Google Assistant no longer playing the radio since S2 update

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111 replies

S
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As previously mentioned in this thread I think it's more about a dispute between Google and the BBC and who's at fault from a customer perspective is anyone's guess.

Alexa/Amazon have added the BBC sounds app to their  platform and everything there works fine. Shame I still prefer the Google option but it's an ok work around whilst waiting for it to be sorted.

C
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

My advice - just get a smart speaker (eg, Google Nest Hub - just reduced in price, or an Alexa Show.  Better sound on Nest, but less versatile in other smart ways than Alexa).   Or just use your existing mini speakers if sound quality is no longer important..

In my opinion, Sonos has totally lost its way.

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

 

Same problem here.

I started off using Alexa, but it was forever losing connection to Spotify which resulted in too many hours spent resetting all the various connections so I switched to Google Assistant. GA works far better for me, but it refuses to play radio stations lately.

In contrast my Google minis play BBC radio just fine.

 

 

The wife is going nuts without having BBC radio and wants me to disconnect the S1's. She actually said that she "couldn't give a stuff about superior sound quality!". Actually....she didn't say "stuff".

I agree. My wife has now produced an old radio to use instead of SONOS. 

jTemplar
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Hi All,

 

Interim update. I’ve done nothing to my setup but when I now ask google assistant to play bbc radio 2 she thinks she is playing it and in the Sonos app there is a retro looking BBC radio 2 icon that looks like we’ve gone back in time! It doesn’t work but feels like progress...I think. 

 

 

I take your retro looking BBC radio 2 icon and raise it with my retro looking BBC Radio 4 icon:

 

… and it still didn't play Radio 4 :grinning:

U

Same problem here.

I started off using Alexa, but it was forever losing connection to Spotify which resulted in too many hours spent resetting all the various connections so I switched to Google Assistant. GA works far better for me, but it refuses to play radio stations lately.

In contrast my Google minis play BBC radio just fine.

 

I don't have an answer here but I have 2 S1's. The GA on them wasn't very good at picking up our voices. So, we linked a Google Mini to them and set the S1's as the default speaker through the Google Home app and then turned the mic off on the S1's. All was working fine until the Sonos app update. 

Interestingly, resetting the Google Mini and not linking it to the S1's, BBC radio works fine. I thought I'd done it but, as soon as I set the default speaker to the S1's, the issue happened again. 

Now, when you ask a Google Mini to play BBC radio 2 when not linked to Sonos, the response you get is, "OK, streaming 88 to 91 FM BBC radio 2 from the BBC". As soon as you link it to Sonos, you get "OK, streaming BBC radio 2 from Tunin".

I've tried changing the default radio station in Sonos to Sonos Radio but, whatever you ask for through the GA it defaults using Tunin.

The wife is going nuts without having BBC radio and wants me to disconnect the S1's. She actually said that she "couldn't give a stuff about superior sound quality!". Actually....she didn't say "stuff".

D
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

Unfortunately it appears this is a forced update. My music services won’t work until I update my Sonos firmware and Sonos apps on all devices. Thanks Sonos.

C

Yes definitely issue for S1 also

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

This issue is not exclusive to SONOS S2 - It is also an issue for S1 users.

D
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

Is there any actual benefit to S2 for existing users, or is it just one of those painful updates that the company imposes to support new products while throwing in pointless rejigging of the user interface with no real benefit? I hope to hold out without updating for as long as possible. We need to give Sonos some time to work out the bugs. Given past track record, that should only be about 12 to infinity months.

G

This from @SonosSupport: “We are still investigating this issue and do not have a time frame for a solution at this time.”

I can confirm that this IFTTT workaround works with a Nest Mini, but you need to set up each radio station and device combination separately.

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/step-by-step-guide-to-play-bbc-radio-station-via-voice-control-6834993

P

Same problem here too….

R

Same problem here.

I started off using Alexa, but it was forever losing connection to Spotify which resulted in too many hours spent resetting all the various connections so I switched to Google Assistant. GA works far better for me, but it refuses to play radio stations lately.

