BROADCAST
DATA SYSTEMS
: by Paul Tuch
It has been 19 months since
Broadcast Data Systems (BDS)
has had it's information
used to compile the national
airplay charts in Canada's
music trade magazine The
Record, yet there are many
independent artists and
record labels that don't
know what BDS is or how
it works.
BDS was started in 1980
in the United States. It
was the brainchild of a
country music writer who
spent 25,000 producing and
promoting a single in Florida.
When making his tracking
calls to a number of stations,
he was told by music directors
that they loved the song
and were playing it in a
solid rotation. However,
not one copy of his album
had sold. He found this
somewhat odd and after doing
some checking, he discovered
that the stations were not
telling the truth. The artist
hooked up with a former
defense industry scientist
and came up with an idea
to track radio stations
electronically. The company
was eventually purchased
by
the parent company of Billboard
magazine.
The technology used by BDS
is a patented system that
was originally developed
by the US Army to detect
enemy submarines and smart
bombs. Here's how it works.
When a song is released,
it is sent to us for encoding.
Songs are first encoded
into the system's computer,
which in turn creates a
digital "fingerprint" that
is downloaded to BDS monitor
sites. These monitors are
locked into a station's
frequency and are listening
24 hours a day, seven days
a week. When a song is broadcast
on one of the monitored
stations, the computer searches
its "fingerprint" library
and notes the exact time
and date the station aired
the song.
BDS is currently detecting
over 1.5 million songs per
week at radio. The pattern
bank is updated daily and
the day's detection history
is transmitted from the
remote monitor sites to
a central operation facility
in Kansas City, Missouri.
Overnight, BDS processes
the detection data collected
from all its field monitors
and electronically redistributes
it to customer's computers
in easy to read
reports first thing in the
morning.
In Canada, airplay information
is gathered through monitors
stationed in Vancouver (incl.
Victoria), Calgary, Edmonton,
Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg,
Toronto, Hamilton, London,
Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec
City, Halifax and Fredericton/Saint
John. Monitor expansion
will occur in early 1999.
When a song is released,
it is extremely important
that it is sent to BDS,
otherwise the computer won't
recognize the song when
it is played on the air.
BDS accepts DAT, CD, CD
single, 12" Vinyl, LP, Cassette
and video, and should be
sent to:
BDS, 8100 NW 101st Terrace,
Kansas City, MO, USA, 64153,
Attn. Lana Goodman.
Along with the media, a
note should be sent, letting
them know what track is
the single going to radio
and to what format it should
be loaded to. There are
four formats available:
-
Canadian
Rock
-
Canadian
Country
-
Canadian
Top 40
-
Canadian
AC
Or US Formats.
Please make sure that
Canadian is listed.
For any other information,
please contact BDS
in Canada.
Paul Tuch is the Canadian
representative for
BDS and can be reached
at 378 Handley Cres.,
Newmarket, Ont. L3Y
4T4. Phone: 905-853-6657,
Fax: 905-853-6403,
E-mail: ptuch@neptune.on.ca
