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Launching my local TuneIn stations from Alexa stopped working

  • 25 February 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 329 views

I’ve seen there’s a couple of similar topics about web radios not launching from TuneIn, but none fits exactly my problem.

 

I have a Sonos One SE with the Alexa voice control. I’m based in Spain, and have used the command “Alexa play X on TuneIn” for a long time (I can either say it in English or in Spanish, and it works). But three days ago, every time I ask the same command, I get an answer like “The station X isn’t available right now on TuneIn” (well, Alexa says it in Spanish, literally “La emisora X no está disponible en este momento para TuneIn”)

 

So it seems the command is recognized, because the name of the station is said correctly. I have another Echo device and the same command works perfectly there. Launching the station from the Sonos app on my phone also works. The problem happens with stations from my country (like “RAC1” “Cadena COPE” or “RNE Radio Nacional”), so it shouldn’t be a matter of regional restrictions. The only station I’ve managed to launch is “CNN en Español”, but other US ones like NBC don’t work. My Sonos account is set to “Spain” (Alexa wouldn’t work otherwise, in fact). Podcasts seem to work.

 

I’ve tried disabling and enabling the Sonos Skill in Alexa, and disabling and enabling the Alexa Voice control in the Sonos app. With no success.

 

 

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Best answer by Corry P 1 March 2021, 10:38

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6 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Juancjh 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Thanks for posting. You’ve already done the best troubleshooting steps - disabling and enabling the Sonos Skill, and removing and adding the Alexa service from Sonos.

As they haven’t worked, please try rebooting your WiFi router by switching it off for at least 30 seconds. Switch back on and wait about 5 minutes for WiFi to return before testing again.

If that doesn’t help either, I recommend bypassing TuneIn and adding myTuner to Sonos and to Alexa. 

  • In Sonos app, Settings » Services & Voice » Add a Service (bottom of page) » Search » myTuner » Add to Sonos
  • In Alexa app, More » Skill & Games » Search » myTuner

Once myTuner has been added to both, try using it to play those stations. Be sure to specify “Play X on myTuner" or Alexa will default to trying from TuneIn.

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

I have the same issue, same Sonos device. Why would rebooting the router help? (It didn’t) and why would I have to swap to mytuner?

 

Is there something broken with tunein? I don’t really see the need to swap to a new app, maybe we could just fix what was broken instead?

 

This function has worked perfectly for ages. It’s just stopped working now/this past week.

So if we do have to change to a new player, could that please be added somewhere clearly and also possibly could we get an explanation as to why?

 

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Posted my experience here too: 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

I have the same issue, same Sonos device. Why would rebooting the router help? (It didn’t) and why would I have to swap to mytuner?

Sonos are networked speakers. For nearly any issue, rebooting the router is worth trying. Rebooting your router refreshes it's software and makes sure it’s performing all it’s tasks properly. Make sure you switch your router of for 30 seconds before switching back on. 

You don’t have to swap to myTuner. The alternative would be to wait for the problem to be fixed, but I assumed you wanted to listen to your radio station, so provided an alternative method. Sonos are not responsible for what content is available for various sources and sometimes this content is changed - the UK, for example, has recently been blocked from playing non-UK stations on TuneIn. With radio, if a station has been blocked (I don’t know that it has been, and suspect not), it is often available from another source.

 

Is there something broken with tunein? I don’t really see the need to swap to a new app, maybe we could just fix what was broken instead?

We rely on our customers reporting issues. Now that this issue has been reported, we can look into it - thank you. I have just checked, and I have the same problem. It may take time to fix, and it may take work on our part, or work from another company (Amazon or TuneIn) - as we don’t yet know, we can’t yet say. It seems unlikely that it won’t be resolved, however.

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Great, that’s a comprehensive answer thank you.

Thanks for the response. I found an alternative skill that works for the Spanish local stations I wanted to hear (with Alexa on Sonos). It’s not myTuner, but Radioplayer España

https://www.amazon.es/Radioplayer-Worldwide-Espa%C3%B1a/dp/B0873564Q6

In fact, I had not tried TuneIn again since I discovered this alternative, and I’ve tried just now and my original problem seems to be solved (it now works again).

So thanks for the support.