Talk Radio

Nirvanahead said:

Hey,>Was wondering what type of talk station are there in australia? Our talk stations are a mix of talk and entertainment. If you jump on a stream or two for a while, you will notice that depending what city you are in, the nature of the format changes. Before I started at 3AW, I wanted to work at their network sister station in Sydney, 2UE. After a month, I was glad I didn't go. Sydney is more agressive. We also have government funded talk stations, run by the Australian Broadcasting Corparation (ABC). They are included in ratings book's, and genrally do well. Their style, is more reserved (did someone say BORING?), and the average listener is conservative. >Are there certain liberal or conservative station & all sport stations? We don't have left or right leaning stations, as such. However, (even though they say they are balanced, as required by their charter) you are more likely to get a liberal view on the ABC stations. Having said that, although I work in the commercial field, I am addicted to the ABC all news network, NEWSRADIO. Back to the Sydney/Melbourne thing for a sec, There is one thing that doesn't go down well in either city, is networking/Sydication on talk radio. In Melbourne there have been no people that have made the move from Sydney, and been successful. Sydney and Melbourne are very parocial. It is almost like you have to be born, educated and die in either of these cities, before people will listen to you. Melbourne is a HUGE sporting city. 3AW, although they say News/Talk, is more News/Sport/Talk. There are also two commercial sports stations here, one that is Sport/Talk, the other is mostly Racing (Horse's, Harnness and Greyhounds). Add the ABC to the mix, and we are well served.>Also do they rate well? See for yourself. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19091716-7582,00.html (source of additional comments)http://www.nielsenmedia.com.au/files/sydney306.pdfSydney Mix 106.5 recorded the biggest audience drop of any station in this key market, down 1.4 points to 6.3 points. The middle-of-the-road music station was down in all timeslots including the all-important breakfast gig despite the attentions of programming guru Brad March, while sister station 2WSFM also slipped. Macquarie Radio Network talk station 2GB shed some listeners but continued to lead the Sydney market with an all-people share of 12.9 per cent, more than three points ahead of top FM station 2DAY FM, which was up slightly. Southern Cross-owned talk station 2UE lost some of its hard-earned gains in breakfast, where the team of Peter FitzSimons and Mike Carlton fell one point to 8.5, attracting one listener for every two who tuned in to 2GB's AlanJones. Over at the national broadcaster's Sydney station, relative newcomer Adam Spencer breakfasted well with a slight increase in audience, while morning show and ex-ABC Victoria host Virginia Trioli improved markedly, up 1.1 points to 7.0. Austereo managing director Michael Anderson said the TripleM network had performed well, gaining 0.9 points in Sydney and keeping pace with growth at arch-rival DMG's Nova. DMG's Vega network continued to provide less than spectacular competition in talkback as well as music, but an additional 47,000 Sydney listeners found the station during this survey period, boosting the total to 307,000 ahead of the launch of programming strategy No.3, expected shortly.http://www.nielsenmedia.com.au/files/melbourne306.pdfMelbourne THERE is no other spin to put on it: 3AW continues to blitz its rivals in Melbourne. The station improved strongly across all areas to win its 27th successive survey. The station's breakfast (Ross Stevenson and John Burns) and morning (Neil Mitchell) slots form the backbone of AW's ratings success. But all other on-air talent performed well, especially Ernie Sigley in the afternoons, rising from 10.8 to 13.4. Outgoing general manager Shane Healy - he's moved to the corporate area of the station with a view to returning to on-air sports broadcasting - was delighted with the results of his last survey. "I think sport has played a big part in this survey," Healy said. "People have come across to us for the Commonwealth Games and stuck with us, and they love Rex Hunt and our [AFL] footy coverage even though only half this survey takes in the footy." Try as they might, AW's football rivals cannot make up the ground on Hunt and his team. AW's overall figure for weekends rose nearly three points to 16.4. ABC774 dropped 2.3 points to 11.2 Triple M also is having little impact in the