"Steady momentum", according to Radio Advertising Bureau President/CEO Jeff Haley, led by the automotive, financial and department store categories. Political buys happened "in the final throes of this year's competitive mid-term elections." The 5% trend for July-August-September is enough to keep the year-to-date growth rate at 6%. The RAB's much anticipated quarterly breakout shows this picture: Local up 3%. National ahead 10%. Digital up 23%. "Off-air", meaning non-traditional events and campaigns, up 5%. And network radio up 4%. Looking at the top five advertising categories for radio, Communications/cellular grew 6% to $380.6 million. Auto dealers/Dealer groups/Manufacturers/Rentals rose 19% to nearly $366 million. Financial services jumped 32% to $335.5 million. Television/Networks/Cable providers were 18% better, at $325.7 million. And Grocery/Convenience/Liquor stores did a 6% gain, at $210.7 million. The RAB bases its quarterly statistics on data gathered by Los Angeles-based Miller Kaplan. Read the RAB's summary and charts, with a link to the full report, here.