In December 2004, I wrote an article for The Feature (now sadly, defunct) in which I argued that it was radio and mobile that was the natural marriage, with TV being the unwanted guest at the wedding reception.

You can do most things while listening to the radio, I argued – drive a car, walk around, read a book even. And radio producers are experienced in formatting programmes that can be consumed while you’re doing other things. Ideal for mobile usage then.

So I was rather pleased to read the results of the first UK trial, run by BT and Virgin, which seems to be supporting my thinking.

The trial, which took place among 1,000 users in Greater London found that “while 59% rated mobile television as appealing or very appealing by the end of a six-month test, 65% said the same about digital radio.” They went on to say that while they watched 66 minutes of TV in the week, they actually listed to 95 minutes of radio.

BT’s MD of the project said:

“I would characterise it as radio [being] even more attractive than TV in the trial,” said Emma Lloyd, managing director of BT’s Movio business, which plans to offer a wholesale TV service to mobile phone companies from this summer. “We will be able to piggy-back on the attractiveness of digital radio and I don’t think that is a negative thing; I see it as a positive thing because the UK leads the world in digital radio.”

I’d actually argue that once the novelty factor had worn off, we’ll see an even greater preference for Radio emerging.

A further concern highlighted by the trial for all those companies who have invested megabucks in Mobile TV is that the average user would only be prepared to pay £5 ($8.83) a month for TV. Whereas the tariff is currently double this benchmark, at £10.

I can’t find my post on The Feature Archives, but here is a draft if you want to read it.

Radio Heads

Hardly a day seems to go by without yet another announcement about yet another company investing millions in Mobile TV.

Lots of pundits, including myself, have argued that broadcasting existing TV to people’s phones simply won’t work. People are on the move (mobile – geddit?), have shorter attention spans and anyway, the viewing experience is pretty awful compared to the giant screens we have at home, coupled up to state-of-the-art sound systems.

At the very least, we’ve written, the format will need to be changed to cater for the different user experience. So maybe we’ll have 5-minute clips available on demand, rather than the conventional ½ hour soaps or 90-minute features.

But maybe, we’re looking at the wrong medium altogether. Could radio and mobile be the natural marriage, with TV being the unwanted guest at the wedding reception?

Actually, when you think about it, radio on the move makes far more sense – whether your preference is for music or speech radio. You can do most things while listening to the radio – drive a car, walk around, read a book even. And radio producers are experienced in formatting programmes that can be consumed while you’re doing other things. Ideal for mobile usage then.

Online radio is also going through a resurgence online. The excellent Last FM, for instance, has managed to achieve what countless websites have failed to do – finding ways of introducing music fans to new music. It’s very simple. You input 3 artists you like. They find other people with the same artists in their taste portfolio. And Last FM then broadcast your own personalised micro-radio station to you based on the preferences of the people with similar tastes.

You get familiar music, mixed with some new stuff – most of which, as if by magic, you really like. It’s brilliant.

Podcasting is the new new thing at the moment, allowing you to put audio downloaded from the web onto your iPod or MP3 player. It’s taking off like crazy, but ultimately it’s time shifted radio on the move.

So is this just theory, or is there any evidence for the success of the mobile and radio combination? Certainly, some mobiles have been equipped with FM receivers and they aren’t noted for their high demand. But that’s almost certainly as reception isn’t terribly good, certainly if you’re travelling in an urban area.

Could we be about to enter radio’s new Golden Age?