• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 9, 2011

This column is coming to you with value: "Imported from Los Angeles."

Key to the surprising Super Bowl Chrysler commercial featuring Eminem was a striking message left for viewers to ponder -- that building automobiles is something deep in the genetic makeup of Detroit citizens. That's serious stuff, attached to Eminem's always deep perspective.

Then we were left with graphic at the end of the spot: "Imported from Detroit."

Localism is a growing topic for many TV stations -- so much so that station executives salivate over the prospects of what mobile technology can do for their key programming strength --- local news.

With more than 200 mobile phones in the U.S. -- and a growing number of them smartphones, which can easily receive video -- the future of TV stations may well be in their local citizens' hands. Literally.

Five, ten or 15 years from now , there may be a different landscape for how people get real-time local TV news -- on their commutes, while at work, or out for a stroll.

AOL recently spent $315 million for The Huffington Post, which to AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong, is just one piece in a larger array of niche information digital areas. These include Patch, AOL's micro-local digital newspapers, which he believes will grow in value as U.S. citizens look for deeper information about their communities -- perhaps even as small as a ten-block radius.

But the branding of localism needs to be cool if it is to become more valuable to advertisers. (The word 'imported" has a nice cache). That is what Chrysler hopes to accomplish in tweaking the minds of consumers, what TV station owners are pushing for with new mobile technology, and what AOL believes will be a key part of the future of U.S. journalism.

So when it comes to media and entertainment, someone can say: "This is Los Angeles, this is what we do."