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What Does The RDS Info Say On The GTA Stations That Use It?
I've been familiar with RDS for a long time, but rarely get to see it. It's not in my new car and I barely listen to anything on FM, anyway. In case you're not familiar with it, RDS stands for Radio Data System and enables a station to send out information that can be read on your radio screen - name of song, artist, station slogan and more.
It's useful if you tune in a song you're not familiar with and want to know what it's called and who does it, without having to bother with Shazam.
So what does the RDS of various Toronto and area stations say? I have a radio that displays the info and decided for the first time in years to tune around the FM dial and see who's displaying what. If a station isn't listed, it's because they don't use it or weren't when I tuned in.
There are a few odd examples in this list, which I've highlighted in bold.
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88.1 Indie FM: “88.1 Toronto’s New Alternative + song title and artist."
89.5 CIUT: “CIUT-FM, The Sound of Your City.”
90.3 CJBC-FM (French Music): “Ici Music + song title and artist.”
91.9 CJRT: “Jazz FM 91.1 – Discover Music”
91.9 CHIN-FM: “CHIN 1- FM”
92.5 KISS-FM: “The Biggest Hits, The Best Throwbacks, Kiss 92.5.” This one gets special mention because it’s one of the few rockers that doesn’t display the song and the artist. I have no idea why they don’t.
94.1 CBL-FM (CBC Music): “CBC Music.” No titles or artist
96.3 CFMZ – “The New Classical 96.3 FM + song artist and title." The only one to offer weather text when in a commercial break.
97.3 CHBM (Boom) – “97.3 + song title and artist on Boom”
97.7 CHTZ: “Southern Ontario’s Best Rock 97.7 HTZ-FM + song title and artist on 97.7”
98.1 CHFI – “98.1 CHFI Toronto’s Perfect Music Mix + song title and artist”
98.7- CKFG: “Groove + Disc Jockey name”
99.1 CBLA-FM (CBC Radio 1): “CBC Radio One + show title (and host where applicable)"
99.9 CKFM: “Song title and artist on 99.9 Virgin Radio”
100.7 CHIN-FM: “CHIN-FM”
102.1 CFNY: "Song title + artist." (On the morning I checked this out, there was a weird text that followed the record info. It read: “C27A + Sunday +08/20/23 +15151.” I have no idea what that last part is supposed to mean.
103.5 CIDC-FM (aka Z103.5): Radio indicates it has RDS, but nothing was displayed.
104.5 CHUM-FM: “Artist + title on CHUM 104.5.” During spots: “CHUM-FM 104.5 Make Toronto Pop!”
105.1 CHOQ-FM: “CHOQ-FM”
105.5 CHRY-FM (aka VIBE 105
: “Vibe 105”
106.5 CFPT-FM (aka ELMNT-FM): "Song title + artist" only
107.1 CILQ (aka Q107): “Q107 – Toronto’s Rock Station + artist and title.”
- RadioAaron
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Re: What Does The RDS Info Say On The GTA Stations That Use It?
RadioActive wrote:
92.5 KISS-FM: “The Biggest Hits, The Best Throwbacks, Kiss 92.5.” This one gets special mention because it’s one of the few rockers that doesn’t display the song and the artist. I have no idea why they don’t.
They were running a syndicated or mix-show that's delivered in pre-produced segments.
RDS now playing info is usually supplied by the meta-data in audio files from their automation, but wouldn't exist in this case.
Last edited by RadioAaron (August 20, 2023 6:04 pm)
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102.1 CFNY: "Song title + artist." (On the morning I checked this out, there was a weird text that followed the record info. It read: “C27A + Sunday +08/20/23 +15151.” I have no idea what that last part is supposed to mean.
"C27A" might be the hexadecimal "PI" code for the call letters CFNY. I programmed RDS encoders for several stations, and each station had its own unique code, calculated using a special spreadsheet which, if I remember correctly, was provided by the Communications Research Centre.
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92.5 KISS-FM: “The Biggest Hits, The Best Throwbacks, Kiss 92.5.” This one gets special mention because it’s one of the few rockers that doesn’t display the song and the artist. I have no idea why they don’t.
They were running a syndicated or mix-show that's delivered in pre-produced segments.
RDS now playing info is usually supplied by the meta-data in audio files from their automation, but wouldn't exist in this case.
Thanks for the info. As noted, this was what came across the screen at the time I was looking. It's certainly possible they do it differently during the week or in other shows.
102.1 CFNY: "Song title + artist." (On the morning I checked this out, there was a weird text that followed the record info. It read: “C27A + Sunday +08/20/23 +15151.” I have no idea what that last part is supposed to mean.
"C27A" might be the hexadecimal "PI" code for the call letters CFNY. I programmed RDS encoders for several stations, and each station had its own unique code, calculated using a special spreadsheet which, if I remember correctly, was provided by the Communications Research Centre.
