Mike Missanelli marked his first year as afternoon host by narrowly beating his former on-air partner, WIP's Howard Eskin, in audience share among their target demographic - men ages 25 to 54 - according to March's Arbitron ratings, released yesterday.

Eskin's cumulative audience in all demographics, however, was considerably larger, suggesting that Eskin's audience dial-flips more than Missanelli's.

Missanelli, who started at 950ESPN in April 2008, also beat Eskin in the younger-male demos. Eskin had better numbers among males 35 to 64.

Eskin and Missanelli, who were never buddies, cohosted afternoon drive on WIP from January 1999 to August 2002.

For all the reader interest in this sports-talk fray, I must point out that Missanelli's show was in seventh place and Eskin's was 10th in the target demographic.

The king of afternoons among 25-54 men in March was Andre Gardner at rock WMGK (102.9), followed by Cadillac Jack on classic hits WOGL (98.1), Fresh Air and All Things Considered on public WHYY (90.9), and Jaxon on rock WMMR (93.3).

Although 950ESPN had its strongest overall ratings book since it became a sports station in October 2005, WIP had nearly triple the audience share of its upstart rival.

WIP's morning show fronted by Angelo Cataldi, midday show with Glen Macnow and Anthony Gargano, and night show with Ike Reese had their best months in nearly a year.