KCRW/Santa Monica - considered to be NPR's flagship station in Southern California - has announced that Southern California Lexus Dealers will be the exclusive sponsor of the station's podcasts, beginning October 31. KCRW began podcasting in March, offering locally produced Talk, News, cultural programs and commentary. The station's podcasts have even been used by Apple Computers CEO Steve Jobs in a recent speech before the Worldwide Developers Conference.

"The Southern California Lexus Dealers are committed to the passionate pursuit of perfection," says the dealers' representive, Brian Norwood. "We're proud to support KCRW and its passion for developing compelling radio programs and new, non-traditional ways to deliver them."

KCRW has long been regarded as an early-adopter of new technologies, going on-line in 1995 and currently providing three audio streams including the on-air signal, a separate all-music stream and a News stream. With 1.5 million page views a week, KCRW.com also reports 25,000 average downloads per week of the podcasts since March 1.