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Westwood One Brings the Winter Olympics to Amazon Alexa

Westwood One Sports Alexa skill provides daily live broadcast, highlights and hockey from PyeongChang, South Korea

NEW YORK, NY, February 9, 2018Westwood One, the largest radio network in the U.S. and the leader in live play-by-play sports, will broadcast live from the Winter Olympics in PyeongChange, South Korea through Amazon Alexa between February 9-25, 2018. The Westwood One Sports Alexa skill is available now with short interview clips of U.S. Olympians. This evening the Alexa skill will transmit the first of 17 Today in PyeongChang live broadcasts from the games.

Amazon Alexa users can access the Winter Olympics content by saying, “Alexa, open Westwood One Sports.” They will then be offered the opportunity to listen live if a live broadcast is underway, hear the most recent live broadcast on demand, or listen to summary highlights from the day. Westwood One collaborated with XAPPmedia to launch the Westwood One Alexa skill in time for the Olympic Games opening ceremonies on February 9th.

“The Olympic Games captivate all of us, and Westwood One Sports has broadcast every Olympics since 1988. This year we are bringing the Olympic pageantry and competitive spirit to Amazon Alexa users for the very first time,” said Suzanne Grimes, EVP, Corporate Marketing, Cumulus and President, Westwood One. “Smart speakers are bringing radio back into the home and Westwood One is enabling listeners to catch up with the latest Olympics news and play-by-play from hockey, speed skating, figure skiing, Alpine skiing, and more. Just say, ‘Alexa, open Westwood One Sports,’ to get started.”

“The Olympics are exactly the type of programming that Alexa users will love to access hands-free while cooking, driving, working, or just relaxing. Voice assistants like Alexa are designed to instantly offer up content and information anytime a user has a few minutes to spare. The Alexa skill design will make it easy to get Olympic information anytime by simply requesting it by voice. You don’t need to run to pull up the internet, pick up your smartphone, or tune the dial. Thirty-nine million Americans can just ask Alexa for the Olympics from Westwood One Sports,” said Pat Higbie, CEO and co-founder of XAPPmedia.

About Westwood One Sports

Westwood One Sports is home to some of the most exciting sports broadcasts on radio and has been the official U.S. radio broadcaster of every Olympics since 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. In addition, Westwood One partners with NBCUniversal for the Triple Crown and the NHL, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Westwood One is also the exclusive network radio partner to the NFL since 1987, covering the regular season, the post- season, and the Super Bowl. Westwood One also broadcasts NCAA Football; NCAA Basketball–including the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tournaments and the Final Four; The Masters; and other marquee sports events. Westwood One also distributes NBC Sports Radio. On social media, join the Westwood One Sports community on Facebook at westwoodonesports and Twitter @westwood1sports. For more information, visit www.westwoodonesports.com.

About Westwood One

Westwood One, the national-facing arm of Cumulus Media, offers iconic, nationally syndicated sports, news and entertainment content to 245 million listeners each week across an audio network of 8,000 affiliated broadcast radio stations and media partners. Westwood One is the largest audio broadcast network in America, home to premium content that defines the culture, including the NFL, the NCAA, the Masters, the Olympics, Westwood One Backstage, the GRAMMYs, the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards and the American Music Awards. The rapidly growing Westwood One Podcast Network delivers popular network and industry personalities and programs. Westwood One connects listeners with their passions through programs and platforms that have everyone listening. For more information please visit www.westwoodone.com.
About XAPPmedia
XAPPmedia® is the leader in delivering interactive voice experiences for brands and media that create direct consumer connections through voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana. More than 700 voice apps have been launched using XAPP’s One Voice AITM software platform that accelerates voice app production, provides multi-assistant publishing from a single code base and is incorporated into a high availability managed service for media and brands. XAPPmedia was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Washington, DC. One Voice AITM and Voice RadioTM  are trademarks of XAPPmedia, Inc. Learn more at https://xappmediaai.wpengine.com.

 

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