Do you want to send Now Playing Song Data to the your Telos Z/IPStream, from your Radio Automation System? MetaRadio makes this possible. This article explains the setup of MetaRadio and Telos Z/IPStream, allowing the current song title and artist to be displayed on internet streams.
Sending song now-playing information to your stream encoder system has clear advantages for your listeners and also your station. Now Playing data enhances the listener experience by allowing them to discover new tracks, and unlocks additional advertising opportunities by displaying promotional messages on your stream.
The Telos Z/IPStream is a popular streaming encoder hardware and software package from the Telos Alliance. It can run one stream, all the way up to 20 streams, in the one unit. There are multiple models of the Telos Z/IPStream, but they all run similar software and support the same format of metadata from MetaRadio. Supported models include the R/1 and R/20 hardware encoders, and the X/20 software version. Previous models include the R/2, 9R/2, X/2, and 9X/2.
What is MetaRadio?
MetaRadio is software which acts as a connector for your radio station’s metadata. It enables you to send your now playing data to dozens of different types of systems (including RDS), and also unlocks new opportunities for revenue and promotions by inserting commercial and non-commercial messages between your song data. While many automation systems can send data directly to some of these third party broadcast systems, MetaRadio aims to connect all your systems together and provide advanced features.
MetaRadio takes all the hard work out of connecting your metadata. There’s no need for custom scripting – MetaRadio does everything you need out of the box.
Getting Song Data From your Radio Automation System
Before you can send your song metadata to your Telos Z/IPStream, you must first install MetaRadio and connect it to your radio automation system.
MetaRadio has over 30 different input system – including all the major Radio Automation System vendors. If you don’t have reliable metadata available in your automation system, you may like to consider using radio stream fingerprinting software with MetaRadio.
There is a free trial available so you can test the entire system before committing to purchase.
Preparing your Telos Z/IPStream
You also need to prepare to your Telos Z/IPStream. Your Telos Z/IPStream should be on the same network as your MetaRadio PC, so the two systems can communicate. MetaRadio communicates with the Z/IPStream via TCP. The selected TCP port must be accessible from your PC running MetaRadio, so ensure you have a firewall or VPN configured appropriately between your PC and Telos Z/IPStream.
Adding new Metadata Filters to the Z/IPStream
You need to install MetaRadio’s LUA filter into your Z/IPStream. Telos has instructions on their website, and we have highlighted this process here too.
1. Click the Metadata link in the main menu.
2. Click on Manage Filters
3. From the Manage Metadata Filters page, click Upload
4. When the file picker dialog appears (this will vary depending on your operating system), browse for and upload the new metadata filter. The MetaRadio LUA filter is installed on your MetaRadio PC in this location: C:\NowPlaying\telos_zipstream_lua.txt
Configuring a Metadata Port in your Z/IPStream
1. On the main Control Panel Web Page, click on the Metadata link in the top menu.
2. In the drop-down list that says “Add Metadata Source,” pick ‘TCP on a specific port’.
3. Assign a friendly name (e.g. ‘MetaRadio Station 1’), a local TCP port that your Automation system will connect to (16612 in this example), and a Metadata filter to use (telos_zipstream_lua).
Assigning Metadata to Your Stream
When creating or editing a stream instance, you will see a Metadata source option in the configuration. Click the drop-down list and select the Metadata Source created in the previous step.
Once you have saved your settings, restart your stream to ensure your changes are applied.
Sending Now Playing Data to your Telos Z/IPStream
Now we have successfully configured MetaRadio, our Automation System, and our Telos Z/IPStream – we are ready to connect all these systems together.
All configuration in this step is done in the MetaRadio Configuration App. By default, the MetaRadio configuration app is available by going to http://127.0.0.1:9606/
MetaRadio’s configuration interface lets you control all settings within MetaRadio.
- The left contains the menu with various options – including the Input and Output settings.
- The centre of the screen contains information about your system, including license details, and a summary of the inputs and outputs you have setup.
The options you see available will vary depending on the version you have installed, and the license options you have installed.
In the left menu of MetaRadio, click on “Outputs”. Find your station, and click “Add Output”. Now you can select Telos Z/IPStream from the list, and configure its settings.
Click “Add Output System” under the Telos Z/IPStream heading. You can now configure your data.
Enter the IP Address and Metadata Port (Port 16612 in the earlier example) of your Telos Z/IPStream.
You can then configure the messages that rotate. The “Now Playing Text Format” messages rotate whenever a song is playing. The “Default/Fallback Text” messages rotate whenever a song is not playing. The Message Interval determines how long a message displays on the screen.
Click Save, and then click “Apply & Restart” up the top to restart MetaRadio.
The black MetaRadio window will now display a status update whenever a new messages is sent to your stream encoder.
If data is not displaying on your radio receiver, check the following:
- Check the black MetaRadio status windows for errors
- Check your network allows connections from your MetaRadio PC to your Telos Z/IPStream
- Check your Telos Z/IPStream is configured correctly.
Support & Next Steps
Thanks for choosing MetaRadio to manage your now playing song data needs. Make sure you explore all the features, such as station scheduling, message scheduling, and all of our advanced output options. Please get in touch with us if you ever need assistance!
If you have any trouble with this process or it’s not working, please send the MetaRadio log files through to our support team. We’re here to help! You’ll find the support bundle file in MetaRadio’s dashboard.