FOR RELEASE: August 5, 1997 CONTACT: Debbie Burzyck, (810) 492-4332
David Roman, (810) 492-8869
CADILLAC BECOMES FIRST U.S. CARMAKER TO OFFER
RADIO DATA SYSTEM (RDS) IN 1998
WARREN, Mich. -- How many times have you waited for the radio disc jockey to announce the name of a song or artist while listening to the car radio, only to be left with the question unanswered?
With Cadillac’s new radio data system, that frustration is eliminated.
Cadillac is the first domestic automaker to offer radio data system (RDS), an FM-based technology that provides consumers a wide variety of safety, entertainment and convenience features, including the song title and artist.
RDS, a technology that originated in Europe, allows broadcasters to silently deliver a 1,200-bits-per-second stream of data along with the audio content, providing drivers with a variety of capabilities, including:
Seeing the name of the station, e.g., The Edge, WMEE-FM, etc.;
Tuning by program type, e.g., top 40, jazz, country, etc.;
Viewing specific program descriptions such as personality name, e.g., P. Harvey;
Hearing traffic announcements and emergency broadcasts even while listening to a CD or cassette tape;
Viewing broadcast text messages such as song titles and artists’ names, stock quotes, sports scores, weather forecasts, or other information;
Automatic switching to alternate frequencies for continuous reception of simulcast network programming;
Synchronizing clocks with official radio time.
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Currently, only about 10 percent of the approximately 7,000 FM stations in the United States use RDS, but that number is expected to rise rapidly as demand for the system increases, says Scott Wright, project engineer for audio systems at GM’s Delco Electronics.
"It’s really a ‘chicken-and-egg’ scenario," Wright says. "U.S. broadcasters have been in this situation before when FM stereo was introduced more than 25 years ago. Once the penetration of the new feature increased and public acceptance had risen, broadcasters soon followed by investing in the necessary equipment.
"U.S. broadcasters have been waiting for a significant RDS breakthrough in the audio industry before investing the $400 to $2,500 in RDS equipment. With Cadillac offering the system in all of its 1998 models, I’m confident many radio stations will quickly become RDS broadcasters."
RDS has been in use for about a decade in Europe, and currently about 90 percent of the FM stations broadcast the system. Since RDS was introduced in the United States about four years ago, there has been a steady increase in available RDS-equipped systems for home, portable and personal computer use. More than 50 million RDS-equipped receivers have now been sold worldwide.
"While listening to an RDS station, the broadcaster can provide additional information about the station using text displayed on the radio. For example, it will show the call letters or station name, and the type of station -- called program type -- such as classical, news, or country," Wright says. "When you are tuned to an RDS station, the station name and program type will appear on the display instead of the station’s frequency."
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Those who commute frequently will appreciate the traffic announcement function of RDS. When the traffic announcement feature is turned on and the seek button is activated, the radio will only stop on stations that support traffic. When a traffic announcement is broadcast on the radio, passengers will hear it even if the volume is low or if a CD or cassette tape is playing.
After the announcement is finished, the volume will return to the prior level. If a tape or CD was playing, playback will resume from where it was interrupted.
A key safety feature of RDS is its alert system to let listeners know of impending local or national emergencies such as flash floods or severe weather warnings.
"Those situations are currently available via the emergency alert system on regular radio, but with RDS, if you’re listening to a CD or tape, it will interrupt playback and broadcast the message as well as display ‘Alert!’ in the text area," Wright says. "The alert feature will also operate if the RDS mode is turned off."
In addition, weather bulletins and forecasts are available through a special weather band feature which receives information from the National Weather Service.
Another RDS feature informs listeners that an unread text message is available for viewing. For example, the broadcaster can provide the song title and artist’s name, send a special message about a future program, or provide a call-in phone number for a promotion. The text is automatically formatted and paged for hands-off viewing.
Tired of having to tune through 30 different stations before finding the program you like? With RDS you can seek or scan by whatever program type you prefer, such as news or classical.
The radio will only stop on stations broadcasting the selected program. There are 24 different categories available and selected favorites can be stored for easy recall.
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The "alternate frequency" feature of RDS prompts the radio to change to a stronger station within the same network when the station you’re listening to becomes weak. For example, if you’re listening to National Public Radio (NPR) and the station becomes weak, you won’t have to search for another NPR station because RDS will automatically change to one with a stronger frequency.
"RDS will revolutionize radio listening in the United States just as FM radio did more than 30 years ago," Wright says. "So it seems appropriate that Cadillac is the first to offer the system in its 1998 models, continuing its long heritage of providing industry leading technology."
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