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TP
Traffic Program Identification:
The TP flag identifies the station as
one that routinely broadcasts traffic bulletins for motorists as
part of its normal, everyday programming. When the TP flag
logo is displayed on the receiver faceplate, the radio is search-
ing for traffic announcements. The radio keeps track of TP sta-
tions offering this service to speed up the search-and-
switchover process.
TA
Traffic Announcement:
This is a
temporary
flag added to the RDS
data stream
only
as a traffic bulletin is being aired. Some RDS
car radios can be set to search for traffic bulletins among vari-
ous TP stations (see
TP
below) while tuned to a listener’s pre-
ferred program, or even while playing a CD or MP3. As soon as
any TP station broadcasts a traffic bulletin, the receiver
tempo-
rarily
switches-over to receive it. When the bulletin is finished,
the receiver switches back to the listener’s original entertain-
ment choice.
The ‘takeover’ nature of the TA function has spawned numer-
ous abuses, mostly in a misguided and evil attempt to ‘steal’
listeners. A naughty broadcaster might tease a listener he has
just ‘grabbed’ by mentioning some hot pop star interview that’s
up next on his station as he goes into his traffic update. Or he
might simply leave the TA flag on inadvertently (or not!). The
730 Encoder incorporates a TA countdown timer that limits the
traffic announcement to a user-programmed maximum number
of seconds.
