KCMD-AM (970) swung the budget axe in early December, hitting a number of people including their news director. So what is a radio station to do to broadcast news? According to the Oregonian newspaper, you bring in some of the many unemployed broadcasters in the area, and give them some exposure. The idea came from morning host Rick Emerson, who recently segued into a newscast by introducing “the laid-off Heidi Tauber, filling in for the laid-off Tim Riley.” The news fill-ins are unpaid volunteers, but they do get time behind a microphone while they look for their next endeavor. Tauber, who was handed a pink slip in May by Portland’s KPOJ-AM (620), told the Oregonian, “This is something you never get out of your system. I just miss being somebody.”