In an effort to cut costs, WFBL AM 1050 laid off its operations director and morning air personality Dave Smith on Friday.

Local modern rock acts Tread, Earth Crisis, and Gridley Paige along with ten other bands are part of a new compilation CD being put together by K-Rock's midday air personality "Silent Bob" Staffa. Native Noise celebrates Staffa's local-music radio show Backstage Live, broadcast Thursdays at 11 p.m.

Local rock station 95X is teaming up with area Chrysler Jeep dealers to sponsor The American Pride Rally 2001. The event is scheduled for Saturday October 20 from 4-7 p.m. in Armory Square. Bands in the lineup include Los Blancos, Eddy Current and Uncle Fester.

The Syracuse Area Music Awards, scheduled to be held November 9, have been put on hold until sometime in January or February.

Syndicated radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is shifting gears on Friday to talk to Hassan Hathout, the author of Reading the Muslim Mind, who will discuss the recent terrorist attacks, the differences between moderate and radical Islam and prime terror suspect Osama bin Laden.

Last week, The Motley Fool Radio Show, heard locally on 570 WSYR, ceased production. Now there's word that the financial services company that produced the show is cutting 75 of its 180 person staff. Owners of the company and hosts of the radio show, brothers David and Tom Gardner, say they are "hunkering down and battening the hatches" in hopes of saving the Motley Fool company.

Former B104.7 Program Director and afternoon air personality Rick "RJ" Jordan has left his new job at country station WPOR in Portland, Maine. Jordan resigned for personal reasons after only a week on the job.

Calling his morning show "reduced, diminished, dismantled" by Y94FM management over the past couple of years, and feeling "less and less a part of the Y94 family," Big Mike Fiss is opening up about why he left.

A married couple, Pete Michaels and Brenda Bissett, are stepping into Big Mike's shoes at Y94FM. Bissett was most recently the midday host at Cox Radio's B98.5 in Atlanta.

Monthly Arbitron trends for Syracuse were released yesterday and Galaxy Communications' rock stations fared well. In adults 12+ numbers both K-Rock and TK-99/105 moved up in rank while 95X dropped from fifth to seventh place overall. Go to www.rronline.com for more details.