Is metadata important? “I don’t think so… I know so.” Those are the words of Cris Alexander, DOE for Crawford Broadcasting, a WheatNet IP shop that recently added Streamblade appliances for provisioning, processing, and managing streams and metadata. In a recent Crawford newsletter article, he talked about the importance of doing a “metadata audit,” why he signed up for DTS Autostage, and how different radio displays use RDS/RBDS data differently and what he’s doing about it.

Alexander’s own personal experience with metadata, or lack thereof, is a tale of two classic rock stations. “For a good while, one of the stations’ metadata was not working. The default, which amounted to the station slogan, was continually scrolling, and we both [local CE Amanda Hopp and Alexander] found that to be a tune-out factor,” he commented.

David Layer from the NAB did a presentation at the Denver SBE chapter meeting last October and introduced Alexander to the Radio Dashboard Audit. Among the key benchmarks to consider: Is the station’s logo displayed? Is the station sending its slogan? Is it providing title/artist information (and is it correct/timely)? How about album art or Artist Experience?

“Over the past couple of decades, RDS has become a common thing, almost ubiquitous, and it’s no big chore for a broadcaster to export song title and artist or even advertiser information over the RDS,” commented Alexander.

The problem, however, is the different ways that automobile radio displays use the RBDS/RDS data. “There are basically two fields available to broadcasters for metadata: Radio Text (RT) and Dynamic Program Service (DPS). Radio Text is apparently the field designed to display title/artist information, but some radios display the DPS field instead of or in addition to the RT field,” he observed, noting that his Ford Explorer displays RT in one place and DPS in another.

“I concluded that the only safe thing to do is to stuff both fields with metadata, and that’s what we are doing company wide.”

Alexander also signed up for DTS Autostage. “I got to thinking about those stations displaying their logos on car radio screens. How did those get there? They are not, to my knowledge, transmitted with station metadata… they are transmitted over the internet using DTS Autostage or another connected car platform,” he explained.

We asked him about metadata for streaming, which has its own set of issues, namely the reformatting and forwarding of metadata from the radio automation system on out to the CDN. The exact details can differ from one CDN to the next since there are no universally accepted standards for handling streaming metadata. One solution is the use of Lua, a programmable, embedded scripting language found in Streamblade and Wheatstream appliances for adapting metadata from any automation system into any required CDN format. “The Lua filters are great – I love being able to write our own filters to fit what we need to do, which is a far cry from the templates that other encoders force you to use that never seem to work quite right,” he replied.

All of this attention to metadata will likely become more important as Crawford and others start to monetize metadata. Already, said Alexander, “We’re monetizing in some markets with our own advertiser prerolls.”

Cris Alexander’s article on metadata appeared in the March 2024 issue of The Local Oscillator, the corporate engineering newsletter of Crawford Media Group. You can find past issues of The Local Oscillator at https://crawfordmediagroup.net/crawford-engineering/. You can find details on protocols in the white paper Politics and Protocols of Streaming by Wheatstone Development Engineer Rick Bidlack and the Metadata for Streaming Audio Handbook by NRSC.

We’re going faster and further with AoIP this IBC, plus mixing it up with virtual and fixed consoles for TV news teams. We’re also keeping it affordable with a new automation control plug-in for our value AoIP system. Stop by stand 8.D91 during the IBC show and ask us about these and other new developments in studio systems, streaming, audio processing, and cloud/server applications. See you soon!

FAST AND FAR WITH AOIP

Our fourth-generation WheatNet IP audio network I/O, the Blade 4, continues to build on the intelligent network this IBC with a new transport protocol for better reliability, lower latency, and higher quality audio across the public internet. It’s all happening at stand 8.D91

MIXING IT UP VIRTUAL AND FIXED FOR TV NEWS TEAMS

We’re pairing our fixed Strata audio mixing console with the portability of the Remote Strata virtual mixer for today’s highly collaborative television news team. With full interactivity between tactile mixing in the studio and virtual mixing on a touchscreen, including real-time fader tracking between the two, this combination offers an independent yet shared user experience for teams in split locations. Feel the difference at stand 8.D91!

DMX, KEEPING IT AFFORDABLE

Our DMX console system, marketed under the Audioarts value brand, now has a new native IP audio control for playback automation systems as well integration with ScreenBuilder tools. The DMX system includes a console surface and mix engine with local I/O and five-port Ethernet switch. Now with WheatNet IP automation control interface (ACI), this value AoIP system is ideal for just about any studio configuration—from a standalone on-air desk to a two-studio air/production configuration, on out to large multi-studio networks via WheatNet IP audio. We look forward to talking studio possibilities with you at stand 8.D91.