How to listen to WUCF on your Smart Speaker

Have a smart speaker but not sure how to experience the power of public radio on it? Learn how to unlock WUCF on various devices just by using your voice.

The algorithms used by Amazon’s Echo devices with Alexa voice recognition and Google’s Home devices with Google Assistant are very different, so the way they hear and interpret your voice commands may bring different results. And these results keep changing as we and they learn and make modifications to get more accurate results.

Choose your device:

Amazon Alexa

Google Home

Apple Homepod

AMAZON ALEXA: With a few simple commands – or “skills” – you can access the entire world of NPR: all the latest news, newest podcasts, and discussions of the day. Give some of the utterances below a try and hear NPR’s critically-acclaimed, audio-rich stories come alive on your Alexa-enabled device.

Print or download a PDF with all the NPR-friendly commands currently available on Alexa.

Here are some other general commands, as well as some specific commands for WUCF:

“Alexa, play [any public radio station’s name or call letters].”
You should be able to stream live from any public radio station in the country by saying the station name or call letters, i.e., “Alexa, play WUCF”

“Alexa, play NPR.” 
Follow the prompts to localize to WUCF. To change your station, say, "Alexa, ask NPR to change my station."

“Alexa, play the latest news from NPR.”
Hear the latest 5-minute newscast, updated every hour.

Say, "Alexa, play the podcast [Podcast Name]" to hear the most recent episode of any podcast, including our podcast Side Player Stories.

GOOGLE HOME: With a few simple utterances, you can access all WUCF has to offer. Give any of the commands below a try and hear WUCF come alive on your Google Home voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant.

Print or download a PDF with all the NPR-friendly commands currently available on Google Home.

Here are some general commands:

"OK Google, play NPR." 
This will play live radio from WUCF.

"OK Google, play [any public radio station's name or call letters]"
You should be able to stream live from any public radio station in the country by saying the station name or call letters, i.e., "OK Google, play WUCF".

"OK Google, play the latest news from NPR.”
Hear the latest 5-minute newscast, updated every hour.

"OK Google, play the podcast [Podcast Name]"
This is to hear the most recent episode of any podcast, including our podcast Side Player Stories.

APPLE HOMEPOD: Your smart speaker just got smarter. Give any of the utterances below a try and hear WUCFs come alive on your HomePod. *Note: This does not work on iPhone and iPad devices.

Print or download a PDF with all the NPR-friendly commands currently available for Siri.

Here are some commands you can try with Siri:

"Hey Siri, play the station WUCF" or "Hey Siri, play WUCF radio"
This will play live radio from WUCF.

"Hey Siri, play the station [station name or call letters]" or "Hey Siri, play [station name or call letters] radio" to hear live radio from a Member station.

"Hey Siri, play the news from NPR" to hear the latest NPR newscast, updated every hour.

"Hey Siri, play the podcast [Podcast Name]" to hear the most recent episode of any podcast, including our podcast Side Player Stories.

For additional help with using NPR on your smart speaker, you can contact NPR.

Credits:
Created by NPR's marketing creative team 

Creative Director: Billy Candela 
Senior Copywriter: Sergio Romano 
With audio mix by Josh Rogosin and original music by Ramtin Arablouei

Animation by Laundry 

Creative Director: PJ Richardson 
Managing Director: James Sweigert 
Executive Producer: Garrett Braren 
Producer: Meredith Panicara 
Edit and Sound Design: Justin Freedman 
Design and Animation: Yongmin Park, Yoojin Seol, and Xirui Liu 

Featured NPR audio clips Guy Raz on How I Built This
Korva Koleman on the NPR newscast 
Alisa Chang from “After Hurricane Katrina, Many People Found New Strength,” as featured on All Things Considered 
John Sepulveda on The California Report from KQED