Amazon’s Echos make some fantastic music devices, thanks to designs that often focus on 360-degree sound and ideal placement for filling rooms with tunes, whether you like rocking out while cleaning the house, organizing a party or by creating an atmosphere in a company. If that sounds like you, we’ll help you find the best ways to get music stations with the Alexa voice assistant and which station skills you should try.

Note that many speakers and soundbars are Alexa-enabled beyond Echo devices, so these tips should work with them as long as Alexa is built-in.

Already have a favorite streaming service?

The good news is that Alexa can probably play it right from your Echo or another speaker. If you are heading towards Settings in the Alexa app, you can choose Music and podcaststhen change your Default Services. Alexa is compatible with a variety of popular services including Apple Music, Pandora, SiriusXM, Tidal and others. Just sign in with your account information and the Alexa app will use the service as your default music whenever you want to play something. It can save you a lot of hassle — our guide to listening to Apple Music with Alexa has more information.

How do you find Alexa’s own radio stations?

You might be wondering which music stations a voice assistant like Alexa can play or which music stations are free on Alexa so you don’t need to have a subscription. That brings us to Alexa Skills, Alexa Mini-Apps, and Compatibility Packages that allow the voice assistant to offer all sorts of additional content. These are the skills we will focus on in our main recommendations.

Do you have a favorite radio?

If you already have a favorite local – or not-so-local – station, you might be able to save a lot of time by just asking Alexa to play it. You can either call the station by its full name or refer to it by its code, for example “Alexa, play radio WE 102.9”.

Alexa will automatically search for an Internet version of that station (Echoes don’t come with tuners), apply any skills necessary to activate it, and start playing. This is a great option if you already know exactly which station you have in mind. If not, we have some suggestions for you!

Radio Paradise

Radio Paradise lets you let go of the wheel and trust the skill of playing some of the latest and greatest music, curated by professional DJs who choose from all kinds of genres. This makes it a perfect choice for background music, but it’s also fun to just turn it on and see what’s playing. We love this option for finding new favorite bands and checking out what latest music is making waves in a number of different genres.

Radio MyTuner

MyTuner Radio is a popular option for accessing worldwide FM and AM radio stations in their online formats. It’s a great choice if you like listening to international music or news straight from stations in Europe, Asia or Australia. It also has access to popular stations such as NPR News, Radio Disney, ESPN Radio, etc. This makes it a great general choice, even for those uninterested in international genres.

FM Roots

There are countless radio stations available to listen to classic rock, many with online components, but if you’re looking for one to start with, we highly recommend The Roots FM. It’s a popular choice and specializes in capable DJs and a catalog of songs that goes far beyond the top 100 classic rock tracks that so many stations play.

Classical mixed radio

Few other station skills cover as many eras as Classic Mix Radio, which plays popular tunes from the 60s to today. It’s a great choice if you enjoy the most popular tracks from all eras, starting with The Beatles. They also have special music shows for deployed US Armed Forces.

deep house

Deep House plays all Deep House, all the time. It’s one of Alexa’s top picks for those looking for an electronic station to pulsate to and would prefer to have several songs include vocals or remixes along the way. Find something new and share it with your friends.

The genius (93.5)

This Louisville-based little gem plays a wide variety of popular music and keeps things “clean,” so it’s one of the best skills for family businesses like restaurants and the like. There are also live DJs every night.

Hard Rock Hell Radio

Alexa’s hard rock stations don’t get any better than Hard Rock Hell, which streams a wide variety of hard rock content from America, the UK, and beyond. If you enjoy listening to the hottest hard rock and metal bands and finding new bands to follow, this is definitely a skill to try.

give me metal

This station offers some hard bits for metalheads, and does it well. It’s an especially good choice for those who love their music and want to find new bands, as the hand-picked songs attempt to keep up with the latest genre sensations.

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