Bidding for a police ride-along was stalled at $1,500 during an auction at Saturday's Komen Pink Tie Ball.

And then Mayor Nutter offered to come along for the ride with the winner and Police Sgt. John Wood of the Ninth District in Center City.

That got hands flying - so many that two ride-alongs were sold for $4,000 apiece, to Richard Pestell, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, and John McNeil, head of the Cancer Treatment Centers.

Radio ratings

Light rock WBEB (101.1) took the top spot among listeners 12 and older, according to September's numbers from Arbitron.

In second was all-news KYW (1060).

Just behind them was another tie of adult urban-contemporary WDAS (105.3) and classic hits WOGL (98.1). Rounding out the top 10 were classic rock WMGK (102.9), alt-rock WRFF (104.5), a tie between rock WMMR (93.3) and country WXTU (92.5), talk WPHT (1210), and sports talk WIP (610).

Among listeners 18 to 34, top stations were WRFF, WMMR, WBEB, top-40 outlets WIOQ (102.1), WRDW (96.5), and WUSL (98.9), WXTU, WMGK, and WDAS.

Among the 25-to-54 demographic, top performers were WBEB and WMMR (a tie), followed by WOGL, WMGK, WDAS, a tie between WRFF and WIP, KYW, and a tie between pop-rock WBEN (95.7) and rhythmic WISX (106.1).

When comparing September 2008 against September 2009, WUSL, also known as Power 99, is up considerably among its 18-to-34 demo, while rival WRDW (Wired 96.5) is off.

I'll save a look at the sports-talk ratings battle, a hot-button topic among readers, for a future column.

Total listening in the Philadelphia area was essentially flat year over year. Arbitron estimated in September 2009 that about 421,600 people were listening to a radio during an average 15-minute span.

The circuit

Seen at the Starbucks at Broad and Pine early Sunday afternoon: Tommy Tune in line for a cuppa before the matinee of Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of Humor Abuse at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. Tune said he's a fan of the solo show starring Lorenzo Pisoni, which is still generating buzz in the New York theater community. And he's insanely tall, as colleague David Patrick Stearns points out.

Kirsten Dunst was spotted in the back dining room at Amada in Old City Sunday night with two friends. Her dinner: alcachofas y setas and paella Valenciana, no alcohol.

Ben Foster, here over the weekend for a screening of his drama The Messenger, received the Rising Star Award from the 18 1/2 Philadelphia Film Festival. His reaction? "I'm just happy that someone wants to employ my [backside]," he told me. Foster and Woody Harrelson play officers with the military's Casualty Notification Office and boned up on the troubling task before filming.

Media activity

Shila, the femme voice on Danny Bonaduce's morning show on WYSP (94.1), is out. Manager Andy Bloom says the decision was mutual. While a replacement is sought, the cast is Bonaduce and producer Metro.

On tomorrow's edition of Dinner: Impossible (10 p.m. Food Network), chef Robert Irvine feeds a crowd at Sesame Place in Langhorne with the help of Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Maria (played by Sonia Manzano). How they manage to keep fur out out of the food is anyone's guess.

It's a hit

The punchlines didn't stop for comedian Spins Nitely after he was among several people whacked by Shane Victorino's errant bat in the stands during Sunday's Phillies-Dodgers game. "Like a fragmentation grenade" is how Nitely described the sensation of being clunked in the head. Victorino awarded two autographed bats to his victims, besides the errant one. TBS sideline reporter Craig Sager asked Nitely where he was hit. Nitely's quick reply: "Section 117, Row 5."

Contact columnist Michael Klein at 215-854-5514 or mklein@phillynews.com. Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/insider. He's also on Twitter: @phillyinsider.