Siri Will Not Play NPR on HomePod

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Level 1

41 points

Siri Will Not Play NPR on HomePod

I updated my HomePod to version 13.2.1 yesterday. Now I am unable to play my local NPR station.

I used to be able to say, "Hey Siri, play station WBEZ Chicago" or some other phrasing such as "play station NPR news, WBEZ Chicago." Now Siri tells me that station can't be created or that it is not found in my music. I don't have an Apple Music subscription and I didn't need one to play NPR in the past.

I have tried every combination of phrasing I can think of at this point, but I can't get the live feed of my local NPR station to play like I used to before the update.

Any ideas how to fix this?

I am able to get the five minute or so news update from NPR, but not the live feed.

HomePod, iOS 13

Posted on Nov 4, 2019 2:07 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bsimpson83

Level 1

41 points

Nov 5, 2019 1:49 AM in response to dl30

For some reason, Homepods running 13.2.1 don’t seem to want to play radio stations if you have ‘recognise my voice’ switched on.

Try going into the Home App and disabling it for all users. Once done, you should be able to connect to your local radio station as before.

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Answer 2

dl30 Author

Level 1

41 points

Nov 6, 2019 8:04 AM in response to Bsimpson83

Thank you! This fixed the my problem.

I also tried some other phrasing that I had not thought of and was able to get it to play saying the station name and FM channel number, so "play WBEZ 91.5." Though this is not always consistent and sometimes Siri insists that the station cannot be created or that it cannot be fount in my music.

Looks like turning off the recognize my voice feature is the best fix, though I would like to be able to keep this feature on.

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Answer 3

Garyfiz

Level 1

45 points

Nov 6, 2019 8:32 AM in response to dl30

Hi Dl30

tunein is as the app tunein radio.

I believe it is now the default radio player for Siri on the HomePod. Please note the BBC

decided to withdraw from tunein

just days before it went live as the radio player for the homepod

so no BBC stations are available.

Check the wording for the stream

or channel you want on the tunein app.

Garyfiz

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Answer 4

dl30 Author

Level 1

41 points

Nov 6, 2019 9:16 AM in response to Garyfiz

Thanks for the clarification. I see on tunein that the NPR station I want to listen to is called "Chicago Public Radio." I will have to try that when I get home.

I used to say the phrases that are outlined on NPR's website here: https://www.npr.org/about-npr/609066636/listening-to-npr-with-siri

But of course that phrasing no longer works.

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Answer 5

Nov 6, 2019 10:40 AM in response to dl30

I went through Apple Support and regained radio stations by turning off voice recognition. But by doing so I’ve lost the capability to send texts, answer the phone, make calls etc because HomePod no longer knows who I am. I’m hoping for another software update soon to bring back capabilities that have been lost.

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Answer 6

dl30 Author

Level 1

41 points

Nov 7, 2019 12:41 PM in response to dl30

I tried saying the station exactly as it appears on tunein, but it did not work. I'll have to try turingtest2's suggestion next.

I can get the station to play by saying the numbers only, but now I have run into a new problem. When the station plays it cuts out for about 15 seconds every few minutes. I have no idea how to fix this. Seems like something that needs to be corrected on Apple's end.

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Answer 7

Nov 8, 2019 7:54 PM in response to dl30

I've actually never been able to get Siri to play ANY of the NPR stations, no matter how it's phrased. I tried again and again over the last two years and it has always just refused or played something completely wrong - usually an NPR podcast.

IMO this is the dumbest thing about HomePod, how it can't do basic things every other home assistant does easily. Like, just fix that instead of adding 900 new features to the Reminders app...

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