Do you want to send Now Playing Song Data to DTS AutoStage, from your Radio Automation System? MetaRadio makes this possible. This article explains the setup of MetaRadio and DTS AutoStage’s API, allowing the current song title and artist to be sent to car dashboards and your DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal.
Sending song now-playing information to your mobile apps has clear advantages for your listeners and also your station. Now Playing data enhances the listener experience by allowing them to discover new tracks. Broadcasters who partner with DTS AutoStage get access to their Broadcaster Portal, which provides insights into listener patterns, including song listening patterns.
The Radio API used by DTS AutoStage is similar to the AIM Mobile App API, so if you already send your data to AIM for one of their mobile apps, you may not need to do anything extra to send data to DTS AutoStage.
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 AutoStage), 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 DTS AutoStage, 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 of MetaRadio so you can test the entire system before committing to purchase.
Preparing to connect to DTS AutoStage
Before you begin, will need some connection parameters from Xperi’s support team. These are unique to each station. These details include:
- HTTP Auth Username: Often your callsign
- HTTP Auth Password: A unique password provided by Xperi/DTS
- Station ID: Often your callsign
- Station Group: The company’s name.
- CID: This is a parameter supplied by Xperi
- Key: This is a parameter supplied by Xperi
Your MetaRadio PC should have internet access, so it can access the DTS Radio API.
Sending Now Playing Data to DTS AutoStage
Now we have successfully configured MetaRadio, our Automation System, and have the connection details for AutoStage – 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 DTS AutoStage from the list, and configure its settings.
Click “Add Output System” under the DTS AutoStage Heading. You can now configure your connection.
You can now enter your access credentials as supplied by Xperi’s support team. The fields you will need are:
- HTTP Auth Username: Often your callsign
- HTTP Auth Password: A unique password provided by Xperi
- Station ID: Often your callsign
- Station Group: The company’s name.
- CID: This is a parameter supplied by Xperi
- Key: This is a parameter supplied by Xperi
- iTunes Store Country Code: Enter a two-character country code (e.g. ‘AU’ or ‘US’). This will be used when looking up Album Art from the Apple Music database.
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 DTS AutoStage. Once you see “Status 200” in the MetaRadio log, you can check with DTS to ensure the data is being successfully received at their end.
If data is not being received, check the following:
- Check the black MetaRadio status windows for errors
- Check your network allows connections from your MetaRadio PC to your All In Media’s Radio API
- Check your DTS AutoStage Output settings are 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 Support Bundle through to our support team. We’re here to help! You’ll find the support bundle file in MetaRadio’s dashboard.