Here's a great service I came across while researching more on mobile marketing. SMSJock looks like a great way for radio stations to reach out to their audiences.

Though satellite and mobile radio is starting to catch on, millions of people around the world still listen to their favorite traditional radio stations. And part of the typical radio experience is for a listener to phone in, either to request for a song, try to win a prize, or simply greet friends.

Yet as you may know, especially for stations with lots of listeners, it may be hard for a call to go through. I remember trying to join a radio contest to win free movie tickets a few years ago, and I wasn't even able to participate; all I got was the busy tone.

But SMSJock is an SMS Service that seems to give everyone a chance. Here's what the demo showcases:

• Listeners can text in their messages, requests, or answers, and the DJ uses a web-based interface to handle all the responses (it would be pretty hard to manage thousands of texts with a typical smartphone after all).


• The DJ can also use the SMSJock interface to easily sort things out, like quickly tallying the results of a poll.


• It seems things work both ways. The DJ can also broadcast messages to subscribed listeners, such as news items or announcements.

Sounds pretty good, to be honest. So let's end with the most important question of all: how much does it cost? Well, SMSJock's website prominently asserts that it costs nothing for radio stations to use. It also has a helpful FAQ page that says users will have to pay $3.99/month to receive announcements, and 30 cents for each text sent through the service.