• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 13, 2011

Celebrity gossip-lovers, rejoice! TMZ, which rocketed to prominence as one of the leading dishers of celebrity gossip over the last few years, has launched a new broadcast product: one-minute "vignettes" rounding up the celebrity gossip of the day.

The new short-form gossip updates are available to radio stations nationwide Monday-Friday, through a partnership with Premiere Networks and Agile Media Partners.

Each day, TMZ will produce two one-minute vignettes summarizing the latest stories from TMZ.com, with some stories appearing "minutes after we put them up on TMZ.com," according to TMZ founder and executive producer Harvey Levin. "In other words, the spots almost become live broadcasts."

The TMZ vignettes are already airing on 50 radio stations around the country, according to the partners.

The launch of a radio product completes TMZ's backwards transition from new to old media. It debuted as a Web site by AOL and Telepictures Productions in November 2005. TMZ.com made the jump to TV in September 2007 with a nationally syndicated show anchored by Levin, who typically canvasses a newsroom full of celebrity gossip journos mixed with footage of their (not infrequently confrontational) encounters with celebrities in the street.

Previous TMZ scoops have included Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade to a Malibu cop and Michael Richard's racist meltdown on a stand-up comedy stage.

TMZ.com remains a formidable online presence, although it seems to have leveled off over the last year. In April 2011, it attracted about 15 million unique visitors, down slightly from 16.1 million in May 2010, per comScore.