Chris Russo considered barrage of LeBron James calls a good sign

Since moving from WFAN to Sirius XM nearly two years ago, Chris Russo often has noted the difficulty of operating without the feedback of traditional terrestrial radio ratings.

That was why he was particularly gratified when his "Mad Dog Radio" channel received 7,000 calls between 6 a.m. and midnight July 9 - the day after LeBron James' "Decision."

"That’s my barometer; that’s my report card,'' he said. "All weekend that weekend full lines on all the shows. That’s an example that I would take out of it that we’re making some progress."