We all love how Alexa can easily bring us our favorite music through various apps and settings. But if you’re ever in the mood for some retro or want to hear music like in the old days, your Alexa can help you. That’s right, Alexa can now play your local radio too, and give you a live radio experience! All you need to make this possible is your Alexa app up to date. And have your Echo dot or Alexa display in sync with your Alexa app. setting up radio stations on your Alexa is extremely easy and shouldn’t take you a lot of time either.
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Steps to setting up your Alexa to play radio stations
- Open the Alexa app and tap “more” in the bottom right corner.
- Select “Skills and games” and scroll till you find “featured categories” boxes along the top of the screen on your app.
- Tap on the search icon at the upper right corner and type “radio.”
Immediately a list of available radio apps for your area will appear. Check them out and select any radio you might want to hear.
Once this setup is done, you can play from local radio stations anytime.
Steps to play from your local radio station
Once you have set up your Alexa to play radio stations, it’s quite simple to start playing from your device with just a voice command. However, you might see some different options based on your place. Follow these steps to start radio on your Alexa whenever you like.
- To access any radio station you like, command Alexa by saying, “Alexa, ask my tuner to play <radio station call sign or frequency>,” Alexa will immediately start playing from that specific radio station. You can also ask region-specific affiliates to be played by commanding Alexa.
Sometimes, however, due to similarities of call signs and radio frequencies, Alexa may start playing from different regions than the one you ask for. The limitations in the voice recognition technology of the program cause this. Try again by being clearer in your instructions, and Alexa will pick up the radio station of your choice and start playing.
- If you are unsure of what the call signs are for your radio channel, there are some websites you can look up and find the channels you like. Alexa can open those sites for you to navigate and find these channels.
Some extra features of Alexa’s radio service
Using Alexa, you can easily listen to any radio channel globally, be it international, national, or even local radio stations from different regions. However, this is not the only feature of Alexa. Alexa’s Radio complete Day skill lets you listen to radio broadcasts from any day in history as long as it was recorded at that time. Listen to news, commentary, songs, and much more just the way it was broadcasted long back in the 1900s.
To enable this feature, search the skill in the app and add it or easily command Alexa by saying, “Alexa, add Radio Complete Day Skill,” which will be added to Alexa immediately.
If you wish to listen to music curated by humans and not computer algorithms, you can ask Alexa to add “Radio Paradise” to its skills assembly. Once you do that, Alexa will give you several options that are playlists mixed in different genres to give you a serene feel.
Alexa’s radio abilities don’t just end playing across all the radio stations in the world across time. You can even go ahead and listen to Broadway, off-Broadway, and London stages by simply adding the “sounds of Broadway” skill to your Alexa’s list of radio skills and listening on the go. The whole process is completely free!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions many users have had with the radio feature of Alexa,
Can I use the radio on any device?
You will need to sync your Alexa Echo or any other Alexa smart speaker device with the Alexa app on your phone first. Then, you will have to make sure that your Alexa app is up to date to use the radio on your devices.
Why did my Alexa stop playing the radio?
One of the most common reasons for your Alexa to malfunction is a drop in its wi-fi connection. If your wi-fi is weak or is not active right now, try fixing your router and try again. Your radio o Alexa should work just fine.
Can I ask Alexa to use the radio as my alarm?
Alexa can play any song you like at whatever time you prefer. Including your alarm requests. Simply say, “Alexa, wake me up to <insert radio station name or frequency> at <insert time>,” and Alexa will immediately add an alarm for you at that time. However, sometimes Alexa may have trouble understanding you well enough and may select some other radio station with a similar name. You’ll have to forgive it and try again.
How to turn off the radio after some time?
If you don’t like to be bothered to turn it off manually you can use the function of “sleep timer” that will automatically turn off the radio at the designated time, be it 30 mins or 1 hour or more.
Conclusion
Alexa is an extremely handy device that lets you do a lot of stuff at the command of your voice. The latest of these choices it gives is the radio option that lets you listen to anything and everything radio from around the world. You can add several skills to your Alexa to get a more versatile experience. You can even use the radio for many other activities you like by simply searching for the relevant skills on your Alexa app.