» Changes At KKNG: Tyler Media's KKNG/Oklahoma City morning co-hosts KC Sheperd and Bill Thomas and PM driver James Ayers exited the station this morning (3/8). Sheperd, who spent three years at the station, can be reached at 405-443-5717 or here. Thomas, a 10-year station vet, can be reached at 405-802-7633. One month shy of his 12th anniversary with KKNG, Ayers is available at 405-445-4655 or here. There was no official word from the station at press time, but MD/morning co-host Lynn Waggoner and PD Kevin Christopher remain at KKNG.

» Communication Break Town:   FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will be speaking with the CMA board during a luncheon Wednesday (3/10) in Washington, DC. The board is in the city this week for its quarterly meetings.

» Gig Alerts: There are two new, full-time Sr. Specialist positions available at ALSAC/St. Jude. For the remote-based Radio Sponsorship post,  candidates should have a thorough knowledge of radio sales including ad buys, NTR, non-spot revenue and sponsorship packages. Based in Memphis, the Radio Programming gig is suited to someone with programming experience, audio production skills and includes responsibility for CD production. Apply here and here, respectively.

» So Much Cooler Online: Arista's Brad Paisley is recovering well after his fall at Saturday's (3/6) closing Charleston, SC stop on his American Saturday Night tour. "Out with a bang for the ASN tour," Paisley tweeted over the weekend. "Man am I sore today. You guys should see the bruise." Paisley was released from a local hospital Sunday (3/7) morning. Watch the "Alcohol" tumble here, and look for more coverage of the tour's closing weekend in tonight's Country Aircheck Weekly.

» Romano, Geez: Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy/New York Managing Dir. Carmen Romano, Jr. has been named VP and Owner/Shareholder of the company. Romano will continue to oversee business and financial planning for the firm's clients, which include Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Gary Allan, Joe Nichols and Blake Shelton.

» The Gauntlet: The Country Throwdown Tour 2010 featuring Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Jack Ingram, Eric Church, Eli Young Band, The Lost Trailers, Heidi Newfield, Ryan Bingham, Jonathan Singleton & The Grove and Emily West opens May 14 in Tampa. A Bluebird Café tent will feature emerging singer-songwriters. More than 20 dates are scheduled through June 20. Details here; download the iPhone app here.

» Star Ship Enterprise: The Verizon Wireless BamaJam Music & Artist Festival 2010 has added Gretchen Wilson, Stoney LaRue, Robert Earl Keen, Rio Grande, the Wayne Mills Band, Gregg Allman and Buddy Guy to its lineup. They join headliners Kenny Chesney and Hank Williams, Jr., among other performers scheduled for the June 3-5 Enterprise, AL event. Details here.

» Prayer Of A Common Man: Show Dog-Universal's Phil Vassar will help kick off WSIX/Nashville's St. Jude Dream Home 2010 Giveaway with a free concert at Franklin, TN's The Factory March 24. Listeners can enter to win the Franklin home valued at $550,000 by purchasing tickets here.

» Roots Are Showing: Capitol's Dierks Bentley will title his upcoming bluegrass and roots album Up On The Ridge. Due this summer, the project features guest appearances from Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, the Del McCoury Band, Chris Thile and the Punch, Tim O'Brien, Sam Bush and others. "I didn’t want this to be 'Dierks Bentley and friends' or a 'Dierks does bluegrass' kind of album," Bentley says. "I wanted each song to have something special about it, and I think each song does have its own thing going on." Bentley is working with producer Jon Randall Stewart and engineer Gary Paczosa for the upcoming compilation.

» Kind Of Cool: Co-writers Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett won the Oscar for Music (Original Song) for "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" at last night's (3/7) 82nd Annual Academy Awards. Bingham is signed to UMG/Nashville's Lost Highway. Watch the winning moment here.

» Crib Note: Congrats to Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook on Friday's (3/5) birth of their first child, Elijah Dylan Westbrook.

» In Case You Missed It: As we told you in this morning's Breaking News, WSM-FM/Nashville APD/MD Russ Penuell was named PD, replacing exiting PD/AM driver Charley Connolly. Middayer Rick Marino has moved to mornings with incumbent co-host Deanna Lee, while his previous shift is being voicetracked by sister KPLX/Dallas' Smokey Rivers. Reach Penuell here.

