I recently had a frustrating experience using an internet radio station that made me question whether Alexa was “hijacking” the traffic. It’s a station I’m involved with.

Here’s what happened:

I wanted to listen to a specific radio station that uses the Amazon Radio Skills Kit. However, when I asked Alexa to play it, it instead started playing a similar “Amazon” playlist. This happened not once, but twice in a row.

To confirm my suspicions, I asked Alexa to repeat back what I had requested. On the screen, it clearly displayed the exact name of the station I wanted. Yet, Alexa persisted in playing something else. It was only on the third attempt that I finally got the correct station.

This experience raises the question: Is Alexa intentionally diverting internet radio traffic to its own platforms? While I don’t have definitive proof, it certainly raises an eyebrow.

Needless to say, I’m not planning on promoting the station’s Alexa presence on air at this time.