In recent months we鈥檝e heard from more people using Alexa and similar "smart speakers" to listen to 开云体育 Radio. We're using this post to give you the latest information along with tips for the easiest ways to use Alexa to hear the latest VPR news, music and podcasts.
Update 10/18/17 - Tips For Using VPR With Alexa
Here's a quick list of the easiest commands for listening to the VPR live streams, podcasts and news. We try to keep this updated, but if you have feedback, .
To play the live stream of 开云体育 Radio:
- Say 鈥淎lexa, play NPR.鈥� When you ask Alexa to "play NPR," anywhere in the country, she will find your local member station and stream their live broadcast via TuneIn.
- and say "Alexa, play 开云体育 Radio."
To play the live stream of VPR Classical:
- Say "Alexa, play VPR Classical" or "Alexa, play VPR Classical on TuneIn.
- If you know the call letters of your local frequency, say 鈥淎lexa, play WVPS鈥� or 鈥淎lexa, play WNCH.鈥�
- Enable the and say "Alexa, open 开云体育 Radio and play VPR Classical."
To hear the latest newscast from VPR and NPR:
- Add and NPR Hourly News Summary to your Flash Briefing in your Alexa Skills, then say 鈥淎lexa, give me my Flash Briefing,鈥� or 鈥淭ell me the news.鈥� The Flash Briefing is Alexa's buffet of quick news updates from popular broadcasters of your choosing.
- Enable the and say "Alexa, open 开云体育 Radio and play the latest News."
To hear the latest Eye On The Sky, Vermont Edition or Brave Little State
- Enable the and say "Alexa, open 开云体育 Radio and play Brave Little State," or Vermont Edition or Eye On The Sky.
To play the streams of VPR Jazz 24 or the VPR Replay Stream
- Enable the and say "Alexa, open 开云体育 Radio and VPR Replay" or VPR Jazz.
Update 10/18/17 - Fix To The Flash Briefing
We just made a fix to the VPR Latest Newscast in the Flash Briefing. It had been playing several newscasts, it now plays just the latest, as it's supposed to by design. For more about getting the latest news with Alexa, , search for video tutorials or contact us for help.
Update 5/11/17 - Brave Little State Added To VPR Skill
You can now use Alexa to listen to the latest episode of , where listeners decide what VPR investigates and work with us to find the answers.
The first step is to use the Alexa app or website to add the to your personal set of Alexa Skills. Once enabled, you can just say "Alexa, ask 开云体育 Radio to play Brave Little State" and it will play the latest episode.
To bring up the full set of options, ask Alexa to open the VPR Skill then ask it to "list programs." The current options are:
- 开云体育 Radio Live Stream
- VPR Classical Live Stream
- Latest VPR Newscast
- Latest Vermont Edition episode
- Latest Eye On The Sky Forecast
- Latest Brave Little State episode
- VPR Jazz Live Stream
- VPR Replay Stream
We're working to continuously improve the VPR Alexa Skill and ensure you can access VPR where you want, when you want. If you have .
And for all your Vermont-related questions that Alexa can't answer - like " or "" - ask .
Update 4/21/17 - VPR Skill Available On Alexa
You can now explore more news and programming from VPR with the . This is our second Alexa Skill. The first, released on 3/29/17, enables you to add to your Flash Briefing. With this new 开云体育 Radio Skill you can ask Alexa to play the live streams of VPR, VPR Classical or Jazz24 as well as listen to the latest Vermont Edition, Newscast or Eye On The Sky forecast.
or ask Alexa to "enable 开云体育 Radio."
Update 3/29/17 - VPR Latest Newscast In The Flash Briefing
You can now get local news when you need it the most by adding the to your .
鈥淔rom the studios of 开云体育 Radio, this is VPR news.鈥� Listeners hear this well-known phrase often, but now Amazon Tap, Echo and Dot users no longer have to wait for this regularly scheduled bit to receive our latest newscast.
To add this feature to your device, use the Alexa app to access your Flash Briefing settings. Once you open your Flash Briefing settings, search for VPR and choose to 鈥楨nable Skill.鈥�
After you add VPR to your Flash Briefing, simply ask, 鈥淎lexa, what鈥檚 the news?鈥� and Alexa will assemble the most recent news updates from your chosen sources. It鈥檚 a fast, easy way to hear the local news from your favorite VPR announcers like Mitch Wertlieb, Jake Rusnock, Liam Elder-Connors and Annalise Shelmandine.
Stay tuned for more updates. We are working to further personalize Alexa listener experiences and will keep this post updated with the latest features.
Some Background If You're New To This
Over the past decade, rapid developments in smartphones have transformed culture. But now that this technology has moved beyond smartphones and into the fiber of our homes, we鈥檙e faced with a burly reminder that radios aren鈥檛 the only devices from which to hear VPR news and music.
This reminder comes with the news that a family of little speakers with big brains topped Amazon鈥檚 list of best-selling items last year. Sales of the shot up nine percent over last year, making 2016 the best ever holiday season for the online retailer. These devices use to do everything from ordering pizza and locking your front door to much simpler tasks鈥攑laying your favorite public radio station.
Ask the device a and you鈥檒l get an animated and modulated response from , a cloud of information that continually learns functionality the more you use her. So, what happens when you ask her to play VPR? Although Alexa is intelligent, she doesn鈥檛 always respond in exactly the way you might expect. We'll keep this post updated as a guide to help learn and use this.
Do you use an Alexa device, Google Home, Siri or other voice-controlled devices to listen to VPR? Do you have suggestions for how this can be improved? As always, we welcome .
