MSNBC’s new media darling Rachel Maddow, 35, doesn’t even own a television set, but her personality is burning up the airwaves.

In little over a month since she went on air as host of "The Rachel Maddow Show," her left-leaning news and commentary program, The New York Times reports that Maddow has doubled the audience for a cable news channel’s 9 p.m. hour – a feat virtually unheard of.

The show has averaged a higher rating among 25- to 54-year-olds than CNN’s "Larry King Live" for 13 of the 25 nights she has been host. Although her average total audience is slightly smaller than that of King’s, Maddow, 35, has made MSNBC competitive in that time slot for the first time in a decade – now reaching 1.7 million viewers each night

It took awhile for Keith Olbermann to deliver numbers like that. His five-year-old "Countdown" program at 8 p.m. now beats CNN in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic segment every night.

But Maddow had some help coming into the job. She made regular appearances on "Countdown" and was popular on the Internet, which helped boost buzz about her new TV show. She also spent four years on the Air America radio network.

Maddow also talks to the Times about the adjustment going from radio to TV, her relationship with Olbermann and his show, and her desire to be original in a media world where everyone is trying to cover the same thing.

"I worry every day about the homogenizing forces at work in my professional life," she said, adding that it can be hard to preserve creativity within cable’s production process. It helps, she said, that she does not own a television at home, although she’s finally come around to getting one, so that her partner can watch her show.