Jacaranda 94.2 helps break ground with radio info display trial

If you have been driving around Gauteng and noticed something cool on the dashboard with a RDS enabled car radio (or at home even) whilst listening to the adult contemporary radio station Jacaranda 94.2, this is the time you will find yourself enlightened. You may have noticed some song track and title details streaming across your radio’s display with other interesting information regarding the show currently on air and so forth slowly scrolling across the display. This is part of an important trial currently underway at Jacaranda 94.2 in conjunction with other members of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and Sentech.

The technology

The song track and title info displayed on RDS enabled car and home FM receivers is made possible with technology from the US based broadcast company BE (Broadcast Electronics) who manufacture FM and AM transmitters, among other broadcasting related products. The function is dubbed ‘DPS’, short for Dynamic Programme Service. PS or Programme Service is a defined part of the RDS specification allowing a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters representing the name of the radio station being broadcast. DPS allows a maximum of 64 characters, and the encoder arranges the text into 8 character chunks to send to the FM receivers, taking into account spaces.

This is only the beginning

The project is in a pilot phase, and the aim is to allow Sentech to offer the service to broadcasters who would like to utilize the DPS and traffic TA functions on their radios. The TA function allows you, when tuned to a station using the TA (Traffic Announcement) notification, to listen to a CD in your car, but have it interrupted when the station (Like Classic FM has been doing for over 12 years) broadcasts a traffic report. The CD should then resume playing when the traffic report is over.

So where does the data come from?

The data for the RDS encoder is derived from the radio stations studio play-out systems. In most cases today these are software applications and the challenge is in formatting the play-out system output, which may be text, xml or html, in such a way that the encoder will properly interpret the information. Software play-out systems vary according to the station’s preference, but commercial music stations generally use either RCS, Genesis or AudioVault in South Africa.

There are many possibilities using these encoders and each broadcaster would use a slightly unique combination of these, which include;

Artist and title display

TA (traffic announcement)

Messages triggered by a certain item playing

Day-parted messages (e.g. Just Plain Breakfast) displaying between certain hours
There is a further dimension to RDS called Radio Text, which allows 64 character blocks of text and is more flexible. Most car radios, however, do not support radio text. The higher end HiFi receivers often have Radio Text support, as do some cellphones which have FM radios built in like the Sony Ericsson, specifically the P990i and P1 models. Radio Text is not really covered by the trial, however Jacaranda 94.2 are making use of the facility to display some generic station info.

Thanks to Andrew Pike, the technical manager at Jacaranda 94.2 for sharing the details that made this blog post possible upon my request.

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS TO NOTE:

The trial has not been completed, no official press releases have been issued by either the RDS Subcommittee or the NAB on this matter.

This is just in trial at the moment. Official statements are still to come from NAB and the associated members doing the trial.

The technology is not new as the TA functionality has been used by ClassicFM for the past 12 years in Gauteng – the very reason why the trial was started was to allow other services access.

Community stations in the Vaal and Bloemfontein introduced the track title application in 2009
The introduction of track titles is not the main purpose of the trial but an added feature.