Here is my list of free Iphone apps that journalists on the go should check out. I don’t know if I agree that radio will be replaced by Pandora. Radio transmissions are far to ubiquitous and practical to be wiped out by this groovy service.

But I do like programming my own radio stations . .
Listen in here: http://www.pandora.com/people/golf415

My list for journalists on the move . . .

Pandora on the iPhone is amazing. It makes your iPhone into a commercial-free transistor radio, in a sense. Perfect for the towel on sand at Brighton, or North Avenue Beach.
Twittelator is my must have Twitter app. Twitterific was great, but now has intrusive ads . . . ’nuff said.
Last.fm also gives you a Pandora-like radio experience
AIM - of course!
Weatherbug - so much more detail than the basic Apple weather app. Love the animated radar - a life saver in Chicago.
Google mobile app - gives you direct access to your Google docs.
Facebook - natch!
Truphone - for making skype like calls to international friends for pennies.
BA Flights - to track real time flight info for British Airways flights I or friends might be taking. (Hello, American Airlines - get with the program, people . . ) Would also love it if Kayak or Sidestep offered a native app, too.
Translators: The free Coolgorilla talking phrases apps include text and audio translations for common phrases in German, French, Spanish and Italian.

And I’d suggest the iPhone as radio reception device actually enhances broadcast radio’s reach. I’ve been listening to a good bit of CBS’s All News stations from coast to coast for local news via the AOL Radio app and find it way more convenient than firing up my laptop just to listen.

I like my satellite radio and Howard as much as anyone. But before you tear down any towers, just try living through a disaster when the cable and telco lines are down and the only local information you can get for days is through a battery powered radio or television set. (Though I admit that consolidation has often diminished those resources in many smaller markets…)

If you are going to be a fan of local news and information, you might not want to blow up those towers quite yet until the wired infrastructure is reliable as the wireless one has been when it matters most.

I sure hope you’re buying shows on iTunes, then, because you’re missing great stuff in our creative culture. I wouldn’t take shutting yourself off from TV — anymore than shutting yourself off from bookstores, libraries, and concert halls — as a point of pride. I’d say instead it’s a cause for sympathy or wonder.

I’m proud to be in an elite minority in that case. I’ll buy one of those DTV converter boxes for my 10-year-old TV sometime after February 18, 2009, that is IF I actually find that I miss the vast wasteland that is TV.

Those stations usually have high-visibility in their region and are very involved with the local community, which is not always possible with online media, and definately not with a la carte programming. Add that to the low penetration of broadband and the average age of listeners (over 30), and you can understand why radio is not dead. Actually, outside of large town, the number of stations is actually increasing…

broadcast will slowly die off as a means to get content to audience

but radio has a bright future as programming still matters very much

i am a huge fan of web music services like last.fm, pandora, hype machine, etc

but i still want someone to play music, do talk shows, etc

and that’s radio’s business and always will be

fred