There were a few light-hearted moments during an economic forecast forum in Raleigh this morning, reflecting a more optimistic mood among economists and business leaders.

As the event wrapped up, moderator Phil Zachary, the president of Curtis Media Group, told the keynote speakers that they are helping make "economics sexy again."

"You two are the Hugh Hefner and Brad Pitt of economics," Zachary told Wells Fargo economist John Silvia and Federal Reserve economist Matthew Martin.

One of the first radio stations to broadcast Rush Limbaugh's talk show, WPTF AM-680, will be losing the conservative media icon after 21 years on the air.

Limbaugh's trademark in-your-face talk show will be moving to a competitor, WRDU FM-106.1, a country music station owned by media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications. Starting January 1, WRDU will switch to an all-talk format and feature a 9-hour non-stop marathon of conservative talk by Glenn Beck, Shawn Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.

Curtis Media, the Raleigh-based company that owns WPTF, will fill the three hours vacated by Limbaugh with political talk that's more centrist and moderate, said president and chief operating officer Phil Zachary. Still, losing Limbaugh is a big deal, he said.

"We were there from the beginning, which makes this more painful," Zachary said. "We were there before Rush was arguably Rush."

As we reported Saturday, print and broadcast media alike are struggling through this recession and trying to find ways to offset big declines in advertising revenue.

For Curtis Media, which owns a network of 19 radio stations that stretches across North Carolina, that effort has prompted a new partnership. The broadcasting company announced this week that it has formed an arrangement with Atlantic Business Technologies, a Web development company in Raleigh, to provide a new level of marketing services to clients.

Through the partnership, Atlantic BT will help Curtis' advertising customers improve their online stores, enhance Internet security and provide e-mail marketing and search engine optimization.

"It just makes sense to have the resources in our arsenal to support their growth objectives online as well as on the air," Phil Zachary, president of Curtis Media, wrote in a statement. Through the partnership, Curtis advertisers will have support "across every channel of their marketing investment."