1. Ben Fordham Retakes Sydney Breakfast Crown
Ben Fordham has regained his spot as the No. 1 breakfast show in Sydney, according to the metric of audience share.
Last survey, Kiis 106.5 duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson took over, with “The Kyle and Jackie O Show” sitting on 14.9% to Fordham’s 14.8% for 2GB.
Henderson has been absent for the tail-end of this survey, taking the remainder of the year off due to ongoing symptoms from COVID. She was replaced by “Life Uncut’s” Brittany Hockley.
In Survey 8, the final of the year, Kiis 106.5 slipped slightly in breakfast, down to 14.8%, while Fordham climbed 0.9 points to 15.7%.
No one else in Sydney comes close to the share of Fordham or “The Kyle and Jackie O Show”, with the next closest contender being WS FM’s “Jonesy and Amanda” on 8.8%.
Kiis 106.5 and “The Kyle and Jackie O Show” remained well on top in terms of cumulative audience, however, with 817,000, down only 1,000 from last survey’s 818,000. 2GB in breakfast had 491,000, up from 455,000.
2. Triple M Sydney Breakfast Bows Out With 4.4%
Triple M Sydney’s breakfast show with Mark ‘MG’ Geyer and Jess Eva wrapped up its final survey with a 4.4% share, up from last survey’s 3.7%.
The show first hit the airwaves when Lawrence ‘Moonman’ Mooney abruptly departed the station, and ultimately settled his legal action against his former employer.
The “MG, Jess and Pagey Show”, which also featured Chris ‘Pagey’ Page until earlier thus year, took over the slot in 2022.
As the year drew to a close, however, Eva revealed on air that the show would be no more.
It has subsequently been revealed Triple M veteran Mick Molloy will return to the fold, hosting Triple M Sydney breakfast alongside Geyer.
“MG, Jess and Pagey’s” final outing with a 4.4% share was up slightly on its 3.7% from last survey. Its cumulative audience was also up 36,000 to 324,000.
3. The Battle For Nights
The battle for nights across the music stations will be one to watch in 2023.
Already, as 2022 draws to a close, there are multiple trends unfolding.
The largest show in terms of cumulative audience is Nova’s “Smallzy’s Surgery” with Kent “Smallzy” Smalls. Across the five capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, the show has a cumulative audience of 743,000, steady with last survey.
In terms of share, it dominates in Brisbane with 11.5% and in Perth with 12.9%.
In Sydney, however, the show is fighting for honours with Kiis’ nights show, fronted by Mitch Churi.
In the nights slot in Sydney, Kiis boasts a 7.4% share to Nova’s 7.0%. Nova, however, has a 239,000 cume in the slot, to Kiis’ 216,000.
Churi’s show doesn’t have the benefit of broadcasting directly into Perth, so across the four remaining capitals, it has a cume of 554,000, up 2,000 from last survey.
The other nationally syndicated show in the mix is Abbie Chatfield’s “Hot Nights”, which runs across the Hit Network.
The Hit Network lost share in nights all markets except Adelaide this survey, and now has a cumulative audience of 588,000 across the five cities, down 36,000 from last survey’s 624,000.
The Smooth Network (part of Nova Entertainment) and Gold Network (part of ARN) also dominate in the cities they are broadcast into.
Smooth wins the Sydney nights slot with a 9.8% share and a cume of 262,000, whole Gold dominates Melbourne with 12.0% and 250,000.
4. “Chrissie, Sam and Browny” Finish Up With 7.5% Share
Chrissie Swan, Sam Pang and Jonathan Brown wrapped up their Nova 100 breakfast show this year.
Their final outing in the Melbourne radio ratings had them on a 7.5% share, down 0.6 points from last survey. They had a cume of 567,000, down slightly on the 573,000 from last survey.
The show will be replaced next year by “Ben, Liam and Belle”, while Swan will move into an afternoons slot across the wider Nova network.
“Chrissie, Sam and Browny’s” 7.5% share put the show on par with Kiis’ “Jase and Lauren”, but behind 3AW’s “Ross and Rus” (22.8%), Gold’s “The Christian O’Connell Show” (9.9%), ABC Melbourne’s Sammy J (8.0%) and Fox’s “Fifi, Fev and Nick” (8.4%).
