RDS PTY Codes & Programme Types

Table giving definitions of the Radio Data System, RDS PTY types or programme types, indication the type of programme style of a radio station.

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RDS basics RDS operation PTY codes RDS acronyms

One of the key elements of RDS is that it is possible to identify the type of station.

Each RDS transmission carries and RDS PTY code, and this indicates the "Programme TYpe".

The RDS PTY code has a given value and this indicates the type of programme material carried.

The RDS PTY codes have slightly different categorisations dependent upon whether the stations are in Europe or North America. For Europe the RDS Forum developed the standards, whereas within North America the system is known as the RBDS, Radio Broadcast Data System. When the RBDS standard was developed, no attempt was made to match the original RDS plan for PTY type numbers.

RDS PTY Code	RDS Programme Type
	Europe	North America
0	No programme type defined	No programme type defined
1	News	News
2	Current affairs	Information
3	Information	Sport
4	Sport	Talk
5	Education	Rock
6	Drama	Classic Rock
7	Culture	Adult Hits
8	Science	Soft Rock
9	Varied	Top 40
10	Popular Music (Pop)	Country Music
11	Rock Music	Oldies (Music)
12	Easy Listening	Soft Music
13	Light Classical	Nostalgia
14	Serious Classical	Jazz
15	Other Music	Classical
16	Weather	Rhythm & Blues
17	Finance	Soft Rhythm & Blues
18	Children's Programmes	Language
19	Social Affairs	Religious Music
20	Religion	Religious Talk
21	Phone-in	Personality
22	Travel	Public
23	Leisure	College
24	Jazz Music	Not assigned
25	Country Music	Not assigned
26	National Music	Not assigned
27	Oldies Music	Not assigned
28	Folk Music	Not assigned
29	Documentary	Weather
30	Alarm Test	Emergency Test
31	Alarm	Emergency