The champagne will be flowing at Australian Radio Network (ARN) today as the first survey for 2014 shows both WSFM and rebranded station Kiis 1065 in the lead in Sydney’s FM battle.
With Kyle & Jackie O in breakfast the new Kiis 1065 station now leads Sydney’s FM breakfast with a share of 9.3%, according to Gfk’s first radio ratings survey.
The jump from survey 8 2013, the last supplied by Nielsen, is huge. In the previous survey the old Mix station had just 3.3% of Sydney’s breakfast listeners.
The ARN station and Southern Cross Austereo’s 2DayFM have effectively swapped positions with 2DayFM breakfast sinking to the bottom.
The Sophie Monk, Jules Lund, Merrick Watts, and Mel B fronted breakfast program has won 2DayFM just 3.8% of the market in its first survey out.
In Nielsen’s survey 8 2DayFM breakfast was in the lead on 10.4%.
2DayFM has also gone from leading Sydney’s FM market overall to being in last place with just 4% from Monday to Sunday.
The drop puts 2DayFM behind fellow SCA station Triple M (4.8%), Nova 96.96 (7.5%) and ARN’s Kiis1065 (8.4%) and WSFM (8.1%).
In breakfast ARN’s two stations are tied on 9.3% of the market each. In second place comes Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa with 7.8% ahead of Triple M’s 5.3%.
Over in drive Nova 96.9 continues to lead as its new syndicated drive program Kate, Tim & Marty increase the station’s share to 10.6%.
2DayFM has dropped from second place in drive to fifth ahead of only fellow SCA station Triple M.
2DayFM’s new The Dan & Maz show lost 3.2 points compared to the last survey supplied by Nielsen to sit on 5.6% in Gfk’s first book.
The rebrand has lifted Kiis1065 in drive with the station now sitting in second place on 8.7%.
Sydney’s top commercial station is still the dominant talk back station 2GB. Alan Jones shed two points in breakfast but continues to lead with slot with 15.2% as 2GB leads the market overall with 12.6% in Monday to Sunday.
There have been some minor changes in methodology between survey 8 of last year and survey one of 2014 with Gfk taking over the radio reports from Nielsen. It is also important to note that the first survey period runs from January 19 to March 1, and survey one is often affected by listeners still on holidays.
SCA’s fortunes in Melbourne were brighter than in Sydney as Fox FM held on to its title as Melbourne’s top FM station.
With a new breakfast show and drive program Fox FM managed to stay in the lead in FM radio with a Monday to 
Sunday share of 8.5%.
The new breakfast show fronted by Fifi Box and Dave Thornton proved more popular than Nova 100’s Meshel Laurie and Tommy Little.
Fifi & Dave won 7.9% of Melbourne’s breakfast listeners in their first survey since taking over from Matt Tilley’s and Jo Stanley’s decade long program.
Meshel & Tommy sat in third place in Melbourne’s FM breakfast on 7.4%. It is the first survey for the duo since they replaced 12-year long show Hughesy & Kate.
Leading Melbourne’s FM breakfast is SCA’s Triple M Hot Breakfast. The Hot Breakfast show with Eddie McGuire won 8% of the slot.
3AW continues to dominate Melbourne breakfast overall with 17% of the important timeslot despite a 2.7 point drop.
Kate, Tim and Marty have won drive for Nova 100 with the new show sitting on 10.7% ahead of Fox FM’s The Dan & Maz Show (10%).
New Triple M drive program The One Percenters with Matt Tilly and Joe Hildebrand is in sixth place overall and fifth in Melbourne’s FM with 6.7%.
In Brisbane ARN’s 97.3FM has pushed ahead to take the overall lead from Nova 106.9.
97.3FM now leads Brisbane Monday to Sunday with 13.4% compared to Nova’s 11.9%.
The ARN station has also taken the lead from Nova 106.9 in breakfast with 97.3FM now on 12.2% compared to Nova’s 11.1%.
In drive Triple M has jumped more than 3.2 points to take 9.7% of the slot. The station also increased its share in breakfast by 1.8 points to take 9.8% and in Monday to Sunday it now has 9.4%.
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In Perth 96FM was the standout of the first radio book for 2014, recording the most growth of any commercial station in Monday to Sunday, breakfast and drive.
The station grew its overall share to 11.6% with a 1.7 point jump in breakfast to overtake 6PR giving it a boost.
96FM now has 10.4% of Perth’s breakfast listeners.
In drive 96FM overtook SCA’s 92.9 which dropped one and a half points to 10.2%.
Mon-Sun 5.30am-12midnight
In Adelaide Nova Entertainment, formerly dmg Radio Australia, enjoyed success with Fiveaa sneaking up on FM station Mix 102.3.
ARN’s Mix 102.3 lost more than two points from its Monday to Sunday share to sit on 13.4% while Fiveaa jumped 2.5 points to take 13%.
The AM station continues to lead breakfast (16.5%) and is now in second place in drive after overtaking former drive frontrunner Mix 102.3.
Mix 102.3 lost a mammoth 3.9 points, dropping from 15.6% in Nielsen’s last survey to 11.7% in Gfk’s first.
As a result Nova 91.9 now leads Adelaide in drive with 15.2%.
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