10/03/2026
TIRC Expands Monitored Radio Reporting With Autopo.st Audio Fingerprinting & Tracking
New Technology. Better Verification. More Accurate Radio Reporting.
The Texas Internet Radio Association and Texas Internet Radio Chart are excited to announce an important advancement in the way we monitor and document radio airplay across the TIRC reporting panel.
TIRC is implementing audio fingerprinting and track-monitoring technology provided by Autopo.st to monitor participating radio station streams and identify music being played.
This represents another major step in our continued effort to provide artists, radio promoters, record labels, industry professionals and—most importantly—our reporting radio stations with dependable and verifiable radio airplay information.
And before getting into the technology, we want to say something very clearly:
Thank You, Autopo.st
TIRA and TIRC would like to extend a special thank-you to the team at Autopo.st for working directly with us to develop a custom package designed around the needs of the TIRC charts and our reporting station panel.
Autopo.st has been operating since 2013 and says its radio and television services are developed in-house and operated on its own infrastructure rather than simply being resold from another provider. The company specifically notes that this structure allows it to customize many of its services according to a customer’s requirements and budget. (AutoPost Bugs)
That flexibility was extremely valuable to us.
TIRC is not a single radio station looking to monitor its own programming. We operate radio charts involving multiple reporting stations and need a system capable of helping us accurately document airplay across that network.
Autopo.st worked with us on a solution designed around those needs.
We sincerely appreciate their willingness to work with independent radio and the TIRC organization to make this possible.
What Exactly Is Audio Fingerprinting?
This is where the technology gets interesting.
Traditional radio reporting can depend heavily on the information—or metadata—being transmitted by the station.
Audio fingerprinting approaches the problem differently.
Instead of relying exclusively on the text saying what is playing, the system can actually listen to the audio stream.
According to Autopo.st, its platform samples a station’s live stream and uses an audio fingerprinting service to match the songs being played, with results made available in real time. (autopo.st)
Think of the basic process this way:
RADIO STATION STREAM → AUDIO IS SAMPLED → AUDIO FINGERPRINT IS MATCHED → SONG IS IDENTIFIED → PLAY IS LOGGED → REPORTING DATA IS CREATED
That distinction is important.
The system isn’t simply asking:
“What does the station metadata say is playing?”
Audio fingerprinting attempts to determine:
“What recording is actually coming through the stream?”
Why That Matters to TIRC
This capability addresses one of the challenges independent internet radio has faced for years.
Station environments aren’t identical.
Some stations operate completely automated programming.
Some have live DJs.
Some air syndicated programs.
Some broadcast prerecorded shows.
Some have excellent metadata.
Others occasionally have missing or inconsistent metadata.
Autopo.st’s Track Reporting documentation specifically says that its audio fingerprinting service can gather songs played through an audio stream even during prerecorded or live programming where metadata isn’t present. (autopo.st)
That capability is particularly valuable to TIRC.
It gives us another technological method of documenting what was actually broadcast rather than depending entirely upon one station automation or metadata configuration.
What Information Can Be Captured?
Autopo.st says its fingerprinting system can provide information including the artist, track title, track start time, track duration and album information. It can also return artist and cover-art imagery when available. Results can be supplied in formats including JSON, TXT and CSV, and the company says output can be customized for different requirements. (autopo.st)
For chart reporting, several of those fields are especially valuable:
Artist + Song Title + Time Played + Duration
Those pieces of information allow detected airplay to become usable reporting data rather than simply a “now playing” display.
Fingerprinting + Track Reporting
The second part of this system is just as important as recognizing the song.
It has to be logged.
Autopo.st offers Track Reporting that can operate using streaming-server metadata or in conjunction with its Audio Fingerprinting service. Detected songs can then be logged and compiled into reports. Its standard service provides daily and monthly reporting files accessible through its control panel. (autopo.st)
For the TIRC environment, that combination is what makes this technology particularly useful.
Detection tells us what played.
Tracking tells us when it played.
Reporting turns those detections into usable airplay information.
