Nokia's Visual Radio broadcast concept goes on air

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	Nokia's Visual Radio broadcast concept goes on air	By Jørgen Sundgot, Friday 4 March 2005

Finland's Kiss FM is the first radio station to begin broadcasts based on Nokia's interactive Visual Radio broadcast concept.

SBS Finland's Kiss FM today became the first radio station in the world to begin Visual Radio broadcasts, according to a joint announcement from Nokia and SBS Finland. The concept, developed by Nokia, offers a high degree of interactivity with broadcasters, allowing listeners to participate and communicate in new ways.

The Nokia 7710, Nokia 3230 and the Nokia 6230i, which was launched earlier this week, are the first Nokia phones to feature the new Visual Radio application, with more Visual Radio enabled handsets to be introduced later this year.

Nokia 6230i

Kiss FM Visual Radio provides visual information on the song and artist currently playing on the radio, including album information and future tour dates. By pushing a button, listeners can take part in competitions and audience polls, buy ring tones and wallpapers for their phone, and among other things book tickets for concerts.

Radio City, another SBS station, will begin Visual Radio broadcasts later this spring, and the theme of the visual content there will follow that of the station's motto, 'Rock and Sports'.

Also dependent on mobile network operators, Finland's Sonera announced that it would make the Visual Radio service available to all of its customers without requiring registration or any service subscriptions. Users will not pay any connection or monthly fees, as use of the service is charged by the standard per-KB pricing model for packet-based traffic.