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November 2, 2022 1:07 pm  #1


Smart Speakers Not So Smart When Stns. Change Call Letters/Frequencies

Apparently, Alexa doesn't keep up with the radio industry as closely as some who congregate here do.

Changing Call Letters Or Frequencies? Better Tell Alexa.

Actually, what seems like a jokey story at first has real consequences, because, while it's not likely to make a huge difference overall, smart speaker listening is also a factor in ratings.  And that is troubling to some station owners. 

 

November 2, 2022 1:41 pm  #2


Re: Smart Speakers Not So Smart When Stns. Change Call Letters/Frequencies

The problem lies with Tune-In, the app that most of these smart speakers default to for streaming radio. Stations don't have direct control over their presence on the app, and must resort to submitting corrections/changes the same way a listener would, and they're not very responsive.

Last edited by RadioAaron (November 2, 2022 1:41 pm)

 

November 3, 2022 9:25 am  #3


Re: Smart Speakers Not So Smart When Stns. Change Call Letters/Frequencies

I have to echo.    Most smart speakers connect via a site like Tune-In.   Tune-In sometimes does not update their info with the new brand name, or call letters.   There is ways around this on the station end by alerting these sites early OR keeping the stream url the same should the station move to a different studio/frequency home.   Stations also should ensure to update their streaming meta data when changes happen.   Sadly to often engineering forgets to do this for a while, which delays the update on sites like Tune-In.

 

November 3, 2022 10:29 am  #4


Re: Smart Speakers Not So Smart When Stns. Change Call Letters/Frequencies

Is it possible to be more specific. For example if you wanted to listen to WKSE, would "98.5FM Buffalo, New York" achieve the desired result?