Technically I need to have this be 'video OR audio' - but I am not that great in php. Because it will pull any featured articles now, but as long as I only feature audio and video, it will work fine.
If you'd rather play an audio instead of displaying a fully fledged video clip, then why wouldn't you just upload that audio file to YouTube or Vimeo and let your Newedge visitors to listen to that audio clip instead of watching a video? I find many guys and gals uploading their speaking onto YouTube instead of their videos, so why not to follow the suit? Or did I misunderstand you?
I have a full audio library on soundcloud along with a full video library on Vimeo - I would like to mix the 2 in a "featured" block on the home page. I like how the featured video add-on formats.
It's nice to see you found a workaround. Please keep in mind that your hack will be overridden next time you upgrade your SP Page Builder to newly released version. All the best.