Google Assistant has problem playing TuneIn station

  • 17 May 2019
  • 8 replies
  • 10575 views

Userlevel 5
Badge +8
Google Assistant on Sonos is giving me a problem trying to play my favorite local news station News 1130 from TuneIn as I commonly do on Alexa and Google Home, for example on Google Home: "Hey Google, play News 1130 radio" = "All right, playing News 1130 on TuneIn", station plays.

But with Google Assistant on Sonos One: "Hey Google, play News 1130 radio" = "All right, playing CKWX on TuneIn" = "Sorry, it looks like that content isn't available on TuneIn" (CKWX is an alternative name for News 1130). Saying "play CKWX" instead produces the same response.

Google Home recognizes "play CKWX" as an alternative to "play News 1130", and the station plays correctly either way.

Selecting and playing the TuneIn station News 1130 from the Sonos app to the Sonos One works fine.

Playing other TuneIn stations on the Sonos One by saying "Hey Google, play (station name)" seems to work fine in a few other tests.

So for some reason the request to play this particular TuneIn station is being processed differently by Google Home and by Google Assistant on Sonos One, resulting in inability to find the station.

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8 replies

Userlevel 1
I get this error for stations hosted on radio.com and not TuneIn. My best guess is that Google Assistant looks for these stations on TuneIn, doesn’t find them, and returns the error message. This is disappointing because my Google Home Mini plays radio.com stations with no problem, and the radio.com stations are available in the Sonos app.
Userlevel 5
Badge +8
It's definitely a TuneIn station. Google Home, Alexa, and the Sonos app all have no problem finding the station and playing it "from TuneIn". Even Google Assistant on Sonos responds that it's playing the station from TuneIn before stumbling and saying that it can't find that content on TuneIn.

For the moment I just added the station as a Sonos favorite and created an IFTTT applet to play it when I say "Hey Google, news radio". I can also include that in my morning Google routine. So I can work around it, it's just an annoying quirk with the Sonos version of GA.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2
Same here.

"Play radio one in bedroom" doesn't work but "play radio one London in the bedroom" does work.
Userlevel 2
I have the exact same problem with Radio Paradise on TuneIn. If I ask Google to play it on sonos it says, "ok, playing RP from TuneIn Radio" and then immediately "Sorry, it looks like that content isn't available". If I just ask Google to play it (not on Sonos), it plays it fine. I can also play it fine from the Sonos app. The odd thing is, is that it worked initially but then stopped working.
Same problem with Soma FM’s Groove Salad station listed on TuneIn.
Exactly the same issue playing Radio X in the UK. Works fine directly through TuneIn, and via Sonos using Alexa. But trips up through Google Assistant.
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
There is a known problem with some tunein radio stations not playing through GA, although i have not seen any list that we can add to.
Kisstory in UK is another.
Probably longer to solve UK stations as sonos concentrates on US tunein stations eg i was told Kisstory does not exist, but my car DAB radio is quite happy to play it 😉
Guess we all just have to wait for a software update.,
Userlevel 3
Badge +1
If you have a problem with a TuneIn station not playing on a Google device, then file feedback with Google and it should get looked at. If it's longstanding and hasn't been addressed, consider checking the Google Home forum for a thread you can add your voice to and/or contacting Google Home Support.

If the TuneIn station works on a Google device but not on your Sonos device, then it's more likely to be an issue you'll need to raise regarding the Sonos integration.