CANADA: Larche Communications-owned CJOS-FM (92.3), a new station in Owen Sound, Ontario, hires Rob Brignell as GM/GSM … The top story on the Radio-Info Toronto board is the ratings, and how PPMs are now in the five most important Canadian markets – Discuss it … SOMALIA: Markabley Radio director Mohamed Salad Abdulle and Markabley and Horn Afrik Radio reporter Mohamed Abdikarim remain under arrest by the al-Shabaab militia. No reason for their arrest was made public … ETHIOPIA: Claiming they are broadcasting “destabilising propaganda,” the government announced they are behind the blocking of Voice of America’s signal in the East African nation … ENGLAND: BBC Radio 5’s move to the new Media City complex in Salford is being delayed by three months for what the BBC is calling “technical reasons” … Travis Baxter is promoted to Consultant for Content and External Affairs Director at Bauer Media.

And the world’s most famous bicyclist, Lance Armstrong, came on Kornheiser’s WTEM (980) radio show to accept his apologies. USA Today says the conversation lasted over 15 minutes, with Armstrong calling in from France and agreeing that Kornheiser was “sincere” in his remorse. Last week’s Kornheiser rant was about the proliferation of bicyclists on the road and also their outfits, which he ridiculed. Now, he says he’s “old” and admits he hasn’t been on a bike in “forever and forever.” As USA Today’s Tom Weir observes, much of the chat centered on “the power of social media”, with Kornheiser feeling the sting of Armstrong’s Twitter comments. The Tour de France champion had called Tony’s remarks “disgusting, ignorant, foolish” and called him out as a complete f-ing idiot.“ Now they've made up – on the radio.

Clear Channel’s “Q102” WIOQ-FM is bringing in Maxwell not only for evenings, but also for APD/MD chores under PD Tim “Romeo” Herbster. Says Herbster, “Maxwell is not only a very talented jock but has great ears and a strong programming vision. Along with his unique online capabilities, he’s the total package for Q102.” Maxwell last worked in Columbus, Ohio on WNCI-FM (97.9) where he held down nights and handled MD duties. Maxwell takes to the Philadelphia airwaves starting March 29.

Baltimore’s CBS-owned “Fan” WJZ-FM (105.7) pairs Jeremy Conn with Scott Garceau for afternoon drive, replacing Anita Marks, reports PressBoxOnline … Following their flip from music to “The Big Talker”, Citadel’s WLTI-FM (105.9) is changing call letters and will now be known as WXTL-FM … David W. Brown, the founder of the Brown Partners advertising agency, is named as EVP/GM of Philadelphia’s WURD-AM (900) … President Obama has tapped Amy Totenberg for a Federal judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She is the sister of NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg … After a 23-year run on Peak Broadcasting’s KIDO-AM (580) in Boise, Idaho, the “Homefix” show is being moved to Citadel’s KBOI-AM (670) … “Peter Greenberg WorldWide Radio,” hosted by Peter Greenberg, reaches the 400 affiliate milestone, after adding Hartford, Connecticut’s WTIC-AM (1080) & WISN-AM (1130) in Milwaukee.

Midday personality Jeffrey T. Mason adds APD duties at CBS Radio’s oldies KOOL Phoenix. Mason, who just joined the station in January, also does afternoons at country sister station KMLE. Andrew Bland, who had been APD for both KOOL and KMLE, will now focus on the country station. Prior to joining CBS, Mason was APD/MD/air personality at country WMZQ Washington, D.C.

The American League Yankees and radio partner WCBS-AM (880) just placed Spanish-language rights with Univision’s Spanish news/talk WADO (1280). Now the National League Mets partner up with Univision to put the Mets on the station that previously had the Yankees – regional Mexican WQBU, licensed to Garden City and straddling the Long Island and New York City radio markets. The deal just announced by the Mets will place all but 12 of the 162 regular season games on WQBU along with two Spring training games. There will be special promotion for the series the Mets play in Puerto Rico against the Florida Marlins, June 28-30. The new deal with the Mets also grants the franchise cross-promotion on other Univision radio stations in the Big Apple. The booth team of Juan Alicea and Max Perez Jimenez continues to call the action, and their voices will be heard on the Secondary Audio Program (SAP) channel for the SNY cable service and WPIX-TV/Channel 11. The New York Board of Radio-Info is talking Mets and Yankees baseball, here.

Konrad was thrown from his Yamaha when he was unable to avoid a mattress that was lying in the left-hand lane of I-94 in the stretch through St. Paul, Minnesota. The SUV in front of him “was able to swerve and miss the mattress” says the Minneapolis Star-Tribune – but Konrad wasn’t so lucky. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul after the roughly 6pm crash Thursday night. He was listed in critical condition. Hubbard Broadcasting’s Minneapolis-market KSTP (1500) has recently changed direction from talk to all-sports, and Konrad remained as its PD.

