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MFB
MFB
Contributor I
June 16, 2018
Answered

Alexa won't play BBC radios 4

  • June 16, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 6201 views
Since updating my Sonos One to 8.6, I haven’t been able to play certain radio stations in particular the main BBC radio stations Radio 1, 2 3 and 4 , when started from Amazon Alexa, although it will play local BBC radio stations from Alexa.

When I request:- Alexa “Play BBC radio 4”, Alexa says “Here’s radio 4 FM” then you here in another voice “The BBC” then it’s just silence. But if I go to my iPad and call up BBC Radio 4 it then plays ok. Can I go back to how it use to work?
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    Best answer by DuncanS
    Reply I got from @SonosSupport in Twitter was:

    "Unfortunately at the moment it's just the case that you need to explicitly state 'on the Kitchen' or 'from TuneIn' as that's just how Alexa handles the commands right now. If we can get closer integration with the BBC skill in future we should be able to avoid this behaviour."

    4 replies

    DuncanS
    DuncanS
    Lyricist III
    June 19, 2018
    Looks like this issue: https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/alexa-now-using-bbc-skill-rather-than-tunein-6808332
    DuncanS
    DuncanSAnswer
    Lyricist III
    June 19, 2018
    Reply I got from @SonosSupport in Twitter was:

    "Unfortunately at the moment it's just the case that you need to explicitly state 'on the Kitchen' or 'from TuneIn' as that's just how Alexa handles the commands right now. If we can get closer integration with the BBC skill in future we should be able to avoid this behaviour."
    MFB
    MFBAuthor
    Contributor I
    June 19, 2018
    Thanks. Yes spoke to Sonos Support yesterday and we discovered I need to add the words 'from Tunein' at end of my request and now it works ok. Interestingly I didn't need to do that a week ago. But no doubt the back room boys & girls will sort that out.
      TWPaul
      Lyricist III
      June 20, 2018
      Thanks. Yes spoke to Sonos Support yesterday and we discovered I need to add the words 'from Tunein' at end of my request and now it works ok. Interestingly I didn't need to do that a week ago. But no doubt the back room boys & girls will sort that out.

      Indeed. It also works if you're explicit with the room, so if you say 'Alexa, Play Radio 4 in Bedroom' it will work (via TuneIn).

      I've had an echo dot controlling Sonos Zoneplayer and ceiling speakers in kitchen for a while and I got used to having to append 'in Kitchen' to every command there so it's been less of an issue.

      It's to do with changes to BBC Skill and the fact that this is not compatible currently with Sonos, Hopefully it will get sorted out, having to say those two extra words is a drag. Christ that makes me sound lazy..... 🙂
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