WLW adds to podcasts

Have you noticed that WLW-AM has really jumped into podcasting? A year ago, the station only offered Gary Burbank bits and a few other things. Now through www.700wlw.com or Apple's iTunes you can get free downloads of entire Mike McConnell and Bill Cunningham shows, Rich Walberg’s funny “Showbiz Stuff” and Jim Scott’s interviews. WLW had 14,991 downloads last week, which put it in the top 5 among all Clear Channel stations.

More podcasts
HBO now has free audio and video podcasts from the second season of “Entourage” and “Deadwood,” which debuted Sunday. Go to www.hbo.com/podcasts or iTunes for them, or podcasts from “The Sopranos,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “Rome” or “Big Love.” In only a few months, “Real Time with Bill Maher” has topped 1 million downloads, HBO says.

Musical notes
Some weekend musical notes:
--97.3 WAQZ-FM goes “under the covers” for the weekend, starting at 5 p.m. today. The “everything alternative” station will play 97.3 artists doing cover songs -- U2 doing “Beat the Brat” by The Ramones, Staind doing “Black” by Pearl Jam, Velvet Revolver doing “Money” by Pink Floyd, etc.
--The “Nick Lachey Custom Concert Featuring Natasha Bedingfield” airs at 11 p.m. today on Oxygen.
--CET is streaming a clip from the “Blue Man Group: Inside The Tube” pledge special at 9 p.m. Saturday on Channel 48. During pledge breaks, Ch 48 will have some tickets to the Blue Man Group show Oct. 8 at US Bank Arena. The clip is at:
http://www.cetconnect.org/television/index.asp
--Sunday night CET has “Great Performances: Cook, Dixon & Young in Concert," the artists formerly known as the “Three Mo’ Tenors” (7-9 p.m.); “John Fogerty: The Long Road Home” (9-10:30 p.m.) and “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London, 1975” (10:30-midnight). During the Fogerty show pledge breaks, they’ll have some tickets to his Aug. 16 date at Riverbend with Willie Nelson.