I was wrong. I predicted that Nova 106.9 would debut in the Brisbane radio ratings survey with a share between 7 and 10. It scored an 11.7, second only to recent market leader Triple M, but ahead of long-time leader B105. Survey 4 spread the joy aoround, with Triple M still on top in breakfast and overall, ARN shoring up the key demographics for 4KQ (40-plus listeners) and 97.3FM (young women), and Nova having a strong launch. Interestingly, Nova rated better in the music shifts than it did in breakfast. Maybe old listeners’ habits die hard or perhaps Nova fans prefer the music to the talk. Meanwhile in Sydney, former Brisbane “shock jock” Kyle Sandilands and on-air partner Jackie O are looking very ordinary. Despite a strong marketing campain (anyone who’s been in Sydney lately will have seen ads for their show everywhere), they dropped to a 7.9 share, against Alan Jones’s 15.6 on 2GB, Angela Catterns’s 12.2 on the ABC and Merrick and Rosso’s 11.5 on Nova. Kyle and Jackie O were also beaten by 2UE’s Mike Carlton and the Triple M Cage team. I wonder how the Network Ten folks are feeling now about their choice of Sandilands as a judge on the upcoming series of Australian Idol?
PS: RIP Paul Bodington. The 612ABC tribute is here.