Playing Irish radio on Alexa

vinnielo

I've noticed in another thread that many people were having problems getting Alexa to play Irish Radio.

This may be because it's primarily geared towards UK users and will naturally try to match with stations based in the UK. Biased? Probably.

I've created a new skill at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RKCN3CN, with the idea that you call the station by its unique three - letter code, thus giving the chances of mismatching with another station. You can see the full list of codes at lsn.to/list where you'll find all licensed UK and Irish stations.

After activating, you can call up a station as follows:

"Alexa, ask RadioFeeds to play XYZ", where XYZ is the three-letter code for your station.

Some station examples are given in my reply in the other thread to some of the users having problems:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118775138#Comment_118775138

Let me know how well it works for you!

Works brilliantly for some UK stations which are geo blocked here such as Scala and Clyde 1 & 2

ford fiesta

when you refer to using "Alexa" - are you just referring to "Amazon's Alexa", or also referring to other voice activated speakers such as the "Google Nest" ?

vinnielo

Yes, specifically the Alexa service, which is what was referred to in the other thread I've linked to.

sundodger5

Enable the Irish radio player skill.

Then it is just a case of "Alexa, ask Irish radio player to play" and name the station.

vinnielo

There's a limited offering on RadioPlayer.

No community radio stations on there and Spirit Radio, UCB Ireland, Radio Maria and Ri-Ra are all missing.

MoyVilla9

Just found this. Really good. Is there a way to stop it saying "I have found (station name)" before it plays?

radiotrickster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120033436#Comment_120033436

I set up routines for all the stations I listen to that were hard to get running on the Alexa. For example I set it up so all I say is “Alexa, open Spin” and then it’ll play Spin 1038. Otherwise I’d have to ask for ‘spin one thousand and thirty eight on TuneIn’ and it doesn’t always work.

vinnielo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120033436#Comment_120033436

That's there to confirm that it's chosen the right station. It would be rather awkward if, using hypothetical examples, it chose SPM rather than SPN.

But to answer your question, no, there isn't.

vinnielo

If you use the Alexa phone apps, Echo shows or Fire TV with Alexa, you'll now see the relevant station logos (where available).