Radio World

This Radio World News story describes a proposal by United Kingdom (UK) broadcasters for standardising how to access radio services' programme-associated online resources. It is called RadioDNS and calls for applying the familiar "Domain Name System" used for locating resources on the internet. RadioDNS envisions a new class of devices that include both a radio receiver and an internet connection, either periodic or continuous.

The Domain Name System is the equivalent of a phone book or directory assistance for the internet. When a user types a web address into a browser, the query goes first to DNS, which essentially redirects the connection to the server that holds the desired content. Domain names are kept in servers which are quickly poled electronically each time a user searches for a website. This network of name servers is updated with the latest resource identification and location records by the appropriate registration agencies, and any such updates entered into any one name server are soon propagated throughout the entire DNS.

The DNS method was specified in 1987 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The RadioDNS proposal would be an update: "Web-connected radios could listen to broadcast content like any radio, but obtain enhancements to the content via the Internet, either automatically or upon request of the user....Unlike the typical method of seeking online content via manual data entry to a browser by the user, RadioDNS would make this process far simpler for such "connected radio receivers" by establishing a standard scheme for determining the corresponding URL whenever a particular radio station is tuned in."

The radio listener experience would be unchanged, once "tuned in" to their station, but the RadioDNS-enabled device, RadioDNS name servers, the internet, and the station's website would "automatically" deliver enhanced content to the listener. The proposal "leverages the power of the existing DNS, essentially adding only a specified process for the connected radio receiver to resolve the appropriate domain name, and to discover content and supported applications at that location. Notably, it covers both analog and digital radio broadcast formats, allowing online enhancements to be compatibly added by broadcasters as extensions to the massively deployed legacy services of AM and FM radio, when received on next-gen radios or other "converged devices" such as wireless devices and 3G/4G phones with FM receivers on board." Click here for more specifics on the process.

The Radio DNS development consortium is now in a consensus-building stage and is seeking broader input from the radio industry.

MediaMentor Digest, Number 3517, on September 17 2009.