Alexa, open E B I T Radio – coming soon to your smart speaker!

We’ve got some exciting news for everyone who listens at home. EB IT Radio is nearly on Alexa. We’ve built our own Alexa Skill and sent it to Amazon for certification, and we’re expecting to hear back by Friday 6 November. Once it’s approved, you’ll be able to listen on your Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show or any other Alexa device. Just say the letters:

🗣️ “Alexa, open E B I T Radio” plays the station live.
📖 “Alexa, ask E B I T Radio for Story time” plays Story time radio.
🎵 “Alexa, ask E B I T Radio what’s playing” tells you the show and song on now.

Stop, pause and resume all work, including your Echo’s buttons. We’ll announce it here, on our WhatsApp channel and on air the moment it goes live.

What else is new?

It’s been a busy few weeks behind the scenes. Here’s what’s changed for you.

🎉 Join in live
Our new On air page at ebitradio.co.uk/on-air lets you be part of the show:

Reactions: tap 🤘 🔥 👏 and everyone listening sees them float up.
Live polls: vote when the presenter asks a question.
Shout-out wall: send a message to the show. The studio checks each one before it appears.
Requests board: see what’s been asked for.

🎨 Show themes
Some shows now have their own look. While a show like The Rock Show is on, the website and apps change colour to match.

🎸 Requests that fit the show
During themed shows such as The Rock Show, you can request any song from that show’s playlist. When a presenter is live, they can still take any request.

🎵 What was that song?
Heard something you liked? Visit ebitradio.co.uk/played, or tap “What was that song?” under Now playing. You’ll see the songs we’ve just played, or you can pick a day and time from the last week. There’s a Request button next to each one.

🎙️ Listen again by show
The Podcasts page is now called Listen again. It’s grouped by show, so you can catch up on the chat and features from the shows you love. It’s talk only, so the music isn’t included.

🚗 Travel: a map, search and journey times
The Travel page now has a live map of road closures, roadworks, queues and accidents. You can also search by road or place, for example “A16” or “Kirton”. Journey times for local routes show how long the trip will take in today’s traffic.

📱 iPhone and stream fixes

iPhones: they no longer get stuck buffering at the start of each new song. If the stream stalls while the app is in the background, it restarts as soon as you open it again.
Story time radio: the same fix applies between chapters.
Playlist changes: the stream no longer cuts out when the music moves from one show’s playlist to the next.
Reconnecting: if the stream drops, the website and app keep trying for up to 3 minutes before giving up.

🔊 More even sound
Songs are now matched in volume, so one isn’t much louder than the next, and they still play exactly as they were recorded. Speech is evened out too, so quiet voices are easier to hear.

📢 Station messages
If there’s ever a problem or planned work, you’ll see a notice on the website and in the apps.

🧭 A tidier website
The menu is now in five simple groups: Listen, Shows, Join in, Local and More.

🇬🇧 Our music stream is for UK listeners
Our music licences cover the UK, so the music stream is now for listeners in the UK. Story time radio is open to everyone, wherever you are.

Listen now
🌐 Website: https://ebitradio.co.uk
📱 Listener app: https://radio.eb-it.uk/listen/
📞 Studio line: 01205 627691
✉️ Requests: studio@eb-it.uk