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flytzen
Contributor I
May 1, 2020

Google Assistant does not play Radio Stations

  • May 1, 2020
  • 66 replies
  • 7451 views

When I ask my Sonos: "Hey, Google! Play Heart 80s". It replies with: "Playing Heart 80s on TuneIn". However, it then says: "Sorry I can't find what you asked for". This is really disappointing, because Alexa plays radio stations without any issues. Any suggestions on how to fix this? 

 

Exactly the same issue reported 

https://en.community.sonos.com/google-assistant-and-sonos-229109/google-assistant-does-not-play-radio-stations-6833977

and

https://en.community.sonos.com/google-assistant-and-sonos-229109/google-assistant-has-problem-playing-tunein-station-6825633

Weirdly Sonos seems to just keep closing the issues so you can’t comment on. Very poor customer service.

 

As described in the other issues - this is 100% a Sonos issue. The error comes after control is handed back from Google to Sonos and the exact same voice commands work on google home devices on the same network.

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    66 replies

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    JamesDan
    JamesDan
    Prominent Collaborator I
    September 8, 2020

    I’m disappointed too. Global (owner of radio stations such as LBC in the UK) has blocked streams on TuneIn for most of their radio stations outside the UK, instead opting for their own solution called Global Player on Google smart speakers.


    So if I tell a Google Nest Mini to play Heart it plays it just fine on Global Player. If I ask Google Assistant on Sonos however it tells me it’s playing the station on TuneIn which of course doesn’t work.

    Certain Google Assistant actions just don’t seem to work, including Global Player and BBC. 
    If I explicitly ask GA on Sonos to play Heart on Global Player, all I get back is: “Playing Heart on Global Player. Sorry, Global Player currently isn’t supported on [speaker name].”

    Being able to do this on a $20 Google Home Mini but not on speakers worth several hundreds is downright pathetic.

    After seeing ads of the Sonos Move showing off its Google Assistant capabilities and getting this, I really do feel like I’ve been lied to.

    Being told that certain Sonos products support Google Assistant when they only support the most basic stuff is a cheek when the GA on Sonos can’t even shuffle music!

    Don’t get me wrong, I love Sonos, but if they want to keep up with the smart speaker industry they had better gear up and put things right. 

    glenspeed
    Lyricist I
    September 8, 2020

    Further to JamesDan’s reply, I’ve tested various Sonos Radio specific stations and from what I have found, the only stations that actually work in the GA voice control are the one’s that are also available on other channels like iHeart radio or another free radio channel.  If it is only included as a Sonos Radio channel it won’t work.  So again, it confirms there is something between GA and Sonos specifically that GA does not allow access to.

    JamesDan
    JamesDan
    Prominent Collaborator I
    September 8, 2020

    Further to JamesDan’s reply, I’ve tested various Sonos Radio specific stations and from what I have found, the only stations that actually work in the GA voice control are the one’s that are also available on other channels like iHeart radio or another free radio channel.  If it is only included as a Sonos Radio channel it won’t work.  So again, it confirms there is something between GA and Sonos specifically that GA does not allow access to.

    Interesting. But what’s weird in my case is that Global Player is actually a service officially supported by the Sonos app but doesn’t work with voice commands when using Google Assistant.

    glenspeed
    Lyricist I
    September 8, 2020

    Further to JamesDan’s reply, I’ve tested various Sonos Radio specific stations and from what I have found, the only stations that actually work in the GA voice control are the one’s that are also available on other channels like iHeart radio or another free radio channel.  If it is only included as a Sonos Radio channel it won’t work.  So again, it confirms there is something between GA and Sonos specifically that GA does not allow access to.

    Interesting. But what’s weird in my case is that Global Player is actually a service officially supported by the Sonos app but doesn’t work with voice commands when using Google Assistant.

    Yep, again everything works via the Sonos app but voice commands via GA are limited.  That of course is the issue as I have everything set up via voice control for all my smart devices, including music from Sonos radio stations.  Very frustrating.

      Krishma M
      Krishma M
      Retired Sonos Staff
      September 9, 2020

      Hi folks and welcome to the community @glenspeed. We totally understand where you're coming from and I’m here to help you all. 

