Whenever I saved a radio station I noticed the name it would save with RDS on was seemly random characters for some stations (like HD&1) and fine for others. When I added this latest station I noticed it saved the name as 'Gaga' and the song that was on at the time was by Lady Gaga. A light bulb went off and I said to myself, ohh it must use what ever is displaying in the RDS text as the station's name. Well this radio station's RDS text would eventually display the frequency it was on, something like 93.5FM and so I waited until just the right moment and stored the preset right when the frequency text was showing. Apparently iDrive didn't like this so much because as soon as I did this ALL of my other presets went POOF, gone. I said well that sucks but at least I cleared all those other presets I didn't want anymore so that's cool. Well I was wrong, it wont let me scroll to the right at all to save another station. In fact one time I turned my car on and all the presets that had previously vanished were back! I then tried to scroll over to the right and as soon as I did that, POOF, gone again.

So something is definitely fubar with my radio presets and I'm hoping I can clear these out without having to take my car in. It's not due for service for another 4K miles. Is this possible?

Thanks for the help

Well, you didn't state what year/model you have, but from 2005 thru my latest 2010 535, this is how it operates. Bummer, but it is normal operation. :nono:

I can attest to this, and it varies from day to day. I think it just picks the first few words of whatever the station is sending through RDS. It really blows. :(

Well that sucks. But my problem is more than just an inconvenience in getting the preset name just right. When I saved the last station it completely made the preset menu non-functional. If I turn my car off and on the 10 or so presets I show up again but if I try to dial to the right to select one they disappear and the station does not change. I'm hoping there is some way for me to clear/delete all the saved presets so that I can get everything to work again without taking it into the dealer. I have a 2007 525i

And I thought I was all alone.

Pity this thread stopped in 2009. My 2004 545i did the same thing. Stored "Miley" as this was the song artist on at the time. But then that is all it would store as the name. Took it to BMW. Seems they disabled something. Because everytime I try save the station now I get 94.2 and not the name. All other presets are 100%. I gave up out of frustration.

Would be great if omeone could pick this thread up that has advice.

This irritated me enough that I just have RDS turned off so it just displays the frequency for all the stations. It's pretty sad that my friends e39 2003 540 correctly displays the station data but my 2008 550 cannot.

I had this problem when all my presets reset to nothing. The best way to add resets is to first turn off RDS in iDrive. Then when you add a preset it adds the radio station correctly. I too had stations named after songs but by saving them with RDS off when I reset the presets the proper name was saved. After saving, turn the RDS back on. It worked for me.

I just recently bought my first BMW and had similar questions about what I am seeing with RDS. I have a 2011. With RDS on, under FM in iDrive, I see a list of all available stations (not presets). However, some are named randomly, like one is named Styx, but is just a local classic rock station. I can't find anywhere to change the station display. For some stations, there is a place under Options to select the display name based on what is being broadcast at the time. However, with the Styx example, that station does not provide it. When I turn off RDS, the station list is a sequential frequency list. I'm just trying to figure out if there is a way to get the RDS list to display correctly.

Sometimes my RDS gets stuck on a song name and cycles through the station frequency and then goes right back to the old song name. Usually it clears up after the next time I start my car. Though my RDS also turns off when I turn off my car and when I start it the RDS is off, not consistantly just randomly. So I guess thats the fix haha just have your RDS turn itself off with the car so when you turn it back on its fresh again.

Don't forget that RDS is directly affected by the strength of the station's signal. The distance to the station's transmitters may not affect the music but will affect the RDS, much like a station will lose its stereo setting as the distance increases.