Radio Data System

Radio Data System (RDS) is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardizes several types of information transmitted, including time, station identification and program information.

The standard began as a project of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), but has since become an international standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) is the official name used for the U.S. version of RDS. The two standards are only slightly different, with receivers able to work with either system with only minor inconsistencies in the displayed data. RDS is only used on analog stations. The HD Radio equivalent is Program-associated data (PAD), now called Program service data (PSD).