Google Home regional radio streaming

[IanR55]

My Home device won’t play the correct regional variant of Greatest Hits Radio, it defaults to Hereford whereas I’m in Kent. 
Home address is set and correct. 
When asking it to stream the station from GlobalPlayer even specifying for example “Kent” it defaults to Hereford. 
I’ve seen a closed 2022 thread with the same question but it was never resolved. 

[WilliamW2057]

Hey mate. Do you know if your station is available on Google Home devices? If it is try saying the full name or its FM band.

e.g. “Hey Google, Play 95.3” or “Hey Google, play SmoothFM Sydney (I used this station as it works with Google and is a popular station in my area.)

[IanR55]

• We always specify “stream Greatest Hits Radio from Global player” I don’t believe adding the region to that command works but will try it. Thanks!

[WilliamW2057]

Hi! Has this worked for you?

[IanR55]

 Nope  it still insists on playing a random regional station variation l, recently it’s defaults to playing the Scottish version so all ads, news, weather etc or for Scotland! Is the region determined by the Hone device, internet, or some other setting?? In settings the home address is correct for where I live. 

[Alex_S]

Hi everyone,
 

We appreciate your input here, WilliamW2057.
 

IanR55, how did it go? Also, were you able to stream Greatest Hits Radio before? Have you tried asking Google Assistant on your phone to listen to Greatest Hits Radio and see if it works?

Regards,
Alex

[IanR55]

See my reply to William, my Home device now plays a different region, specifying “Kent”, which is a definite regional variation doesn’t work and the region it plays varies so saying “play Greatest Hits radio Kent ( or in Kent, or from Kent) makes no difference it just picks a random region. Where is the home region specified if not in the Google home device?

[Juni]

Hi IanR55,

There are multiple ways to play radio stations on your Nest speakers. Check out the sample commands below: 

Listen to the closest radio station by name, call-sign, or frequency:

Note: Premium online radio streaming requires a subscription (available in the US and Canada only).

• "Play [radio station name]"
• "Play [radio station call-sign]"
• "Play [radio station frequency]"
• "Play [radio station] on [radio service]"

Listen to a radio station in another location:

• "Play [radio station name] in [location]"
• "Play [radio station frequency] [location]"

Check out the helpful link below to know more about it.

Listen to radio on your Google Nest speaker or display

Regards,

Juni

[IanR55]

I have tried all those options and it won’t recognise and play the specified regional station. 
However, I have been experimenting with how the home address is configured in the Home settings, once I’ve tried a few different ways of completing the address fields I will report back. Suffice to say its frustrating to have to listen to local weather and news for a community that is hundreds of miles away! The weather and news in Scotland is very different to that in Kent (SE UK). 

[Juni]

Hi there,

We hear you — we can understand why you feel that way. Let us know the result by updating this thread. We are here to help you.

Thanks,

Juni

[IanR55]

Update, I have found that by asking to stream a particular regional variation from TuneIn can make it play the Kent variation. However I suppose the real question is how does my Google Home decide which regional variation to play if there’s nothing specified other than “Play the particular station name”? Where does it get its information from to determine that I live in a particular region? Is it tied to the ISP’s server location? Which can be one of several located anywhere in the UK and can/does change with each connection (maybe)?

[Juni]

Hello IanR55,

I’m glad that worked for you. If a speaker or display doesn’t play the requested radio station, be more specific with the voice command or ask for the station in a different way. You can try to search by name, frequency, or call sign. If the wrong radio station plays when you use a station’s frequency in your voice command, you can try to add the name of a nearby city. Example: "Play 101.9 FM LA"

Thanks,

Juni