A imagem como solução para o futuro da rádio

«Radio is not just becoming an interactive medium: it is also becoming increasingly visual and platform operators and supporters of DAB or DMB broadcasting must address the threat of Visual Radio on mobile phones, which uses ordinary FM signals into the handsets and synchronises them with WAP/GPRS connections via the mobile network to deliver enhanced data including colour images of artists, station logos or products that are being advertised. (...) Visual Radio - pioneered by Nokia, marketed by HP but only available on a handful of systems worldwide, represents a very limited radio market today. However, it combines the efficiency of FM over-the-air broadcasts with a two-way, one-to-one connection that makes true interactivity possible, including the ability to link to websites, send emails and download ringtones or other services that can be monetised. Visual Radio looks like a killer application, especially for those targeting youth markets. It is an example of the power of mobile phones as radio devices, the emergence of significant new players in the radio industry (like Nokia as a receiver manufacturer), and an indication of how radio is quickly evolving beyond audio-only. (...) How will the DAB-based marketplace respond to Visual Radio? DAB already contains the tools, in the form of MOT (Multimedia Object Transfer) Slide Shows, to deliver still images alongside audio. But where are the colour displays that will make free-to-air digital radio broadcasts as graphically rich and compelling as Visual Radio? Are digital radio platform operators interested in delivering still colour images and is there a business model to support it, bearing in mind that mobile phone operators can draw upon subscriptions or pay-per-use GPRS connection time to fund Visual Radio? Is there an advertising/sponsorship model that could make truly visual radio possible on free-to-air digital radio? The emergence of visual radio looks so compelling, from a consumer perspective, that it begs the question: will there be any other kind of radio 20 years from now? How should radio broadcasters, content creators and platform operators view this innovation in terms of their future businesses? Perhaps the biggest potential for radio-to-mobiles is in interactivity.
Visual Radio is the pinnacle of interactive radio, delivering rich graphics on a dedicated 'back channel' and providing the means for the listener/viewer to communicate directly with the radio station, or perhaps better still for commercial radio station owners, with an advertiser. Is direct response led advertising, and records of website hits during a promotion, a realistic ambition for radio-to-mobile?»

texto de apresentação do The Digital Radio Show 2007, 11 e 12 de Junho 2007, Londres