Um yeah, that's right, that's what I meant.
I'd forgotten how VCRs get their time signal. Must have gotten it confused in my head because of the split in VHF tv frequencies between channels 6 and 7. In our area, I can tune my FM radio down to the bottom of its band and get TV channel 6's audio stream, and it also happens that channel 6 is the channel our VCR gets its time clock from.
Anyway, to answer the question definitively: No, the empeg does not set its clock to the RDS time. In the US, this is a good thing because that way your clock isn't as wrong as the RDS clock at most radio stations.