Radio Waves (washingtonpost.com)

Radio Waves (washingtonpost.com): "Air America got its first 'book' -- the three-month Arbitron ratings -- in late July and exulted. In New York, its flagship WLIB generally trailed the leading talk station WABC in the 25-54 demographic but beat out rival WOR. Rhodes's afternoon show outdrew conservative stalwarts Bill O'Reilly, Bob Grant and Michael Savage, though not WABC's Sean Hannity. It was a strong debut.

Moreover, Air America got even higher numbers among 18-to-34-year-olds. 'Amazing stat,' marvels Rhodes, who did top Hannity in that group. 'Nobody on AM gets 18-to-34-year-olds.'

The Media Audit, a ratings company, surveyed New York listeners for Air America and found an affluent, ethnically diverse young audience, more female than is typical for talk, that gardens, works out at health clubs, disdains SUVs, attends concerts -- and votes. (Almost 11 percent self-identified as Republican, nearly 19 percent as independent.) 'Most stations would kill for this kind of launch,' said Media Audit executive Mike Bustell.

Consequently, commercials for blue-chip advertisers like Ford, Home Depot, Charles Schwab and American Express were increasingly joining the ads promising to help listeners lose weight, improve vocabularies and grow hair.

The ratings in Portland, so far the only other city with ratings, were even more dramatic: Air America affiliate KPOJ had suddenly jumped to the highest-rated commercial talk station in town from 8 in the morning to 10 at night among 25-to-54-year-olds. In her time slot, Rhodes's show was tied for first among all commercial stations -- AM and FM, talk and music."

A GREAT start for the new network, and the show this article highlights (Randy Rhodes) has become my favorite. I download it, listen to it at the gym and don't feel like I'm trapped in a country of gun nuts and psycho hillbillies.

Of course, I still don't have a lot of time, but I'm actually planning on updating the website tonight. So, all summer's worth of news will be up, and the comics will be up tomorrow.