The hosts of Atlants 790 The Zone’s sports talk show Mayhem in the AM were fired after making fun of former NFL safety Steve Gleason. Program hosts Steak Shapiro, Chris Dimino, and Nick Cellini aired a “humorous” segment on Monday in which “Gleason,” who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2011, called into the radio show. As Gleason cannot speak without the aid of a synthetic voice, he was parodied in the segment with a robotic voice telling a knock-knock joke. The punchline was, “Smother me. Do me a favor.”

Gleason played as a safety for the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2007. He now runs Team Gleason, an organization dedicated to raising ALS awareness and providing services to those afflicted with ALS.

Rick Mack, the general manager of 790 The Zone issued a statement on the matter on Monday, apologizing specifically to Gleason and explaining that the hosts have been fired:

“We deeply regret the offensive programming that aired this morning on “Mayhem In The AM” on 790 The Zone, related to former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason and his battle with ALS. We suspended the three individuals involved immediately following their comments and have since terminated their employment. 790 The Zone, our owners, sponsors and partners in no way endorse or support this kind of content. We sincerely apologize to Mr. Gleason, his family and all those touched by ALS.”

Dimino has has also issued an apology on his Facebook page, referring to himself as a bully:

So where to begin. The obvious and rightful place is with an apology. And the reality of knowing that falls short…no matter what I say…is heartbreaking.

The sheer stupidity of trying to put this as a failed attempt at humor is not lost on me.

The words “Should have known better” mean nothing to me. And shouldn’t to you right now

I would like to though offer my apology. Knowing that it is everyone’s right not to accept it. Or even consider accepting it for now.

My apologies go out first to Steve Gleason and his family. The weight of what he and they are going through did not need to be made heavier or worse by the pure and straight insensitivity of my actions.

I also want to offer up my apologies to all who are not only dealing with ALS..but to those who are dealing with ANYTHING that has made themself or family and friends subject to the physical and emotional heartache of any debilitating disease or condition.

As a father of two girls, I put myself in a position that I have begged…pleaded..DEMANDED..they not put themselves in. That of the bully. The mean kid. The one who thinks what they say or do comes with no consequence. It does. It always does.

I have no illusion as to what 19 years on the radio…30 years of being a grown man..and most importantly almost 10 years of being a father..and what you build up in your name and reputation over those periods of time..should and does mean.

Now I know how quickly a stupid and worse than that non thinking moment can change all of it.

I hope I get a chance to prove this is not who I want to be. It was and is who “I am” today though. That much is not lost on me.

I have spent so long not trying to put other people in a bad place because of me. Today I failed miserably.

I’m very open to any and all dialogue as it pertains to the people I have hurt and disappointed. I’ve had that dialogue with myself..my wife and will with my kids.

Thanks for at least this much of your time

Chris Dimino

Steak Shapiro has appeared on CNN to apologize, calling the radio segment “stupid” and “offensive.”

(Image courtesy Team Gleason)

The New York Times reports that Apple is aggressively pursuing licensing agreements with record labels so that it can reveal its radio service at WWDC next week. Apple has reportedly signed deals with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, but it has only secured recorded music rights with the former. It will have to negotiate a deal with UMG for music publishing rights as well as secure a deal with Sony Music.

We’re likely to see a reveal of Apple’s radio service at WWDC next week if it can secure all those rights in the following days. As for the reveal itself, it will probably be positioned as a response to Google Music All Access – the Spotify-like service that Google announced at Google I/O in May.

Unlike Google Music All Access and Spotify, however, Apple’s service would be more like Pandora. It will reportedly be a free, ad-supported music streaming service that caters to a user’s particular tastes. It will also reportedly tie into iTunes to encourage listeners to buy the music that they’re listening to.

Without a free, ad-supported option, Google Music All Access is limited in its appeal. Apple Radio may be free, but its lack of choice makes Spotify look all the better. It will be interesting then to see if the 67 million people who still prefer the online radio experience of Pandora make the move to Apple Radio when and if it’s announced next week.

In a radio interview on the Dan Patrick show, the subject of Jason Collins, who recently came out as the first openly gay NBA player, and gay players in the NBA became a topic. Barkley said he, and pretty much every other player, had played with a gay teammate during their time in the league:

Everybody did. Everybody played with a gay teammate, Dan. And it’ s no big deal. First of all, I think it’s an insult to gay people to think that they’re trying to pick up on their teammates. But everybody has played with a gay teammate… It’s obviously discussed, privately, because the problem is, Dan, unless somebody tells you they’re gay, you can’t say a thing about them being gay. Ya know, until somebody has the courage, and I think it takes great courage to come out, it’s kind of an unspoken word to be honest with you.

He used Collins to back up his claim saying that the Wizards center had played with six teams, so by extension, players on those six teams had played with a gay teammate. He also said that nobody knows a teammate is gay until they come out because “it’s none of your business.”

