In early February 2008, American Airlines will begin airing GrapeRadio on its in-flight personal entertainment media players in Business and First Class, the first such wine-specific programming on any U.S. airline. That’s right, a PODCAST is being played at 30,000 feet. You can read the Press Release here.

Easily repurposing content for different channels and audience is part of the value play new media brings. From DVDs to “in-flight personal entertainment media players,” our content needs to get in as many places as possible. But we need to remain thin in the process as it is part of what we offer. There weren’t 37 different unions and lawyers to make this deal happen, and that is why it happened.

And for those of you snickering conspiracy types who hear a pay-for-play element here, I have it on good authority that such ain’t the case in this instance. They’ve been working on this for over a year and have done this on an episode by episode basis to make sure everyone gets what they want.

What kind of quality are these shows? One episode has an interview with Margrit Mondavi, hard to come by no matter who you are in the wine space. If you know anything about wine, and even if you don’t, it is easy to tell that what these guys have done has been first class all the time.

And that, my friends, is why I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Do I dare say digital media soars to new heights?

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