» All That And A Cherry Coke: Last night's (3/4) CSI on CBS-TV featuring Rascal Flatts took the hour with 15.6 million viewers and a 9.4 rating/15 share, according to Zap2it.com. ABC-TV's Grey's Anatomy came in second (11.8 million, 7.7/12), followed by NBC-TV's two-part "baby episode" of The Office (9 million, 5.2/8). FOX's American Idol, which included an appearance from Danny Gokey, was the night's top show with 19.3 million viewers and 11.1/18. Watch the full Flatts episode here.

» Spring Is On The Air: Envision Radio Networks and The Country Oldies Show host Steve Warren are offering a free two-hour spring special, available for broadcast beginning March 31. For more info, contact Matt Wardlaw at 216-831-3761 or here.

» Board Stiffs: During yesterday's (3/4) quarterly Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum board meeting, Butler's Run founder Steve Turner was tapped for a third term as chairman and Vince Gill was re-elected to a ninth consecutive term as president. Live Nation's Brian O'Connell and The Tennessean's John Seigenthaler are new officers.

» A Boot That: The 2010 Juno Awards has Taylor Swift's Fearless in the International Album category and Emerson Drive's Believe, Terri Clark's The Long Way Home and the Road Hammers' The Road Hammers II in Country Album. The Junos are Sunday, April 18 on CTV.

» Traveling Circus Down Under: Show Dog-Universal's Phil Vassar will make his Australian debut tomorrow (3/6), performing at the third annual CMC-TV Rocks The Snowys 2010 in Thredbo, NSW. Vassar will continue his tour stateside next week in Lynchburg, VA and Glendale, PA. Complete list of dates here.

» Big Add Wolf: "I feel like Charlie from Willie Wonka," says Lyric Street's Chris Palmer after winning the "West Coast Mike Pack" add package from Entercom's KKWF/Seattle, KBWF/San Francisco and KWJJ/Portland. Palmer received laminate No. 54 in the Bridge Bar from KBWF's Mike Krinik. "It's the first time the Bridge Bar ever paid me for going there," Palmer says. He now has the ability to score an add on all three stations simultaneously sometime before the end of the year. "We've encouraged them to use their adds wisely," says Entercom/KWJJ's Mike Moore, who says the idea came of "trying to send a message to the Nashville label and artist community that you will see a greater degree of cooperation from these three stations this year in terms of routing shows and doing group promotions."

» Four The Love Of Country: More 2010 CMA Music Festival performers have been added with Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw and Kellie Pickler now set for the June 10-13 Nashville event. They join Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride, Reba, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band on the bill.

» Long Road To A Label: We told you last month (CAT 2/8) that Big Machine was handling promotion for Universal Republic's Jaron And The Long Road To Love, but now it's official. The New York-based Universal Republic has announced its deal with the band's Jaronwood Records to exclusively distribute J&TLRTL, as well as other artists developed by the company. Big Machine is on point for the band's Country radio efforts.

» Congressional Record: The Library of Congress and CMA have partnered for a day-long tour, orientation and performance program for CMA Board members during next week's board meetings in Washington, DC. Performers include Kix Brooks, Lorrie Morgan, John Rich, Victoria Shaw and Bob DiPiero. CMA will donate a leather-bound DVD collection of CMA Awards and other broadcasts during the event.

» Touring Update: The 2010 Lilith Tour has added Martina McBride and the Courtyard Hounds (Dixie Chicks Martie & Emily) to the festival's bill. Other country artists performing are Loretta Lynn, Miranda Lambert and Sugarland. Details and markets here. In other concert news, Josh Kelley and Randy Montana will open Lady Antebellum's two-night, sold-out Ryman Auditorium shows March 10-11. "It’s funny to think about all the bands Josh and I started when we were little kids in Augusta," the trio's Charles Kelley says of brother Josh. "My favorite was named ‘Spork,’ and I was the drummer! We’ve come a long way, that’s for sure."

» Elle's Mack Person: Big Machine's Taylor Swift graces the March 16 cover of Elle. The story isn't available online yet, but the cover reads, "Gorgeous, talented, smart, rich – and we still like her." The mag's website offers Taylor quizzes here and here.

» Take A Chance On Me: Warner Bros.' Faith Hill has been added to the performance lineup for the March 15 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum induction ceremony honoring ABBA, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis and others. Hill joins Chris Isaak, Ronnie Spector, Fefe Dobson, Eric Burdon, Peter Wolf and Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael for the New York City event airing live on FUSE-TV at 8:30pm ET.

» Crib Note: Congrats to Morris Management's Tiffany Benken and husband Tony Benken (Treehouse) on this morning's birth of daughter Ava Grace Benken. She is the couple's first child and already had the obvious good sense to wait until after CRS.