I received a product release today for a stand-alone radio that includes 1GB of storage and a timer interface to record up to 70 hours of radio programming. I wasn’t sure what to make of the idea.

The idea is that the unit can be set to record favorite programs for later playback. It’s a radio Tivo. This is not a new idea. There have also been similar functions offered in HD Radio receivers.

I looked at a few syndicated show sites to see if they all offered archives of their shows. They do. Some provided an easy way to save the shows or transfer them to a media player. Others were a little more difficult to navigate.

Regardless, the tools are there, although it might not be intuitive for some listeners.

Is there a need for this radio Tivo? For certain radio listeners it makes sense. It’s a self-contained system, although I have no idea how easy it is to use.

I then turned to some local station sites to see if the morning shows were offered as archives. In most cases, they had archives of clips. A few sites did not, which surprised me. Why would a station not offer its prime content online somehow? Even if that content is behind a registration wall (which also provides some info about the listener) it’s something.