I used to be able to start radio 4 with the voice command "OK Google, play BBC Radio 4" now this just leads to Sonos playing Radio 4 Extra. Has any one else seen this to know how to fix it?
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Same issue ongoing here - hoping for a fix soon
I think that the only way Sonos will respond is by seeing enough purchasers complain about its lack of voice control. Please encourage anyone you know that has bought a Sonos ‘ voice activated “ product to add to the pressure by posting their complaint.
This issue also effects BBC Radio 4 LW (plays BBC Radio 4 Extra).
About to buy another speaker, you guessed, NOT Sonos!
Pretty unbelievable to have an issue with no responses for months, Sonos are in a legal battle with Google so this must be part of it. Can’t think why they just not engaging.
Having purchased these speakers because of google assistant compatibility, perhaps they should start accepting returns?
Userlevel 2
I made the original post 4 months ago and with no sign of progress I've decided to sell my Sonos on. I waited ages for Google integration and boy what a waste of time. Coupled with frequent disconnection issues I've had enough. Anything I need to know / do to the speaker before selling it?
This is highly speculative, but would someone like to try the instruction "play radio 4 from the BBC".
It's based on an issue that arose on Alexa, and I don't really expect it to carry over to GA. But you never know…
(I only use Alexa, so cannot test it myself)
Or maybe try "play radio 4 from BBC Sounds"
I used to be able to start radio 4 with the voice command "OK Google, play BBC Radio 4" now this just leads to Sonos playing Radio 4 Extra. Has any one else seen this to know how to fix it?
I'm waiting on this too...
Same issue here. Has been happening for months as per this thread’s timeline. I was kind of just waiting for it to fix - my assumption is that it’s a TuneIn mapping issue.
Same issue here. Has been happening for months as per this thread’s timeline. I was kind of just waiting for it to fix - my assumption is that it’s a TuneIn mapping issue.
It is due, I believe, to the BBC no longer allowing access to their stations via TuneIn. Exceptions were made for certain third party users like Sonos, but not voice assistants like Alexa and GA.
https://cms.tunein.com/press-release/changes-to-bbc-stations-on-tunein-in-the-uk/
(There may have been other changes subsequently, but this is the ultimate origin of any difficulties in playing BBC stations using TuneIn.)
Same issue here. Has been happening for months as per this thread’s timeline. I was kind of just waiting for it to fix - my assumption is that it’s a TuneIn mapping issue.
It is due, I believe, to the BBC no longer allowing access to their stations via TuneIn. Exceptions were made for certain third party users like Sonos, but not voice assistants like Alexa and GA.
https://cms.tunein.com/press-release/changes-to-bbc-stations-on-tunein-in-the-uk/
(There may have been other changes subsequently, but this is the ultimate origin of any difficulties in playing BBC stations using TuneIn.)
It’s definitely not this issue as you can use all the other BBC radio stations in this way.
Voice commands for Radio 2 / 5 live work no problem.
The issue (which is still being ignored is that it is playing the wrong BBC radio 4 station (4 extra, rather than 4)
OK. Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried formulating the commands differently as I previously suggested?
As stated, I don't really expect it to work but it would only take a few seconds to test.
This is highly speculative, but would someone like to try the instruction "play radio 4 from the BBC".
It's based on an issue that arose on Alexa, and I don't really expect it to carry over to GA. But you never know…
(I only use Alexa, so cannot test it myself)
Or maybe try "play radio 4 from BBC Sounds"
No, plays radio4 extra
Me too. I just bought Roam as a shower speaker and can’t get it to play Radio 4. Shocked to see this has been running for over 6 months with no progress.
Not to mention the fact that sleep doesn’t work (keeps waking up randomly even), and google assistant alarm volume can’t be controlled.
All very disappointing. I won’t be recommending Sonos.
I’ve just bought a couple of Sonos One devices for my kitchen and I discovered this very issue yesterday. I was sure I was doing something wrong, so I Googled it and ended up here.
No matter what I have tried it always plays BBC Radio 4 Extra instead of BBC Radio 4. My Nest Hub device will play BBC Radio 4 as expected, when asked.
I am able to select BBC Radio 4 from the Sonos app on my iPhone, or AirPlay it from my phone, but it would be much nicer to be able to walk in and use a voice command.
I was curious to know if there is an alternative command I should be using. What a pain.
Mark, I've switched to using Alexa. Not ideal because my entire house is on the Google ecosystem. But BBC radio station selection by voice works.
In other Google assistant news, I discovered over the weekend that the reason the Roam kept waking up from sleep every 27-29 minutes was something to do with Google assistant too. Switched to Alexa and sleep mode seems to work as designed.
