National Public Radio (NPR) has launched an iPhone application to extend its reach and offer advertisers another medium for reaching their target audience.

The radio news source's application allows users to listen to its various channels. The application is free to download and currently only supported by house ads, but NPR plans to have ad support soon.

"For NPR it offers a unique opportunity," said Kinsey Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of NPR Digital, Washington. "We pushed 10 days ago and by Monday we were ahead of the NY Times and USA Today in the iTunes store news section."

NPR is a multimedia news organization that works in collaboration with more than 880 independent public radio stations nationwide.

The iPhone application allows users to listen to programs and read the news at once and provides five minute audio newscasts on the hour. Future application features include live news coverage and live concerts.

Special features include a customizable playlist for users to select and organize their news stories and a location based service to allow users to locate their nearest NPR station.

The application is currently ranked the eighth most popular application in the Apple App Store.

This is not NPR's first foray into mobile.

The news organization has a WAP site, http://m.npr.org, and a presence on AT&T and T-Mobile's deck as well as other platform deals in the works.

NPR Mobile launched in August 2007 and was awarded a 2009 Webby for "Best Mobile News."

Via NPR mobile, users can listen to the latest newscast from NPR, read full-length articles, enjoy NPR Music's Song of the Day or take the Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me! news quiz

Mr. Wilson said the iPhone application lets NPR be available to listeners and readers whenever and wherever they are.

But NPR isn't the only news provider in the mobile space.

Earlier this week, the financial services giant Visa and European engineering conglomerate Siemens AG became two of the first brands running interactive interstitial advertising within the New York Times iPhone application (see story).

"[Users] can find NPR and member stations to consume news and information at any time," he said. "It presents us with an opprotuinty, people talked about mobile for 10 years or so now as being the next platform and with emergence of smartphones and in particular app driven devices, the level of engagement and usage that wasn't there before. It extends what we do on air to mobile platform."

NPR said the targeted demographic wasn't an age bracket, just the average person.

"I would say we haven't targeted a demo so much as viewed it as an opportunity to give our core listenership a wider opportunity to read us on different platforms and reach a new audience that may not be familiar with us on radio, on devices they use regularly," Mr. Wilson said. "We're going to where the audience is."