Station Logos

Station Logos

DAB and FM stations are shown with their logo in the station lists, and on the player screen whenever the station has no artwork of its own to show.

Where the logos come from

The logos are published by the broadcasters themselves and found through RadioDNS, the same service digital radios use. Nothing is taken from third-party collections.

• A station registered by its broadcaster is shown with its own logo.
• A station its broadcaster lists on other ensembles than the one you receive is recognised by its service identifier and shown with its own logo too.
• A station without a logo of its own is shown with its broadcaster's logo, when the broadcaster publishes one and the station carries the broadcaster's name (a local BBC station, for example).
• A station nobody publishes a logo for keeps the DAB or FM icon.

FM stations

A DAB station says what it is by the identifiers it transmits. An FM station does so only through RDS, and RDS needs better reception than listening does. So an FM station is found in two ways:

• By its RDS programme code (PI). The plugin keeps the code with the station once it has been received, during a scan or while the station plays, and looks the station up by it. The broadcaster's list also says what the station is called; a station still named "FM 98.5" takes that name.
• By its name, until the code is known and where RDS never comes: the name you gave the station, or the one RDS sends. It is looked for among your own DAB stations that have a logo, then in the broadcasters' lists. "Magic Radio" finds "Magic", "Classic" finds "Classic FM", "BBC Radio 2 National" finds "BBC Radio 2". A name that only begins like several stations ("Heart" with "Heart UK", "Heart 80s" and "Heart London" on DAB) takes the logo of the nearest of that family from your DAB stations.

A logo found by name gives way to the one found by the programme code once RDS has told it. A station without a name and without RDS keeps the FM icon; naming it in the Station Manager is what finds its logo.

The name RDS sends is taken as the station's name only after it has stood unchanged for half a minute: some stations put running text there. A name you gave a station is never changed.

Which logo a station gets

flowchart TD
    own{"Did you choose a logo<br/>for this station?"}
    own -- "yes" --> l1["Your logo"]
    own -- "no" --> pub{"Published by the broadcaster<br/>for this station?<br/>(DAB identifiers, FM RDS code)"}
    pub -- "yes" --> l2["The station's own logo"]
    pub -- "no" --> name{"FM: found by its name among<br/>your DAB stations or the<br/>broadcasters' lists?"}
    name -- "yes" --> l3["The logo of the station<br/>of that name"]
    name -- "no" --> group{"Does the broadcaster publish a logo,<br/>and does the station carry its name?"}
    group -- "yes" --> l4["The broadcaster's logo"]
    group -- "no" --> l5["The FM or DAB icon"]

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A logo of your own

Every station in the Station Manager's lists shows its logo at the front of its row; a station without one shows an empty frame. A press on it opens the station's logo dialog, which shows the logo in use and where it comes from, and offers three ways to change it.

Your own picture

Formats	PNG, JPEG or SVG
Ideal	Square, 600 × 600 pixels
Largest file	2 MB (SVG: 512 kB)
Smallest picture	128 pixels on the shorter side; below 300 it is taken with a warning

The dialog shows the picture as it will look before anything is saved. A picture that is not square is fitted into a square: either the whole picture, or filling the square and cropped to the centre. A larger one is scaled down to 600 × 600.

Refused, with the reason: a file that is not a picture, a picture that is too small or too large, and an SVG that contains script or refers to anything outside itself.

One of the broadcasters' logos

A search by name among the services the broadcasters' lists name. The lists are those of the broadcasters you receive on DAB, so the choice is wide but not complete.

One of the logos already on the player

Any logo the plugin already keeps, for example that of the same station on another band.

Your choice is shown everywhere in place of whatever is found for the station, and no refresh replaces it. Back to automatic returns the station to the logo found for it.

When logos are fetched

• In the background after the plugin starts and after a scan, and whenever a station without a logo is listed or played. The station being played is fetched first.
• Only when there is an internet connection. Without one, nothing is fetched and nothing is reported as an error; fetching carries on by itself when the connection is back.
• A station without a published logo is asked about again after a week.

Maintenance > Station Logos in the Station Manager shows how many stations have a logo and whether fetching is under way. Refresh Station Logos asks again for every station without a logo, then checks the logos already kept for newer versions; pictures that have not changed are not downloaded again.

Where they are kept

Logos, your own among them, are kept in /data/rtlsdr_radio_logos and survive plugin updates. Uninstalling the plugin removes them, unless Automatic backup before uninstall is selected, in which case they are kept for the next installation.

A stations backup carries the logos you chose yourself, and a restore puts them back, on this player or another. Logos fetched from the broadcasters are not in a backup: they are fetched again. See Backup and Restore.