Talk radio shines as 2GB grow thanks to the Olympics, even without Alan Jones

Jason Morrisson (15.7%) has continued to grow Alan Jones audience (up 1.1%) whilst Jones has been absent battling prostate cancer. Thanks to the Olympics, 2GB remain Sydney’s Number 1 radio station with 13.4% of the commercial share with 2DAYFM (12.1%) second, up 1.3%.

ABC 702 (9.0%) held onto third despite dropping 1.6% to be just ahead of NOVA (8.6%) and 2UE (7.3%).

Triple M (5.2%) continued to head southwards (down 0.4%) and VEGA (4.4%) decided to join them (down 0.9%) for this survey as the trend was reversed for WSFM (6.7%) who grew by 1.3% and MIX (7.0%) who increased 0.2%.

Tony, Bec and Mikey on VEGA’s Breakfast is in trouble with only 3.4% of the share while Mix Mornings with Sonia and Todd are performing as poorly as the all ready axed Shebang, both 4.7%, so is the writing on the wall for Sonia and Todd?

2DAY FM’s Kyle and Jackie O (12.1%) held onto second in breakfast followed by ABC 702’s Adam Spencer (10.2%), NOVA’s Merrick and Rosso and Kate Ritchie (9.7%) and 2UE’s Mike and Sandy (7.3%).

Drive was all 2DAYFM’s Hamish and Andy (15.9%) with ABC 702’s Richard Glover (9.9%) second. NOVA’s The Wrong Way Home (8.8%), 2GB’s Phillip Clark (8.7%) and MIX 106.5’s Lars Peterson (8.2%) also did well.

Nights were understandably belonging to 2GB (18.1%) with the coverage of the Olympics followed by the Love God, Richard Mercer (9%) on MIX and 2UE’s Stuart Bocking (8.5%).

With Alan Jones back to work on Tuesday morning it will be business as usual for 2GB who continue to dominate the Sydney Radio Market while 2DAY FM continue to ‘own’ the FM band.

VEGA starts to shine

Survey 5 of the latest Nielsen Media Radio Ratings has been released this morning with talk station 2GB (12.3%) holding it’s crown as Sydney’s Number 1 radio station up 0.7% despite losing Alan Jones for most of the survey. 2DAYFM (10.8%) remain Sydney’s Number 1 FM station whilst reclaiming the second spot overall as ABC 702’s (10.6%) ratings dropped 0.1%.

Its good news for 2GB that Jason Morrison (14.6%) has been able to hold Jones’ audience as the station would have been worried when Alan Jones was forced to take time off after her was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Morrison has in fact grown the audience by 0.8% although the full affect of Jones’ temporary departure will be witnessed in Survey 6.

The biggest winner is VEGA 95.3 FM (5.3%) who is slowly but surely finding their way in the market place, stealing (0.8%) ratings from WSFM (5.4%) and Triple M (5.6%). WSFM has taken the biggest hit, losing 2.1% while Triple M dropped a further 0.2%. Jen Oldershaw’s VEGA afternoons is the stations highest rating with 7.2% of the audience share.

MIX (6.8%) is also doing a VEGA increasing 1.2% during the latest survey but it was not Mix Mornings with Sonia and Todd (4.9%) that increased, in fact they shed 0.9% of their audience. Afternoons and Drive anchored by Lars Peterson grew by 2.5% propelling the station’s figures.

NOVA (8.2%) lost 0.4% of it’s audience but Merrick & Rosso & Kate Ritchie (9.0%) grew 0.3% but still trail 2DAYFM’s Kyle and Jackie O (10.8%) who extended their lead by 0.6% which is the same margin that sister station Triple M’s breakfast show, The Shebang (5.1%) grew by.

2UE (6.7%) increased slightly by 0.1% but Breakfast with Mike and Sandy (6.5%) lost ground, losing 0.4% and so did Drive with John Stanley (5.6%). Mornings with Steve Price (7.1%) and Afternoons with Tim Webster (6.2%) both increased, Price by 1% and Webster 0.3% while Stuart Bocking (9.6%) also grew his audience by 0.1%.

Weekends (10.5%) are 2UE’s strongest schedule with the decision to move The George and Paul Show to 8AM paying off and forming a new afternoon duo, Kearns & Robertson combining Chris Kearns with Clive Robertson have made 2UE Number 2 on Weekends only behind 2GB.

Unfortunately four of the five ABC stations took a dip in the ratings. ABC 702 (10.1%) only lost 0.1% as Adam Spencer (12.1%) is still Number 2 in Breakfast behind Morrison but Deborah Cameron (10.1%) increased her Mornings audience by another 0.7% only trailing 2GB’s Ray Hadley (13.7%) who grew his audience by 0.7%.

So after another survey, 2GB is still Sydney’s Number 1 station, followed by 2DAYFM, ABC 702, NOVA and MIX FM.

Blanda's Back

Sydney’s best commercial news reader Steve Blanda has returned to 2UE this morning after not being heard since the start of June.

Replacement Robert Spicer did a very good job filling the void but it's good to hear Blanda's voice again and, to even see his face.

He returns the morning before the latest Nielsen Media Radio Ratings are set to be released at 10AM tomorrow morning.

Has Jason Morrison been able to hold Alan Jones' audience at 2GB or will we see a new King of Sydney Breakfast radio, 702's Adam Spencer may now be Sydney's most popular breakfast presenter?