According to a recent CEMA survey, FM broadcasters are demonstrating growing approval of the radio data system (RDS), with momentum expected to gain during the next year.
About 20% of the FM stations surveyed can broadcast in RDS, and another 23% said they hoped to join the RDS camp during the next year.
Right now, one out of five radio stations that responded to the survey have the hardware to broadcast an RDS signal. An encouraging sign is that among the stations that have RDS equipment, 70% are presently transmitting an RDS signal while 81% have broadcast an RDS signal at some point.
Of the types of RDS transmission during the past 12 months, the most frequent (70%) was program service to identify the station the consumer was tuned into. Next, at 41%, was program type to identify the category of music. Third, at 32%, was time. Only 5% of RDS transmissions were for traffic announcements.
The survey was conducted by mail to all FM broadcast stations in the country, with 603 stations responding.