The hour-long session is titled “Creating Powerful Communicators” and runs 2-3pm Central Time. Geller has written several books, including “Creating Powerful Radio – Getting, Keeping and Growing Audiences.” She consults radio stations and individual personalities in more than 30 countries and is part of an ongoing series of free webinars hosted by the Conclave. Its annual Summer Learning Conference happens in Minneapolis, July 15-17. To participate in the March 24 webinar, pre-register here.

Westergren’s revenue last year was about $50 million. Pandora’s costs for music royalties paid to SoundExchange were about $28 million, according to Digital Music News. Terrestrial radio stations don’t pay a performance royalty for their over-the-air broadcasts, though satellite radio does. Westergren estimates that his company contributed about 44% of al SoundExchange royalties paid by non-interactive streams. He says that suggests how much money the labels could be making if the terms ever change. He says “We're a shade over 1% of the overall radio marketplace. Multiply that by 100 and you get the found revenue flowing to labels and artists if we were in an Internet radio world instead of a broadcast world.”

It’s a production of leading business-oriented daily newspaper Kommersant, and its hourly “wheel” looks like much U.S. all-news radio stations such as WCBS-AM, New York or sister “1010 WINS.” It even has traffic every ten minutes. In fact, Kommersant managing director spent time observing at the two New York stations and also at Toronto’s “680 News” CFTR. Radio-Info hears from 1010 WINS journalist Lee Harris, who’s spending his vacation in Moscow consulting the new station in its first days. Kommersant can draw on the very large staff of the newspaper, as well as a well-known foreign content producer: CBS News Radio. It’s the first affiliate of the network in Russia.

If you were listening in 1976 to Charlie Gillett on BBC Radio London, you might have heard the song “Sultans of Swing” by a then-unknown group called Dire Straits. Gillett was a rock music innovator, and he also wrote a book on the history of rock music called “The Sound of the City.” The longtime BBC Radio DJ passed away after a brief illness. He was 68 … Edmund Dinis was the district attorney in charge of the grand jury case involving the late Senator Edward Kennedy and the fatal car crash off the bridge at Chappaquiddick that killed Mary Jo Kopechne. Outside of his career in law, Dinis was also the owner of WJFD-FM (97.3) in New Bedford, Massachusetts, purchasing the Portuguese-language station in 1975. A veteran of World War II, Dinis was 85.

The students on the University of Glasgow internet station Subcity’s “Party Party” show claimed on the air they were drinking a liter of tequila. They also cursed and discussed various sexual exploits on their Sunday evening show. While they did on one occasion promote an anti-drinking website, they also urged listeners to drink a shot of alcohol each time the presenters played a song. The BBC reports that since the school station is on the internet, it does not fall under the guidelines of British broadcast regulator OFCOM. However, the University has its own code of conduct, and the school released a statement, saying “If the contents of this particular program are found to have breached the station’s code, disciplinary action will be taken.”

AirPlay Direct has appointed Peter Fleming as its Chief Technology Officer. In the newly created role, Fleming is responsible for software design and development for the company’s digital music delivery platform, as well as the development of new features, IT planning and technical support issues. AirPlay Direct is a global digital music delivery system servicing radio and the entertainment industry with downloadable music content. Fleming, a native of Scotland and a current U.S. resident, comes to AirPlay Direct after an extensive background of working in the IT business in diverse fields, including banking, government, telecommunications and oil. He has also designed and built several music business Web sites for Blues.org and BandVillage.com.

It’s a multi-year deal through Yankees radio flagship WCBS (880), and brings all 162 regular-season games – and all its post-season games – to Univision’s WADO. First game is the season-opener with the Boston Red Sox, from Fenway Park. WCBS GM Steve Swenson calls 30-year New York sportscaster Beto Villo “the premier Spanish baseball broadcaster in the country.” Univision station manager Carey Davis is “thrilled to welcome the Yankees” and their heritage of 27 world championship titles to WADO. The deal between CBS and Univision includes new joint promotions, on the air and at the new Yankee Stadium, and the team of Beto Villa and Francisco Rivera will be heard on the secondary-channel SAP feed on the Yankees-owned YES! Network cable channel. The New York Board of Radio-Info talks about Yankees beisbol here.

To give a greater voice to diary-rated markets, the ratings service adds four new seats. Those are being taken by Erik Hellum of GAP West Broadcasting; Frank Osborn of Qantum; Craig Jacobus of South Central Communications; and Dan Savadove of Main Line Broadcasting. There’s also a new PPM set, to be taken by Greater Media Philadelphia manager John Fullam. Plus additional positions for Network Radio (David Landau of Dial Global), Digital Radio (Deb Esayian of Emmis Interactive), and Public Radio (Bill Davis of Southern California Public Radio). Urban and Spanish representation is beefed up by adding Deon Levingston of Inner City Broadcasting and Jeff Liberman of Entravision. Arbitron also re-stocks the Council with replacement reps for a Spanish language seat (Univision Radio President/COO Gary Stone) and Research (Amy Vokes of Radio One). The Council’s next meeting is May 11-12 in Annapolis, MD, near Arbitron’s headquarters in Columbia, MD.