You can check out the full interview with Barkley below:

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“The Uconnect team at Chrysler Group is committed to delivering connectivity solutions that enable drivers to further enjoy the in-vehicle experience without compromising the task at hand, which is driving,” said Marios Zenios, vice president of Uconnect Systems and Services. “Our introduction of Uconnect Access Via Mobile is consistent with this goal.”

There was no set date announced for the feature’s launch, only a vague promise that it will arrive “this year.” The apps themselves should be similar to ones seen on other mobile platforms. Chrysler promises that Pandora users will be able to thumbs up or down their music, and that Slacker fans can “heart” music or ban it. In addition, the apps will be updatable, and there was also mention of steering-wheel controls to enable song-skipping.

The music streaming will not be paid for by Chrysler. Instead, the data usage will be “through the customer’s existing smartphone data plan.”

The emission is from an X-ray source that was discovered in January, when it flared and rapidly brightened in the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), as it’s currently classified, is only the second ever seen in the Andromeda galaxy. Observatories and telescopes, including NASA‘s Swift space telescope, have been observing the object for nearly a year.

“There are four black hole binaries within our own galaxy that have been observed accreting at these extreme rates,” said Matthew Middleton, an astronomer at the Anton Pannekoek Astronomical Institute. “Gas and dust in our own galaxy interfere with our ability to probe how matter flows into ULXs, so our best glimpse of these processes comes from sources located out of the plane of our galaxy, such as those in M31.”

According to astronomers, the gas around black holes becomes compressed, it is heated to temperatures high enough to emit X-rays. At a certain point called an Eddington limit, the X-ray emissions become intense enough to push back gas that is spiraling into the object. Theoretically, this caps the rate at which a black hole can ingest matter.

“Black-hole binaries in our galaxy that show accretion at the Eddington limit also exhibit powerful radio-emitting jets that move near the speed of light,” said Middleton.

The jets seen coming from the M31 ULX are special because they could represent a rare middle-of-the-road black hole of hundreds to thousands of solar masses. Black holes that have been detected generally are either “lightweight” and created by stars of up to a few dozen solar masses, or they are “heavyweight” and represent millions to billions of solar masses. The supermassive “heavyweight” black holes are generally found in the centers of galaxies, such as the one spotted last month that is 17 billion times more massive than the sun.

“The discovery of jets tells us that this particular ULX is a typical stellar remnant about 10 times the mass of the sun, swallowing as much material as it possibly can,” said Middleton. “We may well find jets in ULXs with similar X-ray properties in other nearby galaxies, which will help us better understand the nature of these incredible outflows.”

(Image courtesy Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF/ESA/M. Middleton et al.)

“Registered users only represent a portion of iHeartRadio’s total listener base, since registration is only required for the Custom Station feature which launched in September 2011,” a spokesperson for Clear Channel tells WebProNews.

According to Clear Channel, iHeartRadio’s registered users are growing faster than Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Spotify and Instagram.

“iHeartRadio has experienced unprecedented growth as it continues to resonate with our listeners and super-serve our partners,” said Brian Lakamp, President of Digital, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. “The reach of our broadcast radio properties, combined with our digital platforms truly creates unmatched promotional power that is unique to Clear Channel and allows us to be wherever our listeners are with the products and services they expect.”

“iHeartRadio has reinvented the digital radio experience and is a key element of how Clear Channel continues to reshape the media and entertainment industry,” said CEO John Hogan. “iHeartRadio’s rapid growth and success is a testament to Clear Channel’s ability to engage audiences with our variety of assets, including live events such as the iHeartRadio Music Festival, world-class talent and premier partnerships.”

iHeartRadio provides users with access to not only custom radio stations (Pandora-style), but access to live broadcasts from over 1,500 radio stations in 150 cities. It includes all the Clear Channel radio stations, as well as stations from other groups, like Univision, Cumulus, Greater Media stations, WNYC, EMF’s Contemporary Christian Air1 and K Love stations, college radio, Cox, Emmis, etc.

The app is available on numerous devices ranging from web, mobile and tablets to automotive, TV and gaming devices.

“I did hear from them actually,” Stern said on the program. “I got sort of a threatening kind of comment from one of the executives. I was laughing my ass off…I said do not tell me not to talk about Jay Leno. I will f–ing talk about Jay for four hours if you tell me not to. I was done with Jay, now I’m all fired up again. F— Jay. Take my job away from me. Who cares?”

“I will never, ever endorse Jay…” Stern said.

“They basically accused me of not knowing anything about the budget cuts, and I’m like of course I…I have theories…so what if I don’t know about the budget cuts? I’ll make it like I do know about it,” Stern said on the program.

“I don’t answer to anybody,” he said. “Everyone knows that. That’s part of the game. And that’s why I’m a great f—ing judge. I will tell people if they suck.”

“It’s pretty obvious I don’t know anything about the budget cuts over at NBC,” he noted. “So who cares what I think? Nobody cares what I think. Nobody takes seriously what I think.”

At one point in the show, Stern said, “Jay Leno’s the biggest wuss on the planet. He’s a backstabbing c–bag that I don’t give a s— about. I don’t care who I work for.”