This Also Shows Why Metadata Still Matters
Our recent TIRA educational article discussed the importance of stations maintaining clean metadata.
Nothing about this announcement changes that.
In fact, the two technologies complement each other.
Audio fingerprinting gives us an additional method of recognizing the actual recording coming through the stream. Good metadata gives stations and reporting systems another reliable source of identifying information.
The strongest radio operation is therefore not:
Metadata OR fingerprinting.
It is:
Good Metadata + Audio Fingerprinting + Proper Logging + Human Oversight.
Technology should provide more evidence—not eliminate responsible review.
What This Means for TIRC Reporting Stations
For stations participating in the TIRC reporting ecosystem, our goal is to make reporting easier, more accurate and less burdensome.
A station’s most important job should be programming great radio.
When a participating station can provide us access to its public audio stream, monitoring technology can listen to that stream and identify eligible music being broadcast.
Autopo.st says its fingerprinting system can monitor almost any type of audio stream. The company also separately documents compatibility with Live365 in some of its stream-based services, alongside Icecast and Shoutcast. (autopo.st)
That is especially significant to TIRA because internet radio stations operate on many different platforms.
Our objective is not to force every reporting station into identical software.
Our objective is to accurately document airplay.
This Is About Supporting Independent Radio
There is a larger reason TIRA and TIRC are making this investment.
Independent internet radio continues to provide something incredibly valuable to emerging and independent artists:
Access.
These stations give new artists a place to be discovered.
They give regional music a place to live.
They give DJs and programmers the freedom to introduce listeners to records that may not yet have the resources necessary to compete for major-market terrestrial airplay.
TIRC was built around recognizing that contribution.
As our reporting panel grows, however, the infrastructure supporting the charts must grow with it.
We cannot simply add more stations and more music without continuing to improve how that airplay is collected, verified and processed.
Audio fingerprinting and automated track monitoring are part of that evolution.
Technology Doesn’t Replace Our Stations
We want to make one other point very clear.
The technology does not replace the radio station.
It does not replace the Program Director.
It does not replace the DJ.
It does not determine what music deserves to be played.
And it doesn’t replace human oversight of the charts.
It simply gives us another tool for answering a very important question:
Did the record actually play?
When the answer can be supported by audio recognition, timestamps, station information and reporting data, we have a stronger foundation for chart reporting.
That’s good for the chart.
That’s good for the station.
That’s good for radio promoters.
And ultimately, that’s good for the artist.
Continuing to Build the TIRC Infrastructure
TIRA and TIRC have been working extensively to improve the infrastructure surrounding our charts—from station onboarding and reporting procedures to current-single databases, music screening, metadata education, downloadable music resources for Program Directors and now expanded automated monitoring.
Not every improvement is something listeners will see.
But those improvements matter.
A credible radio chart depends on what happens behind the chart just as much as the Top 20 or Top 40 everyone sees each week.
We will continue evaluating technology and refining our procedures as our station panel grows.
The goal remains simple:
Protect the integrity of the reporting process while making participation practical for independent radio stations.
A Special Thank You to Autopo.st
Once again, we want to publicly thank the team at Autopo.st for taking the time to understand what TIRC needed and working with us on a custom monitoring solution for our charts.
Autopo.st describes itself as a radio and television technology provider operating for more than 13 years, with its services running on its own platform and infrastructure. (autopo.st)
Their willingness to work with an independent chart organization like ours is appreciated.
This isn’t simply about adding another piece of software.
It’s about continuing to build better infrastructure for independent radio and the artists who depend on it.
To our reporting stations: thank you for continuing to grow with us.
To our artists, promoters and industry professionals: thank you for trusting the process.
And to Autopo.st: thank you for helping us take another significant step forward.
There’s a lot more coming.
Texas Internet Radio Association (TIRA)
Texas Internet Radio Chart (TIRC)
TIRC-AM National Americana Chart
Supporting Independent Radio. Supporting Independent Artists. Strengthening the Radio Community.
Learn More About the Technology
Autopo.st Audio Fingerprinting & Song Recognition
Autopo.st Track Reporting
