Alexa as a Modern Radio
Before television, radio was king. These days many people don’t even have a radio inside their homes. Well, radio is back in a big way! Sort of…
Want your traffic, sports, weather, or news headlines? Alexa has you covered: “Alexa news flash” gets the headlines. Unlike an anachronistic radio, Alexa gives you the “radio” on demand:
- Alexa, weather
- Alexa, traffic
- Alexa, what’s the score of the Giants game?
- Alexa, sports news
You can ask Alexa with complete sentences, of course. For most requests, I’m usually terse.
For additional news, add some Skills from the Alexa phone app:
- NPR News Now
- Wall Street Journal
- Reuters TV
Music
It seems like music is the feature people use the most. It’s liberating to play music without reaching for a phone or the stereo.
- Alexa, play some Rolling Stones
- Alexa, play Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan
- Alexa, play some 70’s Rock
- Alexa, play some classic rock
- Alexa, set volume to 5
- Alexa, next song
- Alexa, pause
- Alexa, continue
- Alexa, stop
While listening you can always ask “Alexa, what song is this?” or “Alexa, who sings this song?”.
Podcasts
I haven’t found a native way to play podcasts directly on my Echo so I use my iPhone and stream via Bluetooth. Alexa provides a degree of control not currently provided by the phone:
“Alexa , pause“ will pause the Bluetooth and podcast. This is helpful is someone asks a question or I need to leave the room.
“Alexa, continue” will continue exactly where you left off, even if you say this an hour later.
As with cutting cable, local news and sports is missing. Hopefully, it eventually arrives but even without it, this new class of device has found a place in our homes.