Radio’s race to the finish line
Penultimate survey reveals winners and losers in the battle for Brisbane’s airwaves
Survey 7 results in the radio ratings have dropped today, and there’s good news for some, not so good news for others, here in the River City.
The music stations have generally fared well. As for the news-talk stations, well it’s a different story. And some big names have taken some bruises.
First congratulations to the winners: Overall, it was B105 on top, followed by Triple M, 4BH, KIIS and Nova 1069. Yes, 4BH and its golden oldies are right up there now, blowing away their AM competition.
The battle for breakfast has narrowed, but B105’s Stav, Abby and Matt remain in front. The big movers were KIIS’s Robin Bailey and Kip Wightman, who leapt into equal second place with Triple M’s Marty, Margaux and Dan. This is despite (or perhaps because of) persistent rumours that they will be replaced next year by a networked show featuring Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson (whose show lost ratings points both at home in Sydney and again in Melbourne, where it has been an utter failure).
Although they might have expected an uptick on the news of Susie O’Neill’s imminent departure, Nova’s Ash, Luttsy and the aforesaid Susie have dropped to fourth in the tight brekkie pack, ahead of Barbecue Bob Gallagher, whose 4BH show had a small drop but is up there with the cool kids.
Meanwhile, both ABC Brisbane and, especially, 4BC are deep in the doldrums. The ABC has lost some of its recent gains (rebounding from a horror year in 2023). The Drive and Evening shows defied the downward trend. I’ve already predicted line-up changes next year.
That will also be the case at 4BC, which is down almost across the board (the exception being Gary Hardgrave, whose share in the Drive shift he took over from Peter Gleeson is up marginally).
The numbers don’t bode well for Peter Fegan, who took over on a temporary basis from the axed Laurel, Gary and Mark Breakfast show, but has lost listener share.
Of course, the ratings are not just about overall share but also cumulative audience, which ratings provider Gfk describes as: “The total number of different people who listen to a station for at least eight minutes (one quarter-hour) during any time period. Cume illustrates audience size, as they estimate the unduplicated number of people reached by a station at least once during a particular time period.”
An industry insider told me: “4BC cume is up, and breakfast cume too. Share down means people are not listening for as long, so they’re either younger (tend to listen shorter periods) or they’re sampling and not liking what they’re hearing. But we can see that it’s [age group] 55+ where the new listeners are, so probably the latter (they’re not enjoying what they’re hearing).”
It’s hard to know what the future holds for 4BC. If the bosses at Nine Radio in Sydney — who have struggled to make any good calls about the Brisbane market — are considering networking again, they might want to look at the Weekend results, which have tanked since they replaced a local show* with one from interstate.
However, with a conservative government now in place in Queensland, is there a place for a format that does best when it’s reacting against “woke” authority?
Nine is also facing a challenge in Sydney, where the ratings might offer a clue as to why Ray Hadley has decided to pull up stumps early. Hadley has dropped from first to third in the Mornings shift, breaking an unprecedented run of wins.
P.S.
For those playing Australian Radio Host Bingo at home, RadioInfo has published an excellent state-of-play article. In this big game of musical chairs, the music hasn’t stopped yet, and more than one chair has been taken away.
As I’ve said too many times before, expect more changes.
That’s it for now, but there’ll be more analysis and opinions on this subject in future newsletters.
*Disclosure: Brett Debritz has a deep interest in radio, has been heard at some time or other on most Brisbane stations and once worked for 4BC as Weekends producer. He has some more specific advice to share if anyone is interested in hearing it …