I've been waiting for more radio stations to do this. NPR's Talk of the Nation recently launched a companion blog that mirrors the topics covered on their daily show. It allows listeners to post comments that otherwise would likely go unheard given the time constraints of talk radio.

For example, check out the comments on today's discussion about forced treatment of the mentally ill. They generally are quite articulate, probably moreso than if they had just called in because the contributors had the luxury of writing and previewing their comments without the pressure of being live on the air.

I've long believed that talk radio has an enormous opportunity around social networking. There are so many niches and personalities in radio, and there's a level of intimacy with radio hosts that doesn't exist in other media. Listeners want to interact with the host, but most of them never do because of time constraints or the intimidation factor of talking on the air.

Now if only my local sports station would do this... Then again, I may not ever get any work done in favor of debating how the Broncos match up against the Raiders. ;)