» News/Talk Wins Big At Marconi's: The format's strength was on display again last night during the annual awards gala at the NAB Radio Show in Austin. Premiere Radio Networks talker Glenn Beck took home honors for "Syndicated/Network Personality of the Year," while KFI/Los Angeles received a well-deserved nod as "News/Talk Station of the Year." Other News/Talk/Sports winners included WMAL/Washington (Major Market Station of the Year); KOA/Denver (Large Market Station of the Year); WGIL/Galesburg, IL (Small Market Station of the Year); and WEEI/Boston (Sports Station of the Year). Congratulation to all of this year's nominees and winners.

» "Prognosticating The Demise Of Radio Will Get Us Nowhere": That's the response by CelleCast CEO Andrew Deal to a September 16 news item reported in NTS Aircheck Today ("Radio Industry Has About 36 Months"). "The 36 month prediction of radios relegation to the ‘dustbin' is just plain wrong," writes Deal in the latest post to his blog The Fourth Speaker. "The industry will not expire, but it will gradually transform into a multi-platform model. The platforms that still reach 93% of the population are not going away anytime soon, nor should they. Talking down radio today is a senseless, self-inflicted wound that we would expect to be reserved for radio's detractors." You can read more of Deal's pro-radio rant HERE.

» Rush Hits Back At Obama: As we reported yesterday (9/18), Premiere Radio Networks host Rush Limbaugh is none too happy over a campaign ad by Democrat Barack Obama using comments by the talk host in an attempt to convince Latino voters that Republican John McCain is anti-immigrant. "What kind of potential President would let his campaign knowingly extract two incomplete, out-of-context lines from two radio parodies and build a framework of hate around them in order to exploit racial tensions?" asks Limbaugh in an op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal . "The malignant aspect of this is that Mr. Obama and his advisers know exactly what they are doing. They had to listen to both monologues or read the transcripts. They then had to pick the particular excerpts they used in order to create a commercial of distortions. Their hoped-for result is to inflame racial tensions." You can read the full editorial HERE.

» Matt Gutman Joins ABC News Radio: A freelance reporter for the network based in Jerusalem, Gutman joins ABC News Radio as a fulltime correspondent based in Miami. Gutman will cover news and events for ABCNR in the Southeast and Central U.S., as well as South America and the Caribbean. Gutman filed his first freelance piece for ABC in 2005 in the midst of being tear-gassed on the rooftop of a Gaza Strip synagogue. Since then, he's covered all areas of the Middle East for the network, including Afghanistan, Israel and Saudi Arabia. He also reported from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Prior to moving to radio Gutman's resume includes a stint as a correspondent for USA Today in Israel and for the Jerusalem Post where he covered the war in Iraq for the Israeli newspaper.

» Meltdown On Wall Street: That's the title of a special report available tonight for affiliates of the Wall Street Journal Radio Network. The five-minute wrap-up of this historical week will be anchored by Ray Hoffman who will review events that, "pummeled portfolios and pressured personal savings." The special feature will be available without any network inventory at 6:05pm (ET) with re-feeds sent at 7pm and 8pm. Meanwhile, News/Talk KIRO-AM & FM/Seattle will offer northwest listeners a special one-hour local broadcast on the crisis in the financial markets with Money Madness: Fear Vs. Facts tonight at 6pm. The broadcast will be anchored by KIRO's Tony Miner and will feature answers from financial experts to questions posed by the station's listeners.

» Talk Media News Notes: San Francisco gets a new Dial-Global sales office that will be headed by newly named VP/Network Radio and Digital Sales Sarah Buckley. Buckley was most recently with Westwood One … NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will present the RTNDA's "Paul White Award" posthumously to his friend and colleague Tim Russert on October 13 in New York City. Russert's widow Maureen Orth and his son Luke Russert will accept the award … Charlie Ochs exits as Market Manager of CBS Radio/Tampa … WTMJ GSM Tom Sheridan adds like duties at FM AC clustermate WKTI … Condolences: To the family and friends of former WCBS-AM/New York newsman Anthony Brunton who passed away on September 14 at age 76.

Broadcasters Open Their Hearts And Wallets In Austin: That's NAB Executive VP Dennis Wharton (l) and Austin Convention Center Sales Manager VJ Barre handing out hundreds of toys donated by the NAB to children evacuated to the Austin Convention Center in the wake of hurricane Ike. Every child received at least one toy from an assortment that included puzzles, games, books, Lincoln logs, Legos, cars, trucks, dolls, balls, coloring books, Play-Doh, and cards.