This must have been a mistake then. I can't believe they wanted that to show on the screen. It means nothing to the average listener.
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Thread Starter- mace
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What about the Buffalo stations? At least the few that are still available here.
- RadioActive
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The only one I can still get clearly on the radio with the RDS is K-Love at 102.5 (the former WTSS.) They weren't using it.
Perhaps one of our Buffalo members - and we have a few - can fill in those blanks.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Depending on what part of the city I am in, the commercial stations I can receive are 98,5, 103.3 and 104.1. My car doesn't have HD capability. it is a 17 year old Camry.
- Bristol
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RadioActive wrote:92.5 KISS-FM: “The Biggest Hits, The Best Throwbacks, Kiss 92.5.” This one gets special mention because it’s one of the few rockers that doesn’t display the song and the artist. I have no idea why they don’t.
92.5 KiSS-FM a Rocker? Did they change format and drop Contemporary Hit Radio? When did this happen?
Last edited by Bristol (August 21, 2023 11:10 am)
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I was using it in a generic way, as in not country or hip hop or any of the many other genres that are out there. They play the hits but at the time I was checking, they weren't providing artists or song names. As RadioAaron has pointed out, they may have been in the middle of some syndicated programming that did not provide the info.
I have nothing against RDS per se, but it's just another distraction in the car. If you're looking at the screen scroll, which does not move very quickly, you can't be looking at the road. That can't be a good thing.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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It's not in my new car and I barely listen to anything on FM
It's not in your new car? Huh? It's a very basic feature. Perhaps it needs to be activated?
No, it only has HD. I've checked. And since I'm not a heavy user of FM, I don't really miss it.
But the Mazda 3 entertainment system/radio leaves a lot to be desired on both bands. I've read a lot of reviews since buying the car and almost all the critics have cited the thing as being subpar. It's overly complicated, with this insane circular joystick-like control (they call it a "Commander") for going through a menu of stations. But while it looks high tech, it's not user friendly. And I'd take the latter any day.
It makes me miss my 16-year-old previous Mazda 3, which was simplicity itself - a knob for changing the station, another for increasing the volume and a third to turn it off. (I never really used the latter!) Sometimes, the latest bells and whistles for the sake of technology isn't necessarily a good thing. Or maybe I'm just old fashioned.
But designing something that takes your eyes off the road to use it is just plain stupid in my opinion. And I wish I had my old radio back!
Hopefully, they'll hear the call and get it right in the future, RDS or not.
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Thread Starter- canam2021
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Re: What Does The RDS Info Say On The GTA Stations That Use It?
88.7 WBFO Program Info Changes according to program
92.9 WBUF Buffalo's Real Rock
93.7 WBLK Power 93.7 The People's Station
94.5 WNED Classical Selection
96.1 WTSS Ads + "DJ" on The new star 96.1
96.9 WGRF 97 Rock + Song Info
98.5 WKSE on air "DJ" - Kiss 98.5FM
101.7 WLOF No RDS
102.5 WBKV "Program Info" K-Love
103.3 WEDG "Song Info" WEDG
104.1 WHTT "Song Info" WHTT
106.5 WYRK Ads + Artist Song Title WYRK
107.7 WLKK Ads + Artist Song Title WLKK
The PI code is used by many FM Dxers to identify stations. The Worldwide TV-FM DX
Association (WTFDA) has a database with FM station PI Information.
SDR (computer radio receiver) software shows the PI code in their RDS displays.
Last edited by canam2021 (August 21, 2023 3:57 pm)
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Interesting to know. Thanks for taking the time and trouble!
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Thread Starter- haydenmatthews14
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Re: What Does The RDS Info Say On The GTA Stations That Use It?
88.7 WBFO Program Info Changes according to program
92.9 WBUF Buffalo's Real Rock
93.7 WBLK Power 93.7 The People's Station
94.5 WNED Classical Selection
96.1 WTSS Ads + "DJ" on The new star 96.1
96.9 WGRF 97 Rock + Song Info
98.5 WKSE on air "DJ" - Kiss 98.5FM
101.7 WLOF No RDS
102.5 WBKV "Program Info" K-Love
103.3 WEDG "Song Info" WEDG
104.1 WHTT "Song Info" WHTT
106.5 WYRK Ads + Artist Song Title WYRK
107.7 WLKK Ads + Artist Song Title WLKK
The PI code is used by many FM Dxers to identify stations. The Worldwide TV-FM DX
Association (WTFDA) has a database with FM station PI Information.
SDR (computer radio receiver) software shows the PI code in their RDS displays.
My 2012 Mazda 2 does not have RDS but my Mom’s 2017 GMC Terrain Denali has RDS but does not fit the whole text in when listing to the Toronto or Buffalo stations.