As long as it’s available, you can listen to the segment via the following YouTube clip (hat tip to Business Insider):

The other day, DolphinsTalk tweeted at Stern, suggesting NBC is now messing with him on America’s Got Talent:

Follow @DolphinsTalk

DolphinsTalk.com
@DolphinsTalk

@HowardStern What’s up with NBC not showing your new hand signal the other night when Nick announced you? NBC messing with you again?

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3 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

To which he replied:

Follow @HowardStern

Howard Stern
@HowardStern

Attempting again this week rt @DolphinsTalk: @HowardStern What’s up nbc not showing your new hand signal the other night NBC messing with u

 Reply  ·  Retweet  ·  Favorite
3 days ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto

Of course, for non-premium members, “free” means “ad supported” It’s no different than the desktop or iOS versions – if you don’t want to pay up, you’re going to hear some ad breaks.

One of the cool things about Spotify radio is that users can save tracks that they like. All of their thumbed-up tracks will be saved into a separate “liked from radio” playlist that’s accessible anytime. It’s a simple feature like this that makes Spotify radio such a good music discovery system.

Not only that, but Spotify radio offers unlimited user playlists based on starting tracks, and features a rating mechanism that learns your preferences over time. It’s a strong competitor to streaming radio services like Pandora, and is made even stronger by this release onto Android.

Your free Spotify radio will pull from all of the millions of tracks available, so it’s basically just a personalized, randomized version of the regular Spotify experience.

Unfortunately for international Spotify users, free radio for Android is only available to U.S. users.

You can grab to updated version of the app on Google Play.

Earlier today, Rome welcomed NBA Commissioner David Stern, who’s riding the wave of some record-breaking ratings for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. While a number of topics were discussed during Rome’s interview of Commissioner Stern, inevitably, especially when you consider Rome’s interview style, the topic of fixing the NBA Draft in favor of the New Orleans Hornets was brought up. Being the good interview that he is, Stern initially deflected the question with a simple “no” and “shame on you for asking.

However, when pressed by Rome, Stern pulled the big guns out, asking the host “did you stop beating your wife yet?” Some words of reaction come to mind:

“Ouch,” “Damn,” and “Oh my god, he went there on Rome?” for staters.

Rome responded to Stern’s quip by saying “now, that’s not fair,” (you can here the audio here and here) but from the Commissioner’s perspective, of course it is. Accusations of NBA Lottery fixing cannot and will not be taken lightly, regardless of how loud the feedback gets. Naturally, the sports-loving Twitter users out there jumped all over this like flies on dung, making not one, but two topics–Jim Rome and David Stern–Twitter Trend on a worldwide basis:

Follow @ldrabick

Liz Drabick
@ldrabick

Way to drop the “that’s a clown question, bro” ball, David Stern.

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22 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

Follow @MiLiTARYiV_

Chris M.
@MiLiTARYiV_

RT @ErikGrndRpidian David Stern is a classless coward. Here is the audio everyone is asking for from the Jim Rome Show http://t.co/vXcZGAZG

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57 minutes ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

Follow @SherwoodStrauss

Ethan Strauss
@SherwoodStrauss

Apparently Jim Rome’s married to a dead horse. Who knew?

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58 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @bomani_jones

Bomani Jones
@bomani_jones

also of note, @jimrome handled this fantastically. he threw stern a softball. stern blew it and made a fool of hismelf.

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36 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

Follow @TedStryker

Stryker
@TedStryker

How to instantly trend. 1. DUI 2. Be Pro sports commissioner David Stern & ask Jim Rome if he still beats his wife (in response to a rome ?)

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59 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @B_Jones40

Brandon Jones
@B_Jones40

David Stern destroyed Jim Rome.

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1 minute ago via web · powered by @socialditto

As you can see, some are criticizing Stern for not crushing the “softball question” Rome asked, while others, who are probably people who don’t like Rome, think Stern came out ahead. Whatever the case, I’m not sure what answer he was expected to give, besides no. Granted, the “do you still beat your wife” was a little unexpected, but from Stern’s point of view, the Draft-fixing question is just as absurd.

It’s the Star Wars Trilogy like you’ve never heard it before! Join voice actors Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen as they re-create the magic of the Star Wars films, albeit in their own special way! You never know what you’ll hear when this cast gets together.

If you recognize any of those names, there’s probably a good reason. It’s a who’s who of animated character voice actors doing scenes from the original Star Wars movie, complete in the character’s voices they helped make popular. The performance was done at the Emerald City Comicon almost two months ago, but the video popped last night and today.

Because my description does the voice acting absolutely no justice, I’ll just leave this here for you. Keep in mind, the entire video is an hour and twenty minutes long, meaning if you’re looking for a way to kill time at work on the Friday before Memorial Day, this video is a good way to do so:

Rob Paulsen appeared to be a crowd favorite too, but we all know about opinions. They’re, like, yours, man.