radio with screen?

A new technology unveiled Tuesday would show what's being said on the radio using a receiver with a screen that would scroll text much like closed captions roll by on TV.

No manufacturer has yet committed to bring the technology to market. It is backed by National Public Radio and Harris Corp. (HRS), a major supplier of broadcasting equipment, as well as a new research center at Towson University near Baltimore.

NPR and its partners displayed a prototype text radio Tuesday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Mike Starling, NPR's chief technology officer, said by phone that the group hoped to bring in commercial broadcasters, radio manufacturers and other industry players.

Starling said he hoped text-based broadcasts would become a new standard in radio, just as digital broadcasting - known as HD Radio - did several years ago.

The text service will rely on HD Radio technology, which allows broadcasters to split their signal into multiple transmissions. Some stations use the extra capacity to broadcast additional music or talk radio channels, which can be heard on HD Radio receivers.

The new scrolling-text service would also use the extra capacity made available through HD Radio, but instead of broadcasting music it would send out streams of data that would be converted to scrolling text by the receivers and then displayed on the screen.

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I saw this on the news today and I think it's cool! What do you think about it? It's cool how modern technology could do to have improvements....

Do you think this will push through and be used by many?