      We have tested Google Assistant BBC radio playback using Sonos voice-enabled and Google first-party voice-enabled devices and Google Assistant appears to unaffected at this time so you all should be able to command BBC radio playback via Google Assistant on Sonos and on Google Devices and they can successfully target playback to other rooms from both Sonos and Google Voice-enabled devices. If not, try to remove GA from the Sonos app and unlink Sonos from Google Home and Google Assistant app then, re-add GA to Sonos. 

      In order to use your selected music service with your Google Assistant on Sonos, you must also add it to your Sonos app. You can ask your Google Assistant to play music from iHeartRadio, TIDAL, and TuneIn Radio on Sonos if they’re available in your region, but they can’t be directly added to your Google Assistant app.

      About the Global Player and Sonos Radio, starting playback through voice aren’t available at this time. For now, voice assistants will utilize the default radio services selected from within the respective app. We can certainly pass along these interests to the team.

      While starting playback of Sonos Radio and Global Player using voice aren’t available at this time, you can control basic functions through voice such as volume control, pausing music, and even asking your voice assistant what’s playing. 

      Please let us know if there’s anything else we can help you with. We and the community are always here.

      Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
      Doug Ames
      Headliner I
      September 9, 2020

      It may be no longer occurring for the BBC, but nothing has been fixed for the other radio stations reported with this problem. Outstanding more than a year.

      I would guess that the Sonos dev team knows very well what the problem is, but it’s an inherent issue with GA on Sonos that isn’t easily fixed, and they either haven’t bothered to let customer service know or they just don’t want to say because it would only attract criticism.

      Krishma M
      Krishma M
      Retired Sonos Staff
      September 11, 2020

      Hi @Doug Ames, thanks for reaching out. Sorry that other radio stations aren’t working on your end, and can you please tell us more about it? What’s the specific station and issue? I will be working with you to get this rectified. 

      Just let us know. We and the community are always here to help.

      Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
      Doug Ames
      Headliner I
      September 12, 2020

      I’ve pretty much given up responding to the standard requests for more information from Sonos Staff in these forums, because they appear to be totally unaware of previous reports of the same issue and previous times I have responded to requests for information with no result. Don’t you guys have a PR database?

      But if you really want to do some research, check out my issue from a year ago that’s second reference link given in the initial post of this thread. The problem remains the same.

      Krishma M
      Krishma M
      Retired Sonos Staff
      September 13, 2020

      Hi @Doug Ames, thanks for your response, and we do not want this kind of experience for the Sonos users. Since it’s been a while and your problem is still there, I’d suggest call 800-680-2345 from Monday to Friday 10 am to 9 pm so they can further check it with you and escalate if needed. We want you to enjoy your experience with the Sonos products and just let us know. We and the community are always here to help.

      Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
      JamesDan
      JamesDan
      Prominent Collaborator I
      September 17, 2020

      I just found out that the Assistant on my Ones/Beam cannot seem to use Assistant actions. If I tell Sonos to play Radio 4 on the BBC, it says that the BBC isn’t currently supported on [speaker name]. All my other Google Home speakers support this but Sonos doesn’t. Even asking it to play Radio 4 on TuneIn doesn’t work. All I get is silence.

       

      Trying to play LBC/Classic FM on Global Player doesn’t work either. It also tells me that Global Player currently isn’t supported on [speaker name]

      Issuing the same command to my Google Home speakers always works.

      Sonos is clearly at fault here, it doesn’t seem to support Assistant actions!

      This needs to be fixed pronto!

      Just asked Google Assistant on Sonos to play LBC. As it isn’t able to play it from Global Player despite that service being officially supported in the Sonos app and speakers made by Google and other third parties, it plays LBC from TuneIn. Thing is, loads other radio stations from Global don’t work on TuneIn outside the UK, but Global Player does.

      And I have now started hearing ads before the actual radio station plays. This would not happen with Global Player.

      Not getting ads when trying to play LBC, Heart, Capital etc. on a $20 Google Home Mini but getting ads on speakers worth hundreds because they don’t support Global Player amongst other actions is quite disgusting. I don’t want ads. But I get them because Sonos cannot be bothered to integrate Google Assistant properly.

      Fix it.

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