In contrast my Google minis play BBC radio just fine.

T

I am having a problem with BBC Radio Scotland and Radio Clyde 2. It is not a BBC problem. Manual start through TuneIn on Sonos works, voice activated through Sonos One doesn't, same symptoms as above.

If I try using GA on my android phone it also fails. Once with an error message about radio station not being available in my country, another time it started another BBC station than requested.

Maybe some new check in profile about country of residence? As I have moved between Norway and Scotland the various profiles in GA, TuneIn, Sonos, BBC etc etc may be inconsistent…

 

R

Same issue here – very frustrating. I used to listen to BBC Radio all the time, so two weeks without it has felt like a very long time. Hope there will be a fix soon.

W
Userlevel 1

Hello All,

I too went to Alexa, but I was having some Spotify issues using.  So I had a think about it and decided to go back to GA, which I am much happier with anyway.  But what I did was this:

  • Set up the Radio stations I want to use as Favourites in the Sonos App using Sonos Radio
  • Use IFTTT to create an Applet that is triggered by the command such as “put favourite 6 on” or “put 6 on”
  • This applet then calls the relevant favourite from Sonos
  • So when I now say “OK Google put favourite 6 on” or “OK Google put 6 on” it plays BBC Radio 6 Music

You just have to be careful with the wording because if you use Radio or 6 Music (for example) Sonos defaults to try using TuneIn radio.  This is the bit that is broken.  Alexa has a Skill that uses BBC sounds (created by the BBC themselves) and a Native GA speaker uses a direct connection to the BBC.  It is Sonos that defaults to the TuneIn service that is the bit that is broken.  I’m not sure why it doesn’t use Sonos Radio?

I am now back and working and have my BBC radio Stations available via my Sonos Beam.:grinning:

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Add me to the list also

My wife has now taken a radio out of storage. The chances of me persuading her to upgrade the beam to arc is fading with this problem.

S
Badge

I have gone back to Alexa where bbc stations work fine, in two minds whether to go back to Google if and when they fix it.

R

Add me to the list. I have the same issue. Thought it was just me until I saw this post. Just spent the last 4 hours resetting, reinstalling etc to no avail.

S
Userlevel 1

Thanks, at least we know you're looking at it, that's reassuring.

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Hi everyone, we are actively investigating the issue with our partners, but don't have any information to share right now. It doesn’t look like a message was added to this thread already, but the team has been on this since it was first reported. We’ll let you know when there’s some news.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
S
Userlevel 1

Come on Sonos support team - there are enough people on here and probably thousands of others that are extremely peed off now - my wife is all for throwing the Sonos One in the bin. If it’s not your issue to fix, at least somebody from support put something on here that explains the issue and what (if any) actions are being taken to remedy the situation. What I don’t understand is why if I ask GA to play BBC Radio 2, it cannot play it from Sonos Radio - I have factory reset everything and am using the AWFUL S2 controller (because I now have to) Tunein is not even installed any more - the whole purpose of purchasing a Sonos One rather than a Play:1 was to use GA or Alexa to play the radio/spotify etc. But in the last week, the whole Sonos experience has been bloody awful.

C

Same problem here. Surely they will sort this out as a PRIORITY

C

Hi, 

 

I have google assistant on Sonos Beam and Sonos One. It was all working fine until the S2 app launched a couple of days ago. Now, when I ask a Sonos to play a radio station (e.g. play BBC radio 2), google assistant initially replies with, ‘playing BBC radio 2 from TuneIn (as usual) but then fails and says ‘sorry, I cannot find what you’re looking for’. If I ask google assistant to play music it works fine (using Spotify). I assume this is a TuneIn issue but the status page isn’t reporting any problems.

I removed TuneIn service from the Sonos S2 app and re-added it, made no difference. I also rebooted all the speakers, also made no difference. 

 

Any ideas? Is there a problem with TuneIn? 

 

Thanks

 

D

Same problem with me trying to listen to Dutch radio

S

Same problem here.

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