Public Radio and the Mobile Web

A sampling of some public radio mobile websites.

It wasn’t long ago that a “mobile website” meant a bare-bones, text-only browsing experience. Today, the mobile web is quite a different place, and many mobile sites are packed with rich multimedia features. Public radio organizations are among those making a splash on the mobile web.

The Public Radio Player is what you call a native app — it’s a piece of software designed specifically for the iPhone. (Android version coming soon!)  In contrast, a mobile site is quite simply a website formatted for viewing on a smartphone and can be accessed by any web-enabled phone.

While the universal access of a mobile website is attractive, developing native apps has advantages. Native apps can, for example, harness all the fancy features of a smartphone — the camera, GPS, and the accelerometer, just to name a few. To accommodate the greatest number of streaming audio formats, the Public Radio Player remains better off as a native app. But the mobile web is evolving rapidly and the line between native apps and mobile websites is beginning to blur.

NPR launched their first mobile site in 2007 and has continually upgraded the site (found at m.npr.org) as mobile web standards have improved. The site provides access to the all NPR news stories, and audio from hourly newscasts and a number of NPR produced programs. NPR also provides stations the ability to import local news feeds and audio to create a local presence within the NPR mobile site.

A handful of local stations have established their own mobile sites. Three great examples are WBUR in Boston (the site recognizes mobile browsers at wbur.org), KPBS in San Diego (mobile.kpbs.org), and Minnesota Public Radio (m.mpr.org). These sites focus on providing local and national headlines, and links to on-air schedules and programs. The KPBS and WBUR mobile sites allow you to stream live audio as well (and you can close Safari and the audio plays on while you access other apps!). Hop on your phone and check out these impressive examples of public radio on the mobile web.