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The Oscars are tonight! I’ll be covering them on the blog. Tune in at 8/5pt on ABC.

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Does ‘American Idol’ star have pitch? – “That’s really important to me,” McCreery said Saturday from Springfield, Mo., where he was touring with Brad Paisley. “I’m in an adult world now, but I want to be able to play baseball with my friends. I still want to have a senior year in high school and play some baseball. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.” McCreery hasn’t pitched in a game since the summer of 2010. He threw some with his dad on Saturday and said he was about 55 to 60 percent of where he wants to be. “I’ve got work to do,” he said. “But I think it will come back when I can get home and practice every day instead of one day a week or so.” – Read more at NewsObserver.com

Radio execs cope with smaller, leaner industry – Country radio DJs and station managers wrapped up their four-day annual convention here Friday, taking a sobering look at challenges facing an industry that serves as a key gatekeeper to Nashville’s chief cultural export.
From the auto industry’s redesign of dashboards that some think de-emphasizes radio to increased corporate ownership and layoffs of on-air personalities, country radio is a smaller, leaner and tougher business than it used to be. – Analysis and a nice photo of Lauren Alaina – The Tennessean

Simon Cowell Talks Paula, Cheryl, “The Voice,” His “Super Final” Idea…and Jedward – “The X Factor” Season 2 open auditions are underway at www.thexfactorusa.com, but right now the general public is more interested in what went down right after Season 1–like the shocking firing of judges Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, and, long before that, Cheryl Cole, along with the somewhat less shocking firing of host Steve Jones. And looking to the next season, which debuts this fall, viewers are curious about who will replace all these ousted cast members–and if the retooled show will be able to compete with “American Idol” and, perhaps more importantly, “The Voice.” – Read more at Yahoo.com

Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Adam Shankman at the Salt Lake City SYTYCD auditions - Nigel tweeted: “Guess who’s in Salt Lake City!”

Adam Levine Talks Nerdy Past, ‘The Voice’ And Jeremy Lin – NEW YORK — From moving like Mick Jagger to dating Russian model Anne Vyalitsyna, Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine hasn’t had problems attracting women in recent years. In an interview, the 32-year-old said that even though he was a “nerdy” musician in high school, he still always had luck with the ladies.
“I loved hanging out with girls … It was never an issue, how about that? And, of course, it’s been magnified times 1,000 with this whole (fame) thing that’s happened, so it’s kind of crazy. I did OK. I did all right,” he said, laughing. – Read more at the Huffington Post

Javier Colon hopes to win fans over on road – Winning isn’t everything. Javier Colon, who took the crown on the premiere season of the NBC singing competition “The Voice,” is learning that the hard way. Despite the widespread exposure he got on the show and studio assists from Natasha Bedingfield, “American Idol” winner Kris Allen and his “Voice” coach, Maroon 5′s Adam Levine, Colon’s new album, “Come Through for You,” stiffed on the charts this year. Having released two little-noticed discs on Capitol Records earlier in his career, the struggle is nothing new to Colon, 33. But he’s hoping some time on the road – he’s got shows next Sunday at the Uptown Theatre in Napa and March 5 at Slim’s in San Francisco – will give him a third chance. Read more at SFGate