Should radio display name of station instead of frequency?

[Vron]

As I am still awaiting all my manuals from BMW can anyone tell me how to get the radio to display eg "Radio 1" instead of 99.9 FM etc?
Thanks

[daniel_davies]

Forgive me if im incorrect but if my memory serves me correctly, you simply push the RDS button on the headunit and thats it.

[Meg]

I was told that the name of the staion would only appear if the station had the correct software. I believe you have to have the "party" option selected on the radio.
Some stations also display the song name and artist, but this again depends on the station as not all have the correct software.

[monsta]

Quote: Originally Posted by maganoo

I was told that the name of the staion would only appear if the station had the correct software. I believe you have to have the "party" option selected on the radio.
Some stations also display the song name and artist, but this again depends on the station as not all have the correct software.

In the UK we have RDS EON which I beleive is a European thing only. The station name is displayed on nearly every single FM station.

Pressing the RDS button enables the station name.

[BruceK]

Quote: Originally Posted by monsta

In the UK we have RDS EON which I beleive is a European thing only. The station name is displayed on nearly every single FM station.

Pressing the RDS button enables the station name.

The station name and song title feature is very new to the US. I didn't even know my MINI could do it until about 6 months ago when I looked down and saw the name of the band appearing in the radio's display. Really surprised me! So far, there are only 2 stations in town that provide this service, but I remember seeing this feature in the UK way back in 1992 on a Ford Fiesta rental car I used, so the UK was way ahead of the US on this!

[LordWinslow]

I love that feature, around here (Boston) the states do the Station name and other info. Also they only do song titles and artists at night. I am wondering if that is a safety thing as we have high volumes of traffic and we don't need another thing to distract us from our driving.

Winslow

[joeinitaly]

As an American in Italy, it surprised me the first time too. I have a US spec MCS, but everything works great and I get the station title everywhere. One of the AMOK members here was not getting the station titles until he took his car in for some sort of computer upgrade (his is an '02). I do not know if that is any help, but might be worth looking into.

[BobbySueZQ]

yup, push the RDS button on the right hand side of the unit. The display will flash RDS ON. After that, if the station you have it on transmits the signal your MINI should pick it up. I think the stereo manual comments that in the US the signal may drop off n on so you might not always get it.

Personally I've left mine off after trying it out one afternoon. Too annoying seeing the radio station name and stuff like FOREVER ROCK, ROCK ON rolling through the display. If it was just the radio station name I'd like it. But the 3 and 4 lines of scroll messages ... eh