My Sonos One’s are a pair, and have Alexa and Sonos voice control enabled. Asking for say ‘BBC Radio 4’ starts a service called 45 Radio (I have no idea why or even what it is). Speaking closely into the other speaker of the pair starts BBC Radio 4 no problem. I have tried removing voice services and re-enabling them doesn’t fix the problem. Please advise. Thank you.
Answered
I want the BBC not "45 radio"
Best answer by craigski
Enable the BBC Sounds Alexa Skill, then:
Say: “Alexa, Open BBC Sounds”
Alexa responds with: “BBC Sounds. Hello, what would you like to hear?”
Say: “Radio 4”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/listening-on-a-smart-speaker/alexa
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-MEDIA-APPLICATIONS-TECHNOLOGIES-LIMITED/dp/B077P7TNF2
Just to help those who can help you, which are you using, ‘hey Sonos’ or ‘Alexa’?
+18What music service are you using? BBC is no longer on TuneIn for example.
I would like to use the BBC, predominantly. I wasn’t aware that the BBC is no longer on Tune Inn, I’ll do a bit of research on that. Thank you.
If you check the Alexa app for the voice history, what is the saved command for when 45 radio plays? ie. what does Alexa think it hears you say.
In the Alexa app you can downvote where the command was not understood successfully.
Enable the BBC Sounds Alexa Skill, then:
Say: “Alexa, Open BBC Sounds”
Alexa responds with: “BBC Sounds. Hello, what would you like to hear?”
Say: “Radio 4”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/listening-on-a-smart-speaker/alexa
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-MEDIA-APPLICATIONS-TECHNOLOGIES-LIMITED/dp/B077P7TNF2
Thank you. That seems to work fine, although only with one of the pair (the other ‘speaks’ some unintelligible nonsense, although I think it’s BBC related.)
This situation was what was happening before, when I said “Alexa, Open BBC Sounds” - the correct station would play if I said “Alexa, play Radio 4”, but only from one of the speaker pair (the other would play 45 Radio, whatever that is.)
I’ll read up on those linked pages.
+1My Sonos One’s are a pair, and have Alexa and Sonos voice control enabled. Asking for say ‘BBC Radio 4’ starts a service called 45 Radio (I have no idea why or even what it is). Speaking closely into the other speaker of the pair starts BBC Radio 4 no problem. I have tried removing voice services and re-enabling them doesn’t fix the problem. Please advise. Thank you.
This happens because the voice service is mishearing the command.
Try saying the full name clearly, like “Play BBC Radio Four” instead of “BBC Radio 4”.
You can also set BBC Radio 4 as a favorite in the Sonos app and then ask to play your favorite station.
Another option is to disable one voice assistant and use only one to avoid confusion.
Speaking slightly slower or closer to the same speaker can also help.
My Sonos One’s are a pair, and have Alexa and Sonos voice control enabled. Asking for say ‘BBC Radio 4’ starts a service called 45 Radio (I have no idea why or even what it is). Speaking closely into the other speaker of the pair starts BBC Radio 4 no problem. I have tried removing voice services and re-enabling them doesn’t fix the problem. Please advise. Thank you.
Hi - We have recently had real difficulty getting Alexa to control our ERA 100. We only really want to listen to BBC stations. Alexa would acknowledge the request eg play BBC Radio 4, but then play no music. After huge amounts of frustration it turns out the the simple answer is that you now need to say ‘BBC’ to Alexa and it will the take you to BBC Sounds which then asks what specifically you want to hear. Simples!
My Sonos One’s are a pair, and have Alexa and Sonos voice control enabled. Asking for say ‘BBC Radio 4’ starts a service called 45 Radio (I have no idea why or even what it is). Speaking closely into the other speaker of the pair starts BBC Radio 4 no problem. I have tried removing voice services and re-enabling them doesn’t fix the problem. Please advise. Thank you.
Hi - We have recently had real difficulty getting Alexa to control our ERA 100. We only really want to listen to BBC stations. Alexa would acknowledge the request eg play BBC Radio 4, but then play no music. After huge amounts of frustration it turns out the the simple answer is that you now need to say ‘BBC’ to Alexa and it will the take you to BBC Sounds which then asks what specifically you want to hear. Simples!
Many thanks. Similar advice from user craigski, above. I’ll go and check it out.
My Sonos One’s are a pair, and have Alexa and Sonos voice control enabled. Asking for say ‘BBC Radio 4’ starts a service called 45 Radio (I have no idea why or even what it is). Speaking closely into the other speaker of the pair starts BBC Radio 4 no problem. I have tried removing voice services and re-enabling them doesn’t fix the problem. Please advise. Thank you.
Hi - We have recently had real difficulty getting Alexa to control our ERA 100. We only really want to listen to BBC stations. Alexa would acknowledge the request eg play BBC Radio 4, but then play no music. After huge amounts of frustration it turns out the the simple answer is that you now need to say ‘BBC’ to Alexa and it will the take you to BBC Sounds which then asks what specifically you want to hear. Simples!
I hate that huge BBC double boooom they do, it would be great to be able to switch it off.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.