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Sun Broadcast Group and Radio Express have jointly announced they have entered into a network partnership that will bring ten new programs and services...

Our special Country Radio Seminar issue of Radio Ink Magazine is a few days from being released and it will be available at The Omni Hotel in Nashville when CRS kicks off Monday. In the issue, we rank Country Radio's top program directors, and on Tuesday night, with the help of SONY, we'll be handing out awards to those top PD's. Also, in this issue is a special interview we did with syndicated morning hosts, Big D and Bubba who have been together now since starting out at WTGE-FM in Baton Rouge back in 1996.

Everyone knows iHeartMedia is strapped with over $20 Billion in debt and radio revenue is not growing fast enough to make any real dent in the number. Bloomberg is reporting the company is planning to sell securities in one of its units to retire $1.4 billion of bonds the company owes.

If you've ever questioned the accuracy of PPM or Diary measurement, just imagine trying to make sense of downloads, logs, listening time, and bytes and explain that technology to your advertisers. That's what public radio is trying to do. And, why not, they've been the most successful broadcasters at podcasting so far.

Rob Greenlee is the head of content for Podcasting platform company Spreaker. He's been podcasting now since 2004 and actually focuses one of his weekly shows on how to be a better podcaster. We asked Greenlee his thoughts on the public radio plan to get all podcasters into one pool and abide by new measurement guidelines. Here's what he had to say.

Bloomberg Business has the details about how Amazon is ramping up investment in podcasts and other radio-style shows. The online company offers the audio programming through Audible, which it acquired in 2008.

It's just the way of the world in radio these days. Managers need to push their people as hard as possible, to get as much work out of them, while keeping them happy and on the team. It works for some people and doesn't work for others. On the programming side, you do your own shift, voicetrack for other markets, cut a few spots, and complete whatever else the boss needs. Thirty-year Cincinnati vet Bobbi Maxwell said that that life wasn't for her and quit.

Broker Michael Bergner tells Radio Ink that the Wilks stations being sold to Radio One and Saga in Columbus have closed. Radio One closed on its $2 million purchase of the former WHOK-FM and WZOH-FM. And Saga closed on its $13 million acquisition of WLVQ-FM. The sales were originally announced back in November.

Two days full of exciting sessions and artist performances are days away from kicking off at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. It's also the venue Radio Ink will once again present the Top Country Radio Program Directors with their awards for programming outstanding country radio stations across the U.S. Big Machine Label Group has announced the musical lineup for its Wednesday luncheon, which will be headlined by Jennifer Nettles.

It's called The Grammy Fund for Music Creators and it's a Political Action Committee just put together by the Recording Academy and announced yesterday. In a blog post about the new PAC Daryl Friedman, chief industry, government and members relations officer for the Recording Academy, said "Broadcasters, tech companies and other large corporations are pocketing the profits from music, while music creators don’t always receive fair compensation for their work."