I've long been a fan of radio and, while it's come under pressure from the Internet, still believe it has a lot of legs to it. Unfortunately, beyond HD and satellite, there hasn't been a lot of user-centric innovation in the industry for a long time, and most of that is in the form of formats (did you know "classic rock" was invented in 1982?).

I believe there is a tremendous opportunity for radio and the web to merge, and not just in the Last.fm & Pandora sorts of ways. I often listen to the radio when I'm working and surfing, especially sports talk radio. I'm a huge fan of Scott & Al and Irv, Joe & Jim. The intimacy of radio is such that I feel like I know these guys and wouldn't be surprised to bump into them at a tailgate or barbecue.

So why is it so hard to connect with them online? Why don't they have blogs? How about a Flickr photostream from their latest remote? How about letting more people comment on the hot topics online instead of just limiting it to a few callers who are patient enough to wait on hold?

The industry has been slow on the uptake of that kind of thing, but there are signs that it is changing. One good one is some research that was done by Jacobs Media. They're a pretty major media player, but you probably never heard, of them, right? That's because they're primarily a radio consulting firm, so us webheads don't stumble across them on Digg or del.icio.us.

In partnership with Arbitron, they've been doing some great research into how and why young people interact with media. It's called "The Bedroom Project," and they're unveiling the full presentation at the upcoming NAB Radio Show. You can see a short teaser here