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All Devices Radio on iOS 13

boston04and07

boston04and07

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2008
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I was hoping someone could clarify something I’ve been trying to figure out. Apple announced that live radio stations would be coming to HomePod (and apparently Apple Music) at WWDC. I know they said they were sourcing these stations from Radio.com and/or iHeart Radio, but did they mean that all stations on those platforms would be available to listen to?

About a week ago I tried listening to a bunch of local Boston radio stations and came up empty, but as of tonight, about half are working, so I’m wondering if this is just an issue with these stations being slowly added for Siri to recognize, or if it just means that not all local stations will be available. Any ideas?
 
I'm getting Radio X in the UK via Apple Music, don't remember this working in iOS 12, so assume it's part of this update, no idea where they're pulling the feed from though.
 
Ansath said:
I'm getting Radio X in the UK via Apple Music, don't remember this working in iOS 12, so assume it's part of this update, no idea where they're pulling the feed from though.
Click to expand...
Radio X through Siri has been working for a while as when i use my other halfs car for work which doesnt have CarPlay or DAB Radio i've been asking Siri to play Radio X and it fires up through Apple Music. Not sure if its due to the fact that i have an Apple Music subscription but it's definitely been working in iOS12.
 
bransoj said:
Radio X through Siri has been working for a while as when i use my other halfs car for work which doesnt have CarPlay or DAB Radio i've been asking Siri to play Radio X and it fires up through Apple Music. Not sure if its due to the fact that i have an Apple Music subscription but it's definitely been working in iOS12.
Click to expand...

Ohh I missed that being available in iOS 12. Never mind!
 
So it seems like a few more of my local area stations are working today that weren’t working a few days ago. Seems promising. Hopefully they’re just in the process of rolling them all out.
 
Cool. Just checked and most of my locals are available. 2 exceptions are college stations sadly that I do enjoy listening to. Hoping they add all stations and eventually the hd2 and so on substations. There are a few good ones in my area
 
Last edited:
So I’ve figured out that all of my local stations that are available on iHeart Radio are available to listen to, via Siri, both on my iOS 12 device and on my friend’s iOS 13 device. The only station that I can’t pull up currently is only available on radio.com, and not on iHeart radio. It’s WEEI 93.7 fm radio (which also has a nearby sister station playing the same content, WEEI 103.7 fm radio). It’s in Radio.com under the 93.7 callsign though.

I’ve seen news articles that mention that radio stations are coming via iHeart, TuneIn, and Radio.com, but did they actually explicitly state those three sources in the keynote? I can’t remember myself...
 
boston04and07 said:
So I’ve figured out that all of my local stations that are available on iHeart Radio are available to listen to, via Siri, both on my iOS 12 device and on my friend’s iOS 13 device. The only station that I can’t pull up currently is only available on radio.com, and not on iHeart radio. It’s WEEI 93.7 fm radio (which also has a nearby sister station playing the same content, WEEI 103.7 fm radio). It’s in Radio.com under the 93.7 callsign though.

I’ve seen news articles that mention that radio stations are coming via iHeart, TuneIn, and Radio.com, but did they actually explicitly state those three sources in the keynote? I can’t remember myself...
Click to expand...
Confirmed in the press release...
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/apple-previews-ios-13/
 
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DblHelix said:
One of my stations on Iheart is not available. KZSU 90.1 Stanford university.
Click to expand...

I’m wondering if they’re just slowly rolling all the stations out, or slowly adding them to be recognized by Siri. I can get most of my local stations on my iOS 12 devices but not all. But, since it’s advertised as an iOS 13 feature for the HomePod, which doesn’t have a beta, that means they have all summer to get everything added.
 
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Yep on iOS 13 beta they are slowly rolling these out. You can search for KISS and see a variety of KISS FM stations around the United States from iheart radio.

Others are hit or miss now from tunein and radio.com as they are slowly added. Most big cities LA, Boston, Atlanta have active ones now.
 
Anyone else check lately and seeing any stations that they know they didn't have before? The one iheart station for me missing is KZSU 90.1 SF Bay Area
 
So far missing hitzconnect radio from tune in radio. Haven’t really seen any from Tunein to be honest.
 
So at this point, there is one major Boston area radio station that I listen to that isn’t available - WEEI 93.7 (also goes under the call sign 103.7). It’s on Radio.com, but I don’t believe it’s on iHeart. Anyway, I’ve been checking it every now and then and always get the response that Siri “was unable to find” what I was looking for, with links to search in Safari and I think the Music app.

Just now, when I tried it, I got the response “Sorry, I could not help you with that on your iPhone.” Just thought it was interesting that it’s different. I haven’t had a chance to check to see if it’ll work on the HomePod, but I hope they’re not restricting some stations to HomePod use only or anything.
 
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MozMan68 said:
What is the best way to ask for a station so it works? I haven't been able to get any stations to work.
Click to expand...
The one station i've been using i've been saying "Play radio station Radio X". I used to be able to say "Play Radio X" on iOS12 but that no longer works in iOS13
 
bransoj said:
The one station i've been using i've been saying "Play radio station Radio X". I used to be able to say "Play Radio X" on iOS12 but that no longer works in iOS13
Click to expand...

I have always used ‘play Radio X’ since iOS 13 developer beta 1. Not sure why it doesn’t work for you.
 
What about a US radio station?

I've tried call letters (I imagine this is the only way since every station is different) and Siri just doesn't seem to get what I'm asking.

Thinks I'm asking for a song...corrects the "spelling" of the call letters and then doesn't find anything...

Do I just say for example, "Listen to radio station WXMU"??? Or is there something else. Can anyone give me an example of a US radio station that works for them that isn't related to Apple Music?
 
Ansath said:
I have always used ‘play Radio X’ since iOS 13 developer beta 1. Not sure why it doesn’t work for you.
Click to expand...
No idea either to be honest, i always used it previously and it worked then when i updated to the beta i tried it a few times and it never worked. I put it down to something to do with the beta and previously it worked via Apple Music i think. I then read something saying you now had to say "Play radio station......" so i tried that and it worked.
 
Only found one radio from tune in. Reported it as a bug. It doesn’t seem Apple is searching the entire directory.
 
What drives me nuts is that if I say "Play radio station WXMU," it just corrects to play WSB.

I mean, if WXMU isn't available, just say that. Don't default to some other random station.

But yeah...saying "Play radio station xxxx" seems to be the key...thank you!
 
Anyone who hasn’t tried this in a while try it. I am now seeing every radio station I search for many on both I heart radio and tune in. Sometimes only one or the other works but it is getting closer and 2 stations that were never available before are now available. Some are available on radio.com
 
I posted this within the Apple Music sub but see below:

All iheartradio, Tunein, Radio.com live radio stations have now launched and accessible through searching within the Apple Music app, Siri is hit or miss but typing in the radio station name, call sign or number should bring up all live stations.

Kiss FM
CNN
Fox News Talk
CNBC
MSNBC
NFL Radio
NBA Radio
Fox Sports Radio
Comedy Radio

Most all other local radio stations are live as well and more should continue to be added. (Tip if you can not find your station, look exactly how the station is displayed on websites iheartradio, Tunein, Radio.com) Siri still has a mind of her own, using the search function within Apple Music app is best method for now. You can Airplay to Homepod and other devices as usual once live station is located. We'll see if Siri starts recognizing more and more local stations with time.

Definitely going to devalue the SiriusXM value proposition now that Apple Music has no commercials with their music and 100K live radio stations from your iOS device/homepod or Carplay!
 
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