Think about how a handheld device that simultaneously offers both broadcast radio reception and wireless Internet access could be used. The addition of synchronized visual “enhancements” from a station’s website to its regular audio broadcast content will increase the appeal of a station’s programming to listeners and to advertisers. In such an application, audio still arrives at a handheld’s headphone jack via the very efficient and robust FM broadcast channel, while a relatively small amount of additional enhancement data (such as album cover art, advertiser logos and location info, playlists and program guides, sports scores and weather graphics, etc.) flows via WiFi or 3G links to the device’s display screen.

via www.paragonmediastrategies.com

Skip Pizzi is God’s gift to radio. His point here is about marrying portable FM receivers with Internet data. This is the first article pursuing this line of thinking that I’ve come across — even though I’ve been looking for more on this topic for some time. As usual, Skip is ahead of the curve here (as are those broadcasters in UK). I think this link between the mobile platform and our traditional audio signal is huge. I approach it as a public radio news director (and public radio news consumer): How do we keep public radio front and center as our primary niche service — while augmenting service via the visual opportunities of the mobile web? NPR’s rush to do what I’ll call “newspapers on web” doesn’t satisfy the audio imperatives, but a lesser visual accompaniment certainly does. Take Skip’s idea one step further and now we’re seeing pictures of newsmakers or news events or the reporters themselves on the screen as an accompaniment to our audio.