Who knew making a change to what you see on your radio when you listen to Q97.9 would have people asking so many questions? We've gotten tons of calls and emails asking about what you now see on your car radio if you are listening the Q.

Car radios made in the past 10 years or so have come with a feature called RDS which stands for Radio Data System. It allows radio stations to show useful information on your radio display. That message data is broadcast on our FM signal at a frequency you can't hear, but your radio can read and it's sent by this little box here at the station.

RDS Box
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Up until now, you would see the song title and artist of the song we are playing along with Q97.9, 'Portland's #1 Hit Music Station.' We tweaked the message a little last week and that's what got everyone's attention.

You still see the song playing and Q97.9, but during the Q Morning Show, you'll also see "The Q Morning Show with Lori, Jeff and Kylie" along with the number to call us, 775-7979.

There are times where you may not see all this information or your display stops scrolling. This happens when you get in an area where the signal is just weak enough to not properly receive the signal. I've seen it happen in downtown Portland when I'm surrounded by tall buildings.

Hopefully that clears up the confusion about what you're seeing. No, your truck is not trying to call us.

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