traffic button on dash?
Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,329
Likes: 1,238
From: IL
RDS - Radio Data System is/was a clever idea that only partially worked.
The radio stations bought additional equipment to broadcast data in addition
to the actual broadcast programming. Now you can see Artist/Song information
and accurate time of day was included. The "Traffic" feature relied on the station
personnel to flip a switch when a traffic report was going out and then flip it off.
The theory was that drivers could press the Traffic button and the radio would
then scan until it found a currently broadcast of Traffic. Simple, right? Never
really caught on at least not in Metro Chicago. Minor inconvenience was while
it did work sporadically I found that the local Spanish language station was the
only one that participated! Lives on today when you see the broadcast information
on screen, you will also see that some stations have loaded Commercial messages
into the feed. Gotta pay for the extra equipment, right?
The radio stations bought additional equipment to broadcast data in addition
to the actual broadcast programming. Now you can see Artist/Song information
and accurate time of day was included. The "Traffic" feature relied on the station
personnel to flip a switch when a traffic report was going out and then flip it off.
The theory was that drivers could press the Traffic button and the radio would
then scan until it found a currently broadcast of Traffic. Simple, right? Never
really caught on at least not in Metro Chicago. Minor inconvenience was while
it did work sporadically I found that the local Spanish language station was the
only one that participated! Lives on today when you see the broadcast information
on screen, you will also see that some stations have loaded Commercial messages
into the feed. Gotta pay for the extra equipment, right?
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EthanV
RX - 3rd Gen (2010-2015)
3
May 22, 2018 11:38 AM
