After one of the hardest years in a generation, people are seeking out more positive news to escape from the doom and gloom of lockdown, quarantine and self-isolation. In the past 12 months Instagram accounts dedicated to good news have seen follower counts skyrocket and Google searches for ‘good news’ spiked in April last year and have only continued to rise.

To help add some much needed positivity and cheer, leading European commercial radio operator Bauer Media Audio is curating the most positive stories that their news teams around the country are hearing about and making these stories available on demand via a new skill on Amazon Alexa devices.

“Alexa, Open Happy News”, will immediately give listeners that much needed boost and focus on the most positive stories of the day.

Listeners can expect to hear stories such as the family who spent the night in a homemade igloo, the pet therapy dog from the Lake District which is the FIRST pet to receive the animal equivalent of an OBE, how a Birmingham care home received more than 8 THOUSAND cards from all over the world for one of their residents 100th birthday.

News reader Ellie Kumar will be the ‘Happy New Correspondent’ providing us with new stories every day to lift spirits and give us a much-needed escape from the stories we a regularly hearing across the media.

Speaking about the launch, Ellie said “I am really excited to be part of this new initiative. I will be helping to collate all the good news stories that our news team come across on a daily basis. We will be delivering these ‘happy stories’ on a platform where people can listen to them whenever they feel in need of a ‘pick me up.’”

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