Oddly, even with my router off the Sonos was still waking on 27 minute boundaries. No idea how that could work but it did.
Mark, I've switched to using Alexa. Not ideal because my entire house is on the Google ecosystem. But BBC radio station selection by voice works.
Thanks Nodlesh, that’s good to know. I may give this a try, although like you, my entire house is using Google assistant also. So it’s it a bit of a pain to have to swap, but great to know there is an alternative option.
Hopefully this is something that will be resolved in future updates, but it sounds like it has been an issue for a while now.
As has been pointed out in this thread, it’s probably a simple fix but nobody at Sonos has the will to own up to an issue, let alone sort it. Sonos sells hardware and seems to have little care for the experience of its customers once the money has been pocketed.
Add the fact that it’s a problem created by one or more suspects (Sonos, Google, TuneIn and the BBC) and Sonos is happy not to be getting 100% of the flack.
We bought into Sonos because they promised to deliver. They sold us voice activation and an unrivalled list of radio stations. It is Sonos who are failing, not the others. It is Sonos who had (a lot of) our money.
Half a year for this issue is a disgrace! Fix this Sonos. The issue is yours and yours alone.
So interestingly the BBC Sounds app has just launched on Sonos.
https://radiotoday.co.uk/2021/12/bbc-sounds-now-available-to-preview-in-the-sonos-app/
I was quite excited about this as I thought this might offer a resolution. So I have just installed the app, which works well from what i have seen so far, but no matter what I try, if I use a voice command it always ends up playing BBC Radio 4 Extra from TuneIn, rather than BBC Radio 4 from BBC Sounds.
The BBC Sounds app is still in preview and has only just become available, so perhaps when it launches fully there is a chance that the BBC Radio 4 voice command issue will be picked up and resolved. Here’s hoping at least.
I’ve been backwards and forwards on this like everyone else on this for months. BBC Sounds had worked last year but stopped with the usual problem of it starting up but not playing the radio stream. I switched to Google and bumped into the Radio 4 issue.
I’ve unlinked and reset Alexa about 4 or 5 times without success UNTIL this w’end just passed.
I uninstalled ALL skills on Alexa.
I then asked Alexa on one of my Sonos (Move) to play BBC Radio 4 on BBC Sounds to see what would happen. Alexa referenced the fact that I had Sounds before and asked if I would like to enable it. I said Yes. It started up BBC Sounds, said I should link my account but went on to play BBC Radio 4. Its now been working for 3-4 days. I HAVENT linked my BBC skill / account in the Alexa app. I’ve reinstalled other skills and no issue.
I’m not going to link the account as it works and am loathe to find it wont work again.
I’ve been backwards and forwards on this like everyone else on this for months. BBC Sounds had worked last year but stopped with the usual problem of it starting up but not playing the radio stream. I switched to Google and bumped into the Radio 4 issue.
I’ve unlinked and reset Alexa about 4 or 5 times without success UNTIL this w’end just passed.
I uninstalled ALL skills on Alexa.
I then asked Alexa on one of my Sonos (Move) to play BBC Radio 4 on BBC Sounds to see what would happen. Alexa referenced the fact that I had Sounds before and asked if I would like to enable it. I said Yes. It started up BBC Sounds, said I should link my account but went on to play BBC Radio 4. Its now been working for 3-4 days. I HAVENT linked my BBC skill / account in the Alexa app. I’ve reinstalled other skills and no issue.
I’m not going to link the account as it works and am loathe to find it wont work again.
Yeah, this thread is about how the BBC Radio & Google assistant integration is broken tho - appreciate it works with Alexa but that isn’t really a solution to this issue,
New Beam user and same problem. Was hoping the Beam could replace the google nest mini that we use in the living room but looks like it can’t because of this issue. Was considering expanding Sonos system to rest of home but won’t until this is fixed. Radio 4 is used constantly by the family so not being able to simply request it via voice is a deal breaker. I guess Sonos simply arn’t a viable voice controlled Smart speaker like they say.
Hey
To make sure, I just tested it myself and can reproduce this issue. I’ve flagged it again with our engineers, but we don’t have anything else to share at this time. The workaround at the moment is to start playback through the Sonos app.
We appreciate your patience on this, and I’ll update here again if we have anything to share.
Any progress or work-arounds yet?
This is so frustrating.
Slight workaround...
If you play Radio 4 via the app, you can then use voice to stop it.
The next time you're in the room, you can say something like, "Hey Google, resume kitchen" and it'll play Radio 4 again, assuming nothing else has been played in the intervening period.
Works OK for us, as we pretty much only ever have Radio 4 on in the kitchen.
Shocking that 6 months later we're still stuck with this issue!
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