Voice assistants like the Google Home and Amazon Echo are all the rage these days. They allow you to control smart home products, listen to music, set timers and reminders, and search things on the internet all just by talking to them. They also deliver news updates if you know how to set it up.
Global News and our Corus Radio newstalk stations offer news updates on both the Amazon Echo and the Google Home. You can also stream our newstalk and Corus FM stations live on both devices.
If you’re lucky enough to get an Amazon Echo or a Google Home this holiday and want to set it up to listen to Global News or Corus Radio updates, here’s how.
Amazon Echo
The Amazon Echo uses “skills” in order to do specific tasks. These need to be enabled on your Echo device first before you can use them. To enable the Global News skill all you need to do is say “Alexa, open Global News.” You can also use the Amazon Alexa app or enable skills online at Amazon.ca.
Once the skill is enabled you can say “Alexa, ask Global News for the latest news” and your Echo will begin reading the latest headlines from GlobalNews.ca. If you want to hear a full story just say “Alexa, read full story” and the full story will be read.
The Corus Radio FM stations are also available on Alexa-enabled devices.
Google Home
On the Google Home side of things we offer a Global News flash briefing. You can activate this by going into the Google Home app, clicking the menu button in the top-left corner and selecting “More settings.” From here you can access the News section and add Global News as a source (it is listed under World). You can also rearrange the order the Google Home will play your news briefings when you say “Hey Google, what’s the news?”
In order to listen to one of our news talk stations you don’t need to do anything special. Just say “Hey Google, listen to A-M 6-40” or “Hey Google, listen to A-M 9-80.” You can also do this to stream Corus FM radio stations live. Saying “Hey Google, listen to edge 1-0-2” or “Hey Google, listen to Magic 1-0-6” will start streaming those stations on the fly.
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Do you use a voice assistant at home? Are you interested in receiving news updates via it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.