Do you want to send Now Playing Song Data to your Audessence RDS Encoder, from your Radio Automation System? MetaRadio makes this possible. This article explains the setup of MetaRadio and Audessence RDS Encoders, allowing the current song title and artist to be displayed on RDS-enabled Radios.

Sending song now-playing information to your RDS Encoder 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 screen.

At the time of writing, the following Audessence RDS Encoders are supported:

  • Audessence RDS PRO-1 – Serial Only
  • Audessence RDS PRO-2 – Serial & IP/Ethernet
  • Audessence RDS PRO-4 – Serial & IP/Ethernet

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 Audessence RDS Encoders, 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 Audessence RDS Encoder

You also need to prepare to your Audessence RDS Encoders for connectivity. Your Audessence RDS Encoders should be on the same network as your MetaRadio PC, so the two systems can communicate.

This port must be accessible from your PC running MetaRadio, so ensure you have a firewall or VPN configured appropriately between your PC and Audessence RDS Encoders.

Here’s how to configure your Audessence encoder:

  1. Open the Audessence Magic RDS software and connect to your encoder via the Options > Preferences menu.
  2. Go to the RDS Encoder > Device Setup menu.
  3. On the “Device Setup” screen, press “Read” to get the current configuration from your RDS Encoder.
  4. On the “Device Setup” screen, enable Port 4 with the following settings:
    1. Protocol: TCP
    2. Port Number: 6670 (or another port number of your choosing)
    3. The RDS encoder is: Server
  5. If you haven’t already configured an IP Address, on the “Device Setup” screen, specify a IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway, and DNS Server. This must be on the same subnet as your MetaRadio PC.
  6. On the “Device Setup” screen, press the “Store” button

Sending Now Playing Data to your Audessence RDS Encoder

Now we have successfully configured MetaRadio, our Automation System, and our Audessence RDS Encoders – 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 “Audessence RDS (IP)” from the list, and configure its settings.

Click “Add Output System” under the “Audessence RDS (IP) heading. You can now configure your data.

Enter the IP Address and Port Number of your Audessence RDS Encoder. In the example above, we used Port 6670.

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 RDS 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 Audessence RDS Encoder
  • Check your Audessence RDS Encoder 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.