Central New York's only classical music station got a big thumbs up from its listeners during a recent membership campaign. CLASSIC FM raised over $60,000, money that will help pay the public radio station's operating expenses.

The list of artists set to appear at this year's Balloonfest in Jamesville has been firmed up. 93Q welcomes national acts Nine Day, Jade Anderson, RES, Soluna, M2M, Tina Novak, and Rubyhorse, along with eight local acts to the weekend-long festival to be held June 7-9.

It seems to be the season for new morning sidekicks in Syracuse. Add K-Rock to the list of stations with recent morning show vacancies. Alisa Tanner signs up for co-hosting duties with Scorch on K-Rock's Total Request Morning Show.

Y94FM afternoon drive personality 'Captain John' Smith adds the title Music Director to his business cards as he takes over managing the station's playlist. Smith is an 11 year veteran of Central New York radio.

To go along with last week's format change from adult standards to news-talk, TalkRadio 1050 WFBL unveiled a new look for its web site. Check it out at wfbl.com.

SUNY Oswego graduate and Utica's Lite 98.7 afternoon personality Peter Naughton was interviewed recently for an article in the university's student newspaper The Oswegonian about the difficulties of transitioning from college life out into the job market. Naughton, one of the few bright spots in the story, talks about catching an early break at market leader Lite 98.7.

For the third straight year, the Syracuse SkyChiefs will broadcast five games in Spanish live on WVOQ 103.9 FM. Jose Ramos will once again serve as play-by-play announcer. Circle these dates on your calendar: May 21, June 18, July 16, and August 20. All games start at 7 p.m.

Hot 107.9's recently named morning show sidekick finds her name in the headlines for a different reason. Syracuse University senior Nicole Wilcox, 21, was allegedly punched by S.U. basketball player DeShaun Williams in a barroom altercation early Wednesday morning.

After nearly four years as host of Oldies 92.1's All Night Diner, Johnnie B. Goode signed off from his final overnight shift this morning. Goode, who plans to stay with the station in a part-time capacity for the near future, has accepted a job behind the scenes at Syracuse Time Warner Cable. Part-timer Spider Murphy slides into the overnight slot beginning next week.

In Arbitron ratings released yesterday for public radio stations in the Syracuse market, the WRVO stations maintained their comfortable lead over Classic FM and Jazz 88 respectively. All three stations were down for the winter 2002 ratings quarter after seeing an increase in listenership following the September 11 terrorist attacks. For all the facts and figures, visit our ratings section.