NPR Debuts Alexa Routines

NPR and Amazon have partnered to create three Alexa Routines to connect Alexa users to public radio. The new Routines use the new custom routine templates Amazon created for developers and revealed at Alexa Live this year to streamline how users integrate skills into their lives.

NPR Routine

The routines require enabling the NPR Alexa skill. Once that’s done, users can find the routines on the Alexa skill store as a QR code that emeds the routine on their Alexa app to officially approve. The most complex of the routines is called Wake up with NPR, which turns off a morning alarm then activates Alexa to read the date and weather, then transition to the NPR news skill. The other two routines include Start my day with NPR, which causes Alexa to respond to “Alexa, start my day,” by playing the weather before playing NPR, and PR on Schedule, while allows users to set a time when the news from NPR will automatically start playing. Any of the routines can then be further customized by the user to connect with smart lights or other tasks.

“We built these experiences because we know our listeners love getting the news in the morning as they prepare for the day,”

“[F]or a lot of our listeners, voice assistants like Alexa are the new bedside and kitchen radios. They use Alexa to tune in to their local NPR member station, catch up on the news with our visual newscast, and unlock NPR with NPR One, our signature on-demand experience that gives listeners a blend of local and national reporting from NPR and their local member station,” NPR’s lead developer for the routines Kaivon Jones. “This year, we’ve adopted the Alexa Routines Kit to help our listeners access their favorite NPR content as part of their daily habits. We’ve made pre-built Routines so users don’t need to create them on their own. All they need to do is respond with their voice when offered. I wanted to share one of these routines with you today. It’s called NPR On Schedule. We built this experience because we know our listeners love getting the news in the morning as they prepare for their day. When enabled, Alexa will automatically activate on weekday mornings or whenever the listener wants to provide the date, followed by a blend of local and national reporting from NPR and your preferred member station. Better yet, the more you listen, the more personalized the experience gets.”

Follow @voicebotai   Follow @erichschwartz