CBS 3 4 p.m. co-anchor Angela Russell will soon be leaving the station where she started in early 2006. We're told her contract was not renewed. E-mails to Russell and a station spokeswoman were not immediately returned this morning. We'll update the post if/when we hear more from them or any other details on Russell's departure. CBS 3 Vice President of Communications Joanne Calabria just got back to us and declined to comment on Russell.

 Brian Hickey, a Philly.com video producer, Metro columnist, former managing editor for City Paper, and all around good dude is in a medically-induced coma after being critically injured Friday night in a hit-and-run in Collingswood, N.J.

The Metro's Brian X. McCrone is reporting that Hickey, 35, was struck by a car on Atlantic Avenue near the Collingswood PATCO station around 10:15 following a night out with friends. He was in intensive care at Cooper Medical Center in Camden, Hickey's wife Angela Klem told the paper.

“They left him for dead and luckily there was one neighbor who heard the screeching of the tires,” Klem said. “The resident saw the car but couldn’t identify it. Maybe if the driver has a conscience he’ll turn himself in.”

If anyone has information about the hit-and-run, please contact Collingswood Police at 856-854-1901, ext. 223.

Here is the full story in today's Daily News from Kitty Caparella and Jason Nark about the hit-and-run of Hickey, a Haddon Township High and University of Delaware graduate, who earlier this year ran the state Senate campaign of IBEW Local 98 head John Dougherty.

The Roots narrowly escaped injury when their tour bus flipped over this morning in Belgium.

Bassist Owen Biddle checked in to say the group are "all in surprisingly good shape and very thankful to be alive," after the bus lost control this morninig with the seven-piece band and five crew members mostly asleep.

The group which next year becomes the house band on Jimmy Fallon's late-night show was traveling from Cologne to Paris with most of them asleep in upper level bunks of the double decker.

"I was startled awake, bracing against the roof of my bunk when the bus began violently rocking and eventually slammed down on it's left side, on top of a van, which our driver said had veered into us, sending both vehicles, wedged together, off the road and into trees beyond the right margin," Biddle writes.

"Not knowing which way was up at first, I made my way out through the window of the upstairs back lounge, which was facing the ground and had been smashed by rescue workers. The response was immediate. We were taken to a nearby hotel as a sort of staging area. From there,  I was one of two who opted to go to the hospital for X-rays, as I was having trouble lifting my right arm. Only minor stuff," he says.

The band is now in another bus traveling to Paris to open for Kanye West tonight. "The show goes on," Biddle says.

Philly hip-hop heroes The Roots will be comedian Jimmy Fallon’s house band when his late-night show debuts next summer on NBC, a spokeswoman for Island/Def Jam Music Group confirmed moments ago. Label publicist Adesina Dowers said she was not certain what the slot means for the band’s touring and recording capabilities, but she was able to confirm rumors the group will join Fallon next year when he takes over Conan O’Brien’s “Late Night” show when O’Brien moves to Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” slot. We told you two weeks ago that Fallon was in town taping something with the Roots at Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front) in Fishtown.

World Series MVP Cole Hamels will be in New York this evening to present the "Top Ten Things that Went Through Cole Hamels' Mind After Winning the World Series," on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman." 

UPDATE: The show's just been taped and here is the Top Ten List that Hamels (pictured on set) read. If you want to be surprised when you watch Letterman tonight, you should probably stop reading now...

10. Maybe I’ll get to be on “Dancing With The Stars.”

9. Can I wear my cup in the off-season?

8. The Rays collapsed faster than my 401(k).

7. How cool a name is Cole Hamels?

6. This must be how the Yankees used to feel.

5. Is the Phillie Phanatic hitting on my wife?

4. Seriously, how cool a name is Cole Hamels?

3. How can I celebrate when the nation’s economic output is the weakest it’s been since the third quarter of 2001?

2. I hope John McCain will start calling me “Cole the Pitcher.”

1. Now maybe I’ll get to appear on Leno?

In other Hamels TV news, at 11 Friday night, Hamels, Shane "The Flyin' Hawaiian" Victorino and 1980 World Series MVP Mike Schmidt will be live on QVC's "Baseball Collectibles" show. The station will feature signed World Series balls from Hamels and Victorino and new Phillies merchanidse limited to QVC. Their segment will rebroadcast at 1a.m. Saturday.

 

Lori Delgado resigned from NBC 10 as of yesterday, sources say. The news station is expected this afternoon to announce Delgado's departure. As we reported today, Delgado was just named, along with NBC 10 and its president Dennis Bianchi in a Common Pleas Court libel lawsuit by former anchor Vince DeMentri. DeMentri disappeared from the station in July after meeting with news director Chris Blackman over an alleged incident in the parking lot in which Delgado’s car had been vandalized. As we have reported, DeMentri, who is now divorced, and Delgado, who is married, once enjoyed a particularly close friendship, that soured at some point. Delgado filed a report with the Lower Merion Police Department. A Lower Merion Township official later said the department considered the report a nonissue and was not pursuing the matter any further. Delgado’s attorney Eric Weitz did not return calls yesterday or this afternoon about his client our call yesterday. Delgado had not been seen on air for about a week. Yesterday, station spokeswoman Eva Blackwell insisted the anchor was on a previously scheduled vacation. Delgado, 29, started at NBC 10 in early 2005.

Bruce Springsteen will perform at a Saturday afternoon rally to benefit Sen. Barack Obama on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Obama campaign has just announced. The Boss will play between 20th and 22nd streets. Gates open at 2 p.m. with the rally to begin at 3:30. Preferred tickets go to Obama campaign volunteers who visit one of his local campaign offices starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow. General admission tickets are to be available by clicking here, though as of yet there is nothing posted to the page. The address was provided by the Obama campaign.

DJ AM, raised as Adam Goldstein in Philadelphia, was critically injured last night in a South Carolina plane crash that killled four people and also seriously injured Travis Barker, former blink 182 drummer, the Associated Press reports. Goldstein (on the left in the photo) and Barker perform together as TRVSDJ-AM and had played a free concert near Columbia, SC. The pair are both being treated at a burn center in Augusta, Georgia, according to the AP report. The small Learjet crashed shortly after take-off, killing two passengers and two crew members, whose identities have not been released, the National Transportation Safety Board told the AP. Goldstein was scheduled to be in Philadelphia this Wednesday to pose for a group photo of more than 100 Philadelphia DJs as part of the first annual Philadelphia DJ Day. He was also scheduled to perform Thursday night at Pearl (1904 Chestnut). We expect the injured DJ to miss both local appearances as he recovers both physically and emotionally from the tragic airplane crash.

Look for 97.5 WJJZ to yank the Smooth Jazz format tonight. Why? Because not too many people will miss it. The station has been in the tank ratingswise since shortly after it was resurrected by Greater Media in late 2006. Clear Channel had the station for 13 years at 106.1 (which is now My106.1) We're told the new format won't be unveiled until Monday morning. A call to 'JJZ program director Michael Tozzi was not returned this afternoon. A Greater Media spokeswoman said only to stay tuned for a big announcement Monday morning. Expect lots of vague hype and fanfare over the weekend.

UPDATE: Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You" was the last song that could be construed as smooth jazz that was played by the station just before 6 this evening. The station has since been playing pop rock including Blondie's "Heart of Glass," and Avril Lavigne's "Complicated."

UPDATE: NOW 97.5 debuted this morning with an adult contemporary format with Greater Media boasting a roster of artists such as "Madonna, Rob Thomas, Kelly Clarkson to Rod Stewart, Elton John and Phil Collins."