The legacy milestones page records the progression of RDS from early European field trials to international standardisation, RT+, RDS2, and modern radio data applications.
Pre-developments start within EBU.
First field trial at Bern/Interlaken, Switzerland.
Tests start in Stockholm, Sweden. Eight systems are evaluated in Helsinki, RDS baseband coding is agreed, and a second field trial takes place at Bern/Interlaken.
Industry and broadcaster meeting at EBU. Industry and broadcaster field trial in Munich, Germany. RDS is adopted by EBU and industry and submitted to CCIR.
First US presentation of RDS in Detroit. Ford starts RDS car radio development. RDS Specification EBU 3244 is published.
Large scale pre-operational trial in Germany. EBU recommends RDS introduction. Industry and broadcasters confirm that first receivers and broadcast services are to start in 1987.
First presentation of RDS at NAB in Dallas. RDS is published as a CCIR, now ITU-R, Recommendation. The first RDS logo, created by the BBC, is published by EBU.
Ireland, France and Sweden introduce RDS. First RDS receivers are shown at IFA Berlin. Volvo markets the world's first RDS car radio.
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the UK introduce RDS. Blaupunkt, Grundig and Philips manufacture RDS car radios. The BBC creates a new RDS logo for EBU, and EBU recommends using the new logo instead of the original 1986 version.
RDS enhancements continue with EON developed and tested in the UK. Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland introduce RDS. RDS is presented in Washington DC and at NAB Las Vegas.
First presentation of RDS at Broadcast Asia in Singapore and in South Africa. The RDS European Standard CENELEC EN 50067:1990 is published.
RDS EON receivers are shown at IFA. Hong Kong introduces RDS. RDS is presented in China for the first time.
South Africa introduces RDS. The RDS European Standard is updated with CENELEC EN 50067:1992. Products in the USA also use the RDS name and logo created by the BBC in 1986 and redesigned in 1988.
The RBDS Standard is published in the USA. RDS portable radios become available. The RDS Forum is created by EBU. RBDS is promoted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.
RDS-TMC is endorsed by the European Commission. DGPS is first implemented in Sweden.
RDS and RBDS standards are harmonised, although some differences remain. CENELEC EN 50067:1998, the newly updated RDS standard, is published and includes ODA.
The RDS Forum becomes independent of the EBU and is established as a not-for-profit industry association in Geneva.
The RDS CENELEC standard EN 50067:1998 is re-issued as IEC standard 62106 Edition 1.
RT+ is agreed in the RDS Forum as an important enhancement. FM/RDS radio starts to be increasingly used in mobile phones, small music players and short-range transmission devices. The market for FM/RDS radio IC chips grows rapidly, with more than 100 million chips made within one year. The updated RBDS standard is published as NRSC-4-A.
Broadcasters in Germany start to use RadioText Plus (RT+).
Broadcasters in the USA start to use RT+.
25th anniversary of the publication of the first EBU specification of RDS. Updated RDS IEC standard 62106 Edition 2 is published. RT+ is implemented in iPod nano 5G. More than 600 million FM/RDS radio ICs are now made within one year.
30th anniversary of the publication of the first EBU specification of RDS. More than one billion FM/RDS radio ICs are now made within one year.
The RDS Forum decides RDS2 development. Updated RDS IEC standard 62106 Edition 3 is published. The first RDS2 Info Day in Berlin presents the first RDS2 encoder and USB RDS2 receiver stick.
The RDS Forum submits to IEC the draft for the newly re-structured RDS/RDS2 standard. The second RDS2 Info Day in Paris presents RDS2 at Radio France.
At NAB Show in Las Vegas, WorldCast Systems presents the first commercially available RDS/RDS2 encoder. The RDS2 file transfer protocol RFT specification is published in October. Updated RDS IEC standard 62106:2018 Parts 1 to 6 are published. Radio France demonstrates the RFT implementation, transmitting and receiving files with station logo and music cover art.
35th anniversary of the publication of the first EBU specification of RDS. Radio France, in cooperation with Cameon and WCS, presents station logo and music cover art synchronised with the music item just broadcast at the European Radio Show. A group of experts from the RDS Forum meets in Paris and creates the basis for specifying station logo, slideshow and Internet ODAs for RDS2.
IEC publishes IEC 62106-2 Ed2, which contains the RDS2 File Transfer protocol RFT; Part 9, which contains the RBDS specifications for RDS used in North America; and Part 10, the Universal Encoder Communication Protocol UECP with all the new commands needed for implementing the RDS2 option.
The RDS Forum submits to IEC the new specifications for RDS2 ODAs of station logo, slideshow, linkage to Internet and a new protocol, NFM, to transmit RDS data over other bearers. The respective newly updated standard IEC 62106-6 Ed2 is expected for early 2023. ITU-R Study Group 6 approves an update for ITU-R Rec BS 643-3, also expected for early 2023. The RDS Forum meeting held in October 2022 creates a partnership with the DRM Consortium to exchange information for radio data applications with the aim of harmonising them.