!

Apologies if this issue has already been addressed in another post - but hoping someone can offer some guidance...

I've set up my Sonos One, downloaded the apps (Sonos and Alexa) and everything appears to be working as it should, except Alexa can no longer play radio stations (either through TuneIn or the BBC skill) and can no longer play music through Amazon Music. I either get an error of Kitchen is offline at the moment, something went wrong or in the case of the BBC skill get the opening music and introduction and after making a request (e.g. play radio 4) get silence and the jingle again.

The Sonos One is online (I can ask Alexa general questions and she will respond) however these key functions refuse to work. 😠

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Hello there, BBL. Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community. While you are able to ask questions, there seems to be a disconnection between Alexa sends content Sonos. If you check out alexa.amazon.com, under Smart Home, do you have any duplicated names between your Sonos devices and other smart home devices such as a Dot or Hue?

Thanks!

Hi-thanks for you suggestions. Other than a non-Alexa Firestick I don't have any other smart devices in the house. The only potential conflict I can think of is I have changed the name of my device from Sonos to Kitchen in both the Alexa and Sonos app. However I've just noticed that in the Alexa app both the Sonos and Kitchen devices are still listed with only the Sonos as showing as online.

Hi

Please open the Alexa App on a PC (https://alexa.amazon.co.uk or .com) and select Smart Home>Devices. Please scroll to the bottom and the list and select 'Forget All' followed by 'Discover'.

Thanks very much @UKMedia - that's solved the issue with Amazon Music and TuneIn, however the BBC skill still doesn't work i.e. can't play radio stations, podcasts or provide Flash Briefings - any suggestions?

Hi

For Flash Briefings to work you need to add the BBC News Skill in the Alexa App>Skills and then Enable this skill within the Alexa App>Settings>Accounts>Flash Briefing.

For BBC Radio, just ask 'Alexa, Play Radio 2' and it should play from TuneIn.

I haven't tried to get Podcasts to work yet but I'll have a try later.

Thanks again @UKMedia. You’re answers are very helpful and much appreciated.

I’ve had the BBC Skill since I first set up the One, however it’s never worked. I can ask Alexa to open it and will get the opening music and intro however when I request either a radio station, flas briefing or podcast Alexa will respond, say she is opening it and I then get silence followed by the intro music again.

Strangely this morning I tried again and managed to get a flash briefing to play - but podcasts still didn’t work.

In parallel I’ve also received an Email from Amazon to say that flash briefings (and sports updates, Audible and EBooks) are not available on the Sonos One.

Hi BBL, glad to help :)

Which BBC skill have you Enabled, for my Flash Briefing I've Enabled the 'BBC News' skill and that works but I never ask to Open it. I also find that just asking for a Radio station ('Alexa, Play BBC Radio 4' or 'Alexa, Play Radio 2' works fine - Are these commands not working for you? I'll try Enabling the 'BBC' Skill, which appears to support Pod Cast and test today.

With regards to the Amazon email, Sonos didn't initially support Flash Briefings but introduced support for this feature for the UK in Dec 2017.

Thanks a lot @UKMedia! I was on the verge of having a stress induced coronary before following your instructions. The barely suppressed rage pushing out my hair follicles evaporated into a sweet smelling cloud of fluffy rainbow butter. 🙂

😃

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