John Mainelli, the New York Post reporter who helped spread the rumor (twice) that Howard Stern is returning to terrestrial radio, has left the paper after receiving an ultimatum from editor in chief Col Allan.

Mainelli was told that he had to choose between his freelance job covering the radio industry for the Post and his consulting for terrestrial radio stations and owners. Something that was not disclosed in his articles, magnifying a possible conflict of interest.

Though Mainelli was pretty much regurgitating a report from Inside Radio, he did spice up his story a bit saying that Stern was having trouble booking celebrity guests (something that Gary quickly squashed).

Howard 100 News called attention to Mainelli's terrestrial radio consulting ties on air, which was quickly picked up by Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine.com. The information then made its way to the New York Post's Editor in Chief.

"I'm very disappointed, and I'm really pissed at Howard Stern," Mainelli said. "From now on, anything I write about him will have to have a disclaimer: John Mainelli has an ax to grind against this man."

[Radar Online] 

UPDATE: Listen to the Howard 100 News report below:

;

Gee this is a surprise. Country music icon and namesake for XM's "Willie's Place" channel, Willie Nelson, and four other cohorts, were busted Monday morning for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana on a Louisiana highway.

The citations were issued after a commercial vehicle inspection of the Willie's tour bus. When the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the "strong odor of marijuana" resulting in a search of the bus - which produced 1.5 pounds of marijuana and just over 3 ounces of narcotic mushrooms.

All five claimed the drugs as their own and the drugs were not packaged for resale - thereby preventing the charge from becoming a felony charge for distribution - instead they were slapped with misdemeanor charges.

[CNN (and pretty much everywhere else)]

The Anchorage Daily News has a wonderful writeup on receiving satellite radio in Alaska. Remember when I was asking for subscribers in Alaska? That was in an effort to help with this article, which Sarah Henning didn't need my help with because it's a great piece (and none of the respondants that I sent over made it in).

Officially, neither SIRIUS or XM provide service to Alaska, but both companies acknowledge that they have Alaskan customers. Most are in the southeast portion of the state for obvious reasons, while other - such as those in Anchorage - find themselves with a very inconsistent signal.

It's an artifully written article and definitely recommended for your morning read.

Hopefully you're not one of the poor schmucks stuck in front of a computer right now before the long weekend. But in case you are... here's some video of Opie & Anthony's appearance on David Letterman last night.

Yes, the video is crappy - once there's a higher-quality version available, I'll update this post. UPDATE: Now a much nicer version is available, so I updated the video. Thanks to The Squeaky Wheel!