Westwood One, in partnership with Courtside Entertainment Group, announced today an exclusive three-hour special featuring current Republican Presidential candidates fielding interview questions from syndicated radio talk show host Bill O’Reilly. The interactive program will also feature a live online straw poll where listeners can vote for the candidate of their choice. “Bill O’Reilly knows the political landscape inside and out, and his Presidential Town Hall will bring his unrivalled wit and wisdom to radio listeners …

Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are at the top of  yet another “power” list of media pundits and personalities. Newsweek’s “Power 50″ ranks the politicians, ex-politicians, pundits and media personalities who parlay the giving of opinions into lucrative financial earnings for themselves. Contributors to what Newsweek calls the “commercialization of political personality” also include,  (and you’ll notice a certain political slant here) syndicated radio personalities Sean Hannity,  Don Imus and ex-syndicated radio talk show …

The Atlantic Wire, a new online news site whose main focus is to aggregate and distill the political pundit clutter launched Tuesday. Among the highlights of the new site is the The Atlantic 50, defined as “The all star team of the most influential commentators in the nation.” Premiere Radio Networks host Rush Limbaugh is ranked #2 on Atlantic’s list, while Premiere Radio Networks personality Glenn Beck (#7) is the only …

Air America Media names radio vet Stuart Greenblatt as VP of the company’s new affiliate sales division. Most recently, Greenblatt served as VP/Affiliate Sales for Westwood One, where he helped launch “The Dennis Miller Show” and “The Fred Thompson Show,” while maintaining and growing “Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly.” At Air America Greenblatt will head up affiliations for the radio network’s programming including Rachel Maddow, Ron Reagan and the recently launched Montel Williams shows.

Bill O’Reilly’s got a lot of stations to divvy up after his yet to be determined exit from radio and apparently Fox’s John Gibson is just one of a few jumping into the fray. Now the rumor is that O’Reilly syndicator Westwood One is seriously considering former New York mayor and GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani as a possible replacement. All of this comes from a fairly reliable source; Page Six in the New York …

I suspect Bill O’Reilly’s  “Radio Factor” affiliates already knew this but Fox News veteran John Gibson has been tapped as the one to fill the void left by O’Reilly’s departure from radio early next year. The revamped “Gibson On Fox” gets the O’Reilly 12p-3p time slot on Fox News Radio starting January 19th.  Gibson’s retooled show will feature his contrarian take on the headlines as well as guest news makers from the business and political …