important AFL market, rating 8.3 overall on weekends, down 0.1. Michael Davis http://www.nielsenmedia.com.au/files/brisbane306.pdfBrisbane Networking programs across several capital cities may be good economics but it has cost Austereo's Triple M its traditional spot at the top of the ratings in Brisbane. Triple M was overtaken again by comparative newcomer Nova in the most recent survey, although there was not a great difference between the two, with Triple M scoring 15 per cent to Nova's 15.2 per cent. But more worrying for Triple M was the trend that shows Nova consistently gaining while TripleM stands still. Triple M is increasingly running programs such as its afternoon show The Shebang out of Sydney, while Nova has a minimum of networking, the only daily example being Merrick and Rosso from 5pm to 6pm on weekdays. Triple M doesn't have far to look to see the virtues of local programming: its main local product, its morning show, is powering along, well ahead of the rest of the field, but the station loses listeners when its networked programs are running. However, although Triple M may have been knocked off for No.1 position, at least it is competitive. Its sister station, B105, is sinking deeper all the time, dropping in this ratings period to 7.4 per cent of the market, behind two of Brisbane's three leading AM stations. Also on the AM dial, ABC612 picked up considerably, mainly because its new morning show, hosted by former News Limited journalist Madonna King, is rating well.http://www.nielsenmedia.com.au/files/adelaide306.pdfAdelaide Top rating station MIX 102.3 has managed to hold Austereo's SAFM at bay despite losing ground in a number of key shifts. SAFM's share of the 10-17 demographic also surged to 40.7per cent while listeners aged 25 to 39 tuned in, lifting its share by nearly 5 per cent. MIX's overall share fell 0.4 per cent, the station managing to keep its nose ahead in the 40-54 demographic. Overall it leads the Adelaide market with a 14.1 per cent share, with SAFM rating second with 13.4 per cent, 5AA on 13.3 per cent and NOVA91.9 on 12.4 per cent. NOVA lost some ground overall despite a strong showing in the 10-17 age group, with every shift falling slightly and some in the 18-24 demographic jumping to Triple J. SAFM's stablemate TripleM remains in transition after its shift to classic rock, with every segment losing share. The station lost share in all but two demographics. In news and talk, DMG Radio's 5AA maintained a healthy lead over ABC891, with its Keith Conlon-Tony Pilkington breakfast show taking a 17.7 per cent share, morning announcer Leon Byner falling slightly, its drive show rating strongly and its Bob Francis evening show losing ground. ABC891's highlight was Peter Goers's evening program, which maintains a healthy share of 14per cent (up 2.5 per cent) despite routine interruptions by cricket and AFL matches.http://www.nielsenmedia.com.au/files/perth306.pdf Perth ABC720, hit by the defection of decorated talkback host Liam Bartlett to rival 6PR, has lost listeners in every timeslot. The biggest loss, from 16.9 to 14.7 per cent, was in the breakfast slot hosted by Eoin Cameron. That timeslot was dominated by Botica's Bunch on Mix94.5 with 18.1 per cent of listeners. Southern Cross Broadcasting's 6PR crowed that it had beaten ABC720 for the first time since September 2002, cheekily distributing a press statement titled: It's as Easy as ABC. Bartlett's return to 6PR in March after seven years with the ABC's morning program coincided with a 1 per cent ratings jump for 6PR in its morning timeslot, even though Bartlett was on air for only three weeks of the survey's five-week period. Bartlett replaced his bitter rival Paul Murray, who left 6PR over a pay dispute. 6PR manager Declan Kelly described the station's results as outstanding. "We fully believe that we clearly have our strongest line-up in many years and I look forward to continuing to see 6PR grow as the year progresses," he said. ABC was this week talking up the impending arrival of new morning host Geoff Hutchison, an accomplished journalist lured back to his home town from the 7.30 Report in Melbourne. Among listeners aged 25 to 39, Perth station 96fm, a Southern Cross stablemate of 6PR, improved by 2.6 per cent to 21 per cent, surging ahead of Mix94.5 with its 20.3 per cent. The new 96fm breakfast crew of Tony, Fitzi and Andrea increased their share by 1.1 per cent to 11 per cent on what is the No.1 breakfast program among people aged 25 to 39 on weekdays.

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