WRAL News Launches On Google Home

Capitol Broadcasting’s NBC affiliate WRAL Raleigh, N.C. (DMA 24), is now making its news available on Google Home, making it the first local news station in the country to provide a service on the Google Assistant platform, according to the station.

The WRAL News service for Google Home offers users the top headlines read by WRAL’s anchors and reporters, and the latest weather forecast for the Triangle region of North Carolina from WRAL’s team of expert meteorologists.

Launched in November 2016, Google Home is a hands-free, always-on speaker that responds to voice commands known as “actions,” and delivers information requested by the user through interaction with Google’s voice service, Google Assistant.

Much like Apple’s “Siri” and Amazon’s “Alexa,” the Google Assistant is a cloud-based virtual personal assistant that provides voice feedback to user interaction.

The WRAL News action for Google Home joins the WRAL News skill for Amazon Echo in the Raleigh-based news company’s suite of voice-only apps.

“When Google announced the Home, we knew that Alexa was going to face some stiff competition,” said Jake Seaton, digital product manager for WRAL.com. “We also knew, much like the Amazon Echo, that the Home was a place where WRAL needed to be.”

The WRAL News service does not require installation, nor does it need to be enabled. Every Google Home user can request the service by simply “talking to” WRAL.