The consortium of 12 radio stations involved in the Sydney digital radio trial has signed a deal with Unique Interactive, the software division of British broadcaster UBC Media, to supply dynamic text services for the trials.
The service will use a web-based system to monitor and update the scrolling text that is supplied to the data screens on digital radio receivers.
Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner says: “Listeners to the pilot digital broadcasts will be able to receive song and artist information as well as the latest news, sport and weather headlines on a small screen alongside the traditional audio broadcasts.
“The ‘ManDLS’ software allows the stations to manually update any of their dynamic text messages and also links into internal systems to enable news, radio promotions and any other dynamic content, originating from the stations or elsewhere, to be used directly within the text stream.”
Playout systems such as RCS Master Control/Selector and NexGen already have the ability to stream out song info, and are regularly used to generate ‘Playing Now’ content for station websites. The new system will allow that data to be harnessed into digital radio. If you have an RDS capable receiver you will also have noticed that similar information is currently available on that system – RDS is not digital radio, but mirrors the basic text stream function that can be achieved in digital.
UBC Media is the largest independent producer of radio programming for the BBC and also has significant digital radio interests in London.
Twelve Sydney stations – Nova 969, 2GB, 2CH, 2UE, 2Day FM, 2KY, 2SM, WS-FM, ABC Classic FM, ABC dig internet radio and two SBS Radio services – began broadcasting this stage of the digital radio Sydney trials in December 2003.
Warner told radioinfo the first phase of the trials has been successful in demonstrating that digital radio broadcasts can be transmitted between two television station frequencies on the VHF spectrum without causing interference to the television broadcasts.
“This now allows us to move forward with other important aspects of the trials such as the comparative efficiency of LBand, the assessment of coverage using one transmission site, and, the all-important tests of listener and advertiser reaction to the Eureka 147 digital audio broadcasting system.”
Warner, who will be speaking on Australian and global developments in digital radio at the Australian Broadcasting Summit in Sydney on March 17, said the commercial radio industry has presented a policy position to the Federal Government and is continuing to push for the introduction of digital radio technology in Australia.
“Every communication medium is embracing the superior quality and increased capacity made possible by digital technology. If radio were the only medium not to go digital, it could seriously impact on the industry’s ability to innovate and continue to appeal to young audiences and future generations accustomed to a vast array of digital choices.”
Unique Interactive is also involved with digital radio in the UK and Canada, and has recently been contracted to supply a DAB Electronic Program Guide (EPG) channel on the digital radio multiplex in Montreal.
The experimental service will launch later this month and will enable DAB listeners to access program listings for CBC services up to seven days in advance.
The Montreal service will use proprietary EPG data management software developed by Unique Interactive, enabling CBC broadcasters to manage and update their EPG data wherever they are in the world.
Unique is already the market-leading supplier of data and EPG services to DAB broadcasters in the UK.
Through a joint venture with Capital Radio, Unique Interactive’s EPG Management Service already manages DAB Digital Radio EPG data for the Capital Radio Group and Chrysalis Radio Group, providing EPG listings for over 30 UK commercial radio stations.