The EBU's Radio Data System, devised essentially as a response to the difficulties faced by motorists wishing to listen to VHF/FM radio broadcasts, has established itself as an integral part of most European broadcasters' VHF/FM services, and a substantial number of motorists are now benefiting from more pleasurable listening conditions, easy access to traffic information, and enhanced safety.

The benefits of RDS have not gone un-noticed in other continents, and a variant, known as the Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS), has just been agreed by the US standards authorities.

This article explains the main differences between the US and European radio data systems, deriving mostly from the differences in structure and content of US broadcasting compared to those of Europe, and describes some new concepts included in RBDS.

Finally, the article looks at RDS/RBDS receiver commonality, and examines the possibilities for a rapid expansion of RBDS based on existing RDS receiver technologies.

In the new era of deregulation in telecommunications, it may be seen as ironic that several new regulatory and standardization bodies should have been created in Europe in recent years. In the meantime, in an attempt to respond more effectively to the rapid technological changes affecting all branches of the telecommunications industry, the international organizations – the ITU in particular – are having to adapt their working structures and devise new ways of reaching consensus.

As an association of broadcasting organizations, and also in its capacity as network manager for the world's largest and most-complex point-to-point television transmission network, the EBU has an important rôle to play in both the worldwide and regional (European) standards arena.

The article explains how the various standardization and regulatory organizations work together, and the EBU's relationships with them.

Those whose daily work brings them into close contact with the EBU Technical Committee and its five Working Parties no doubt have a clear understanding of their rôle in European broadcasting. Others may have a less clear idea of the problems that are being studied within the Technical Committee, or the new systems that are being developed.

The EBU Technical Review has invited the Chairman and Secretary of each Working Party to present its current activities, highlight a few of their recent achievements and explain the significance of their work in the wider broadcasting context.

The first presentation in the series, for Working Party R (Broadcasting technology) is given here. The Working Party's agenda is defined largely as a function of the Radio Conferences of the ITU, although many studies are in hand in other fields, including RDS, propagation, planning methods, and new services (HDTV, DAB, ...).

EBU Working Party F has officially been active for just over ten years, although its roots go back a further decade to the early 1970s.

The Working Party is facing many new challenges: the radical evolution in broadcasting methods in the 1990s which require new approaches to broadcast system management, the specialized requirements of the EBU's new Member-organizations in Eastern and Central Europe, the rational exploitation of new computer-aided training tools and distance-learning techniques, and many more.

The experience gained by the Working Party in its formative years will serve as a solid foundation for its work in the years ahead, ensuring that the EBU can continue to contribute effectively to international and national training initiatives in all areas of sound and television broadcasting.