Want to send Now Playing song data to your 2wcom RDS Encoder, from your Radio Playout/Automation system? MetaRadio makes this possible. This article explains the setup of MetaRadio and 2wcom RDS, allowing the use of RadioText and RadioText+ for Now-Playing song data.

You’ll need to get a free trial or paid license of MetaRadio before you can begin. For other setup guides, see our MetaRadio Support Site.

Prerequisites

  • MetaRadio installed on your PC, with at least one station (automation system) configured
  • A 2wcom RDS Encoder connected to your network, or connected to your PC via Serial
  • ARCOS Config running and connected to your encoder
    • We will use ARCOS Config to configure the encoder. After that’s done, you don’t need to run it again
  • Before you begin, we recommend upgrading the firmware on your RDS Encoder

Configuring 2wcom RDS for IP

  1. Open ARCOS Config and connect to your encoder. Make sure you press ‘Load all data’ to get the latest copy of all data on your encoder
  2. Go to the Hardware Setup > Connection tab
  3. On the “Connection” screen, enter a Port Number into the “Port AS” field. We suggest “6670”.
  4. If you haven’t already configured an IP Address, on the “Device Setup” screen, specify a IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway. This must be on the same subnet as your MetaRadio PC.
  5. On the left screen, press the “Save” button to commit these settings back to the RDS Encoder Hardware
  6. Open MetaRadio Config from the Start Menu on your computer
  7. Select your Radio Station, and press “Edit”
  8. Press “Add Output” and select “RDS2wcomIP” from the drop-down menu
  9. Enter the IP Address and TCP Port Number (e.g. 6670) from your 2wcom RDS Encoder
  10. Press “Save Output Details” and “Save Station Details”
  11. Restart the main MetaRadio app, and check to see if data is sent to the encoder next time a song plays on-air

Configuring 2wcom RDS for Serial

  1. Open ARCOS Config and connect to your encoder. Make sure you press ‘Load all data’ to get the latest copy of all data on your encoder
  2. Go to the Hardware Setup > Connection tab
  3. On the “Connection” screen, select a Serial Port, set it to “Terminal”  Protocol and select a baud rate (if in doubt, use the default of 9600).
  4. In Windows, open the ‘Device Manager’ and check the port number assigned to your serial connection (e.g. COM4)
  5. Open MetaRadio Config from the Start Menu on your computer
  6. Select your Radio Station, and press “Edit”
  7. Press “Add Output” and select “RDS2wcomSerial” from the drop-down menu
  8. Enter the COM Port Number (e.g. COM4) and baud rate (e.g. 9600) from your 2wcom RDS Encoder. The COM port should be the full name (“COM4”), and the baud rate should only contain numbers (no bps suffix)
  9. Press “Save Output Details” and “Save Station Details”
  10. Restart the main MetaRadio app, and check to see if data is sent to the encoder next time a song plays on-air

RDS Formatting Strings

When configuring a RDS Output, you can enter a ‘Format String’ – this is a special field that allows you to define what text displays in the RDS RadioText field whenever a song is playing. You can enter any text into these fields, but there are also five special ‘merge codes’ (think of these like placeholders in a Mail Merge).

2wcom RDS Merge Codes:

  • TITLE
  • ARTIST
  • STRING1
  • STRING2
  • STRING3

Separate each of these five strings with a “+” symbol. You can enter arbitrary text into the ‘String 1’, ‘String 2’, and ‘String 3’ fields.