5. Big Changes Afoot in Adelaide
The Adelaide radio market is in for some huge changes in 2023.
Nova 91.9 breakfast, previously helmed by Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton (“Ben and Liam”), will have new hosts Jodie Oddy and Andrew Hayes (“Jodie and Hayesy”).
Oddy was previously on ARN’s Mix 102.3 alongside Mark ‘Soda’ Soderstrom.
She left unexpectedly at the end of 2020, and was ultimately replaced by Erin Phillips.
In the ensuing year, Soderstrom also departed the program and was replaced by the ABC’s Ali Clarke, forming the “Ali Clarke Breakfast Show”.
Soderstrom, however, has subsequently popped up at SAFM, where he will face off against former co-host Oddy in the breakfast slot next year.
He joins Rebecca ‘Bec’ Morse on the Hit Network station, replacing the former “Bec, Cosi and Lehmo” show with “Bec and Soda”.
All the results from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth for Survey 8 are below.
SYDNEY:
#1 FM Overall: Kiis 106.5 (11.6%)
#1 AM Overall: 2GB (12.5%)
#1 FM Breakfast: Kiis’ Kyle and Jackie O (14.8%)
#1 AM Breakfast: 2GB’s Ben Fordham (15.7%)
#1 FM Drive: Kiis’ Will and Woody (10.7%)
#1 AM Drive: ABC’s Richard Glover (6.8%)
Biggest Mover Up: WS FM (+1.0)
Biggest Mover Down: ABC Sydney (-1.5)
MELBOURNE:
#1 FM Overall: Gold 104.3 (11.9%)
#1 AM Overall: 3AW (15.1%)
#1 FM Breakfast: Gold’s Christian O’Connell (9.9%)
#1 AM Breakfast: 3AW’s Ross and Russel (22.8%)
#1 FM Drive: Gold’s Dave ‘Higgo’ Higgins (12.0%)
#1 AM Drive: 3AW’s Tom Elliott (10.7%)
Biggest Mover Up: Kiis 101.1 (+1.7)
Biggest Mover Down: Triple M (-1.4)
BRISBANE:
#1 FM Overall: B105 (13.0%)
#1 AM Overall: 4BH (7.4%)
#1 FM Breakfast: B105’s Stav, Abby and Matt (13.7%)
#1 AM Breakfast: ABC Brisbane’s Craig Zonco and Loretta Ryan (9.1%)*
#1 FM Drive: Nova’s Kate, Tim and Joel (17.2%)
#1 AM Drive: 4BC’s Neil Breen (5.5%)
Biggest Mover Up: Triple J (+0.9)
Biggest Mover Down: 4BH (-1.0)
ADELAIDE:
#1 FM Overall: Mix 102.3 (11.8%)
#1 AM Overall: FiveAA (11.1%)
#1 FM Breakfast: Triple M’s Roo, Ditts and Loz (11.2%)
#1 AM Breakfast: FiveAA’s David Penberthy and Will Goodings (16.5%)
#1 FM Drive: SAFM’s Carrie and Tommy, and Mix 102.3’s Will and Woody (11.6%)*
#1 AM Drive: FiveAA’s Rowey and Timmy G (10.6%)
Biggest Mover Up: Triple M (+0.9)
Biggest Mover Down: ABC Radio National (-0.9)
PERTH:
#1 FM Overall: Nova 93.7 (17.9%)
#1 AM Overal: 6PR (8.5%)
#1 FM Breakfast: Nova’s Nathan, Nat and Shaun (20.8%)
#1 AM Breakfast: 6PR’s Gareth Parker (10.7%)
#1 FM Drive: Nova’s Kate, Tim and Joel (18.4%)
#1 AM Drive: 6PR’s Perth Live with Oliver Peterson (8.3%)
Biggest Mover Up: Nova 93.7 (+0.9)
Biggest Mover Down: Mix 94.5 (-1.1)
Stations and shows marked with an asterisks [*] signal a change from the last survey.