» Radio, Corn Dogs And Record Crowds: What do those three things share in common? A great story highlighting the power of radio as told by WHO/Des Moines PD and morning man Van Harden: "The Iowa State Fair came to us because they wanted to make sure this year's event got off to a good start since there were concerns about high gas prices and our recent floods and tornados," reports Harden. "They hoped to get an extra 5,000 people on the opening morning of the fair. So Van & Bonnie In The Morning decided to attempt a world's record for the most number of people eating corn dogs in the same place at the same time. Listeners could participate and get into the fair free if they got there before 8:30am. Our show went on the air at 5am and 42,000 -- yes, 42,000! -- people came through the gates between 5-8:30 am! The fairgrounds' stadium holds 11,000 and we filled it, with huge crowds waiting outside trying to get in for our live show. We served 8,400 corn dogs, which was all we could logistically make. The fair set a new first day attendance record of 101,000 people -- up from 76,000 last year. Isn't radio great?"

» Providence Arbitron Take Two: After learning that several diaries in the originally released 2008 Spring Arbitron came from "media affiliated households" the ratings company has re-issued the Providence book with those diaries deleted from final tabulations. As a result Citadel News/Talker WPRO-AM -- while holding on to it's #1 25-54 ratings overall -- slipped from number one to number two in the market (12+). The biggest impact of the reissue on WPRO's numbers came in morning drive where wake-up host John DePetro fell from #4 to #9 25-54. The disputed diaries were all in that demo and had reported nearly 110 hours of listening to DePetro in a single week, something that caught the eye of crosstown Clear Channel Radio officials who asked Arbitron to investigate. You can check out the revised ratings for Providence and for all 2008 Spring markets released to date HERE.

» Warren Kurtzman Upped At Coleman: VP of the respected Raleigh, NC-based media research firm since 1995, Kurtzman moves up to President/COO of Coleman Insights effective immediately. Company founder Jon Coleman will assume the title of Chairman/CEO and says he will remain active with the firm he started some 30 years ago. "Over the past 13-plus years with Coleman Insights, Warren has shown that he is the right person to lead this company into the future," said Coleman about Kurtzman's move up the company ladder. "I'm confident that our clients will see the benefit of his leaderships as clearly as I do."

» Imus Sets New Record: No, the "I-Man" isn't picking up gold medals in Beijing, but the ABC Radio Networks syndicated talker is fronting a new CD to benefit his non-profit ranch in New Mexico that provides kids with cancer and other serious diseases a chance to temporarily escape their daily medical burdens. Imus has reportedly hand-chosen the songs for the Imus Ranch Record that are all performed by an A-list group of mostly Country music artists that includes Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakum, Delbert McClinton, Randy Travis, Levon Helm, Big & Rich, Vince Gill and Patty Loveless. New West Records will release the CD in mid-September. Longtime Imus fans will note the upcoming CD is not the host's first album release. He previously struck recorded comedy gold with his now classic albums 1200 Hamburgers To Go and This Honky's Nuts.