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Thread ID: 145951	2018-03-14 03:51:00	Alexa handles for NZ radio stations?	BBCmicro (15761)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1447294	2018-03-14 03:51:00	I'm looking after an Amazon Echo for a few months (along with a Galaxy S9+ when it arrives :)) and trying to become knowledgeable on radio stations So far I've worked out the following: Alexa, play Radio New Zealand Concert Alexa, play Radio New Zealand National Alexa, play Classic FM Alexa, play BBC Radio 3 Alexa, play ABC Classic FM Alexa, play ABC Classic 2 and would like to add some Golden Oldies, 70s 80s 90s, etc Anyone know any names? (Alexa, play Radio Windy doesn't work ;))	BBCmicro (15761)
1447295	2018-03-14 07:22:00	Magic FM or the Sound FM possibly	gary67 (56)
1447296	2018-03-14 07:40:00	Sound FM brings up "currently not available" Magic FM brings up a mixture of mainly Spanish (I think) with occasional English Edit: it's Romanian probably	BBCmicro (15761)
1447297	2018-03-14 08:09:00	Oh well, that's what I listen to on the radio. Well the sound mostly I find Magic a bit old. However here in Hanmer can only get the local Compass FM which isn't great	gary67 (56)
1447298	2018-03-14 09:31:00	Media works don't seem to supply streams for anything except their own Rova app, so that's all of their stations probably out of it (the rock, the edge, Sound, etc). I used to use Iheart radio and there was another app I used as a radio alarm clock with their stations until one day it stopped working and I've never been able to find anything but their own app that works since. Shooting themselves in the foot if you ask me. Hauraki is even worse because their app is terrible.	dugimodo (138)
1447299	2018-03-16 08:49:00	I understand iHeartRadio has gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection? but I think Echo/Alexa is still pulling content from the company I'm beginning to get hooked on Echo/Alexa. It's only mono but that doesn't seem to matter as it fills the room and the bass is good. The 3.5mm headphone output (which I think wasn't present on the Gen 1 version of Echo) is stereo and could be connected to a regular audio system if I wanted. It could give voice control over volume for instance, or add a BT receiver to the audio system. Bluetooth seems to work quite well with Echo, at least from my Ryzen desktop. I set up a "Cast to" screen with the Postman Pat theme on repeat but muted on the Echo. Then at a suitable time when the grandchildren were quiet I said from 6m away "Alexa, unmute" and they were impressed! However I'm not sure how to get the Alexa to change from a web radio station to BT. Launching a Cast To screen from my desktop will do it but how do I do it using voice? "Alexa, play Bluetooth" brings up "You are already connected to Bluetooth". I can't use my desktop name because it's unpronounceable (DESKTOP-05B9TI2) (I hesitate to change the name because I have a lot of mapped drives). Yet Echo does sometimes manage to change to Bluetooth via Alexa. I think part of the trick is to issue the command then wait until the current song on the Cast To screen stops and the next one starts - but there's more to it than that "More FM Wellington" is another station to add to my original list. In general, Alexa names are not prominent on web sites and that's a situation that surely has to change. Worldwide there are about 100 radio stations with "magic" in the title, for example. About 20 of them have "magic FM". So the Alexa name needs to be quite specific if you want a particular station. "More FM Wellington" is a good example of what to do because it is quite specific and TuneIn lists it exactly like that. Alexa seems to have a sense of humour. At the start I hadn't put my Cast To screen on repeat, so I said "Alexa, repeat". The voice gave a reply which seemed to say "Don't be silly. You can't set that over Bluetooth, as you probably well know"	BBCmicro (15761)
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