diff --git a/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml b/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml
index 2b18270..e04f81e 100644
--- a/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml
+++ b/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml
@@ -174,8 +174,17 @@ spec:
               value: "120"
             - name: Speech__Alignment__Enabled
               value: "true"
+            - name: Speech__Alignment__Backend
+              # speaches container on BLUEJAY-WS speaks the OpenAI-compatible
+              # /v1/audio/transcriptions contract; FasterWhisperAlignmentClient
+              # adapts the verbose_json response into the FlowerCore shape.
+              # Switch to "fc-align" once a native /align backend is deployed.
+              value: "openai-compatible"
             - name: Speech__Alignment__BaseUrl
               value: "http://10.0.56.20:9200"
+            - name: Speech__Alignment__Model
+              # Tag understood by speaches (faster-whisper-server).
+              value: "Systran/faster-whisper-base.en"
             - name: Speech__Alignment__TimeoutSeconds
               value: "120"
             - name: TtsReader__Ollama__BaseUrl