How to Enjoy Thousands of Radio Stations on Amazon Alexa

Do you want to listen to your favorite radio stations and podcasts on your Alexa-enabled device? Maybe you want to catch up on the latest international news, or you’re eager to continue listening to that podcast you were enjoying on your commute home. Here you’ll learn how to stream thousands of podcasts and radio stations via your Alexa-enabled device.

Also read: How to Avoid Accidental Voice Purchasing with Amazon Alexa

Exploring international and local radio with TuneIn

Amazon Alexa has built-in support for the popular TuneIn audio streaming service, which provides access to over 10,000 radio stations from all around the world.

Follow these instructions to connect TuneIn to Amazon Alexa.

1. Launch the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.

2. Along the bottom of the screen, tap the “Play’ tab.

3. Scroll to “TuneIn Local Radio” and tap its accompanying “Browse” link.

4. To explore stations in your local area, tap “Local Radio” and then select “See All.”

Alternatively, you can go with the majority and explore the most popular radio stations.

If you have a specific station in mind, you can search for this station by typing its name into the “Search” field.

5. When you find a station you want to enjoy live, tap it and specify the Alexa-enabled device where you want to stream this station. Alexa will start playing your chosen station.

Want to increase the volume or pause the station? You can control the listening experience using the banner that appears along the bottom of the Amazon Alexa app.

Also read: 7 Easy Fixes for Common Amazon Echo Dot Problems

Playing a specific station: names, frequency and call letters

Do you have a specific station in mind? If you know the station’s name, frequency, or call letters, you can drop into this station using a voice command:

• “Alexa, play the station (station name) on TuneIn.“
• “Alexa, play the station (station frequency) on TuneIn.”
• “Alexa, play the station (call letters) on TuneIn.”

The nearest Alexa-enabled device will now start playing your chosen station.

Discover the latest podcasts

Eagle-eyed readers may have already spotted some podcasts lurking among TuneIn’s user interface! You can explore and stream a wide range of podcastsusing Alexa’s TuneIn integration:

1. Along the bottom of the Amazon Alexa app, tap “Play.”

2. Scroll to “TuneIn Local Radio” and tap its accompanying “Browse” link.

3. Find “This week’s top 25 podcasts” and tap the “See all” link. You can now browse all of the available podcasts.

4. When you spot a podcast that catches your eye, give it a tap.

5. Find the episode you want to play and tap it to select it.

6. When prompted, select the Alexa-enabled device where you want to play this episode.

If you’re struggling to browse TuneIn’s offerings via the Amazon Alexa app, you may find it easier to explore TuneIn’s catalog via your web browser.

Alternatively, if you already have a specific podcast in mind, you can play that podcast’s most recent episode using a voice command. Simply say: “Alexa play the podcast (name),” and any Alexa-enabled device within earshot will start playing the specified podcast.

Want more podcasts? Introducing AnyPod

TuneIn has a large library of content, but what if that doesn’t include your all-time favorite podcast? Or perhaps you’re a podcast fanatic who’s always eager to discover new content?

You can access even more podcasts by enabling Alexa’s AnyPod skill. Simply say: “Alexa, enable AnyPod skill.” Alternatively, you can enable AnyPod via the Amazon Alexa app:

1. Launch the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.

2. Tap the “More” icon in the app’s bottom-right corner.

3. Select “Skills & Games.”

4. Tap the “Search” icon.

5. Search for the “AnyPod” skill and select it when it appears.

6. Tap “Enable To Use.”

7. Review the data and features that this skill will have access and tap “Agree” to proceed.

Once AnyPod is enabled, you can interact with it using any of the following voice commands:

• Play a podcast. “Alexa, ask AnyPod to play (podcast name).”
• Play a specific episode. “Alexa, ask AnyPod to play episode (number) of (podcast name).”
• Play the most recent episode. “Alexa, ask AnyPod for the newest episode of (podcast name).”
• Skip to the next or previous episode. “Alexa, play the (next/previous) episode.”

Exploring AnyPod via the web browser

Want to browse all the different categories, series and episodes that AnyPod has to offer? After enabling this skill, you may find it easier to explore AnyPod’s catalog via the AnyPod website:

1. Log into the AnyPod website using your Amazon credentials.

2. In the upper-right corner, click the hamburger menu.

3. Select “Search podcasts.”

4. You can now search for a podcast by name, or you may want to enter a few keywords that represent the kind of content you’re interested in, such as “comedy,” “true crime,” or “technology.”

You can browse all the podcasts that match your search query and view more information about any podcast that captures your interest.

As you can see, it is easy to integrate TuneIn with Alexa and instantly access to multiple radio stations in minutes. Alternatively, you can connect Spotify or Apple Music to Alexa and listen to your favorite playlist in your Echo. Or if you prefer to listen to a book, connect Audible instead.