AOL Late Night…. The radio initiative that should have been and never was. Three of the most popular podcasts (you know, those shows that service the same needs that radio shows do) are now exclusively on AOL. I griped about this earlier this week, so ’nuff said. Meanwhile BrandChannel.com reports AOL also just hired Heidi Klum and Full Picture Entertainment, the production company behind Project Runway, to produce “engaging video content, inspiring articles, addictive blogs

Dear Radio Industry: Please explain to me why this deal is being done by AOL instead of you: AOL will on Monday launch a late-night video block featuring highlights from podcasts by director Kevin Smith and comedians Adam Carolla and Kevin Pollak. “The idea is to take these very popular podcasts with their very rabid audiences and find a platform-appropriate way to create a programming block,” said Amber Lawson, AOL’s head of programming. “We want to tap into their audiences

And as this Washington Post story notes, AOL's strategy is based not on connection – but on content. [AOL] has created or bought some of the most popular sites on the Web: Engadget.com, for gadget geeks; PoliticsDaily.com, for politicos; FanHouse.com, for sports nuts; DailyFinance.com, for business news; and even MMAFighting.com, for fans of the world of professional fistfights. The AOL brand barely appears on any of these sites, an approach AOL executives confidently compare