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flytzen
Contributor I
May 1, 2020

Google Assistant does not play Radio Stations

  • May 1, 2020
  • 66 replies
  • 7448 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

    Show previous replies
    Riah
    Lyricist I
    February 9, 2021

    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.

    I tried removing Google assistant from Sonos, deleting it from phone and reinstalling and adding to Sonos. It did not work and I have the same problem😑 commands for local radio, bbc, and now even Pandora do not work. At first it was just radio. Now the Sonos speaker is just taking up space on the counter. 

    JamesDan
    JamesDan
    Prominent Collaborator I
    February 9, 2021

    Never mind radio stations not working, when I tell GA on Sonos to play radio, it literally plays an ad before playing the actual station! On such an expensive device, while on my cheaper Google speakers, there is not one ad to be heard!

    This needs to be fixed!

    Also, the BBC and Global Player (LBC, Capital FM, Classic FM) now have proper integration with native GA speakers, but not with Sonos, I can barely play any of them using voice commands on Sonos, and all I get is poor streaming quality and ads.

    When I say “Play LBC on Global Player”, the Assistant says that this isn’t supported on my device.

    Sonos, fix this!

    jerox
    Lyricist I
    April 30, 2021

    Same issue. Any news on this?

    iamrobs
    Lyricist I
    May 12, 2021

    My conclusion is that Sonos are not fit for purpose for voice activation with Google Assistant. Compare the experience to just using a google Speaker and it’s sub-optimal

    the_goon
    Contributor I
    May 19, 2021

    I’m also having this problem with my Sonos Move. Up until a few eeks ago, I could ask it to play “Fun Kids” and it would duly do so. Now, all of a sudden, it says “Sure, playing Fun Kids UK from Tune In…. Sorry, I can’t find what you asked for”.

    However, opening the Sonos App on my phone and playing the station from there works fine.

    As time goes on, I’m finding the whole Sonos / Google integration more and more problematic.

    Reading this thread, I can’t believe that Sonos appear to be ignoring this issue.

    jhnkarlsson
    Contributor I
    June 3, 2021

    I live in Sweden and I usually tell my Sonos One to play swedish radio stations like P1, P3, P4 Halland, Radio Bastad, Rix FM. 

    Recently GA says it cant’t find the radio station on tune-in and doesn’t play it.

    They are all visible in the Sonos app and I can select them manually from the internal services Tune-in, Sonos Radio and Sveriges Radio.

    Doesn’work: P1, P4 Halland

    Work: P3, Radio Bastad, Rix FM.

     

    What’s happend?

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