Radio ratings: Classic Rock hits new low in Sydney as WSFM moves up to number two
Classic Rock’s Sydney audience has fallen below that it inherited from predecessor Vega, according to the latest set of radio ratings.
According to the survey which covers June 27 to September 4, Classic Rock’s weekday share fell from 4.4% to 2.6%.
At the point of the rebrand in March, Vega had 3.4% of the Sydney audience.
Classic Rock’s Sydney breakfast show fell from 3.3% to 1.9%.
However, a marketing campaign for Classic Rock only began halfway through July, midway through the ratings period.
In brighter news for DMG, its “I’m working for Merrick Dools & Ricki Lee” promotion did deliver a result. The breakfast show was up in Sydney from 6.3% to 7.2%. Nova itself was up from 6.8% to 7.2%.
However, the bad news for Nova was that WSFM had an even better set of ratings, with share up from 6.7% to 7.8%, taking it into second place ahead of Nova among the music stations.
But Austereo’s 2Day FM continues to dominate the music radio landscape, with its share up from 10% to 11.1%. The Kyle & Jackie O Breakfast Show was up from 10.5% to 12.6%.
Austereo CEO Guy Dobson told Mumbrella: “They just keep on delivering.”
In drivetime, 2Day FM’s Hamish & Andy Show demonstrated why the network will miss them, with the station grabbing a 14.6% share of the 4-7pm audience.
Nova’s Ryan, Monty & Wippa show contnued its march in drivetime, up from 7.8% to 9.2%. The previous set of ratings had seen them jump up from 6.9%
Meanwhile, in talk radio, Alan Jones was back on the up, with his morning slot on 2GB increasing share from 15.9% to 18%.
2GB’s weekday share rose from 14.5% to 15.3%. Talk rival 2UE, which has recently brought in programming veterans to sharpen up its offering was down from 6.9% to 6.2%.
Source: Nielsen
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Bring back Sammy and Jason for the Sydney Mix 106.5 brekkie show. I stopped listening when they teamed Sammy with some other dudes..
Now look at Mix’s brekkie ratings
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I’m with you Dave, bring back Sammy & Jason. And maybe remove some of the dinosaurs running the station.
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It makes me laugh that in 2005 DMG claimed that their research had shown that what the 40 somethings really wanted was a talk / music FM station based around the theme of “40 years of Music”. The result was an initial rating of 1.8%.
The research then claimed that 40 somethiongs wanted “Vega Variety” – a mix of new “safe songs” and 70s and 80s hits. The research then showed less talk was needed. Result: 3.5 – 4.5% ratings. Still last.
Then the research claimed they wanted “Rock Legends” and now Classic Rock. The research much now show that 40 somethings want old rock songs and no announcers at all.
Who is doing this research?? Why does it keep changing?? From all talk to no talk. New hits to only old songs. variety to only rock.
The current rating of 2.7% is no more than the niche market ABCFM rates.
And throughout the past five years the 40 – 54 year olds keep listening to 2GB, 2DayFM, 702 and WSFM.
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I wouldn’t be writing Classic Rock off just yet, Nick.
First, it’s a new brand. It takes much longer than that to raise public awareness. A couple of times recently I’ve had word-of-mouth experuiences that suggest it’s just beginning to get people’s attention.
Second, don’t forget that in new programming boss Paul Jackson (who hasn’t started yet), they’ve got somebody with deep experience of exactly this sort of station. He was at the helm of Virgin (which never seemed to be more thna 15 minutes from a Queen song when I used to listen).
So early days, I think.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
100% agree with you Tim. This is a new brand and we all know that it takes time, patience, trust and some marketing dollars to build one. Comparing CR numbers to other ‘day-part’ shows might not be accurate (apples with oranges). It’s an entirely different model. The new programming director will make an impact.
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Human beings always go down well on the radio. Live humans even better. Perhaps even with a personality.
Try that formula and maybe something on 95.3 will work.
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Maybe word of mouth will start working for Classic Rock 95.3. Word of mouth can be a powerful, personalised marketing tool.
All they need to do is to get both of their listeners to start talking about the station with their friends.
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are they on the Highway to Hell?
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or a Road to Nowhere
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Those who say Classic Rock is a new brand are kidding themselves….Is it not the same people behind the scenes making all the decisions…is it not the same breakfast show….is it not the same breakfast announcer…all thats changed is format (once again) and name. A leopard does not change it’s spots. You can call a radio station ‘Fred 95.3’ but if it has the same people behind it and it continually does not connect with the listeners of its core target there is more wrong.
They have had 3 surveys and a full 6 weeks of marketing in this survey which should have been more than enough to attract people to listen. It didnt. They have run out of answers and it’s time people that have made all these decisions stand up and take responsibility. Paul Jackson will hopefully have a few tricks up his sleeve however lets be realistic. Who really believes that Classic Rock with two radio stations nationally will be his priority when the flagship Nova (who really make the money for dmg) is also suffering in Sydney in particular.
I remember back after Survey #4 David Kidd and Dan Bradley were very quick to comment on the first result of Classic Rock. At the time there was a big increase in 10-17 which Mr Kidd said had little or no effect on the overall result. His comments are under the heading “Radio ratings: Early result for Classic Rock in Sydney; no breakthrough for Merrick, Dools & Ricki-Lee; Nova fourth in Brisbane” Mumbrella 22nd June
At the time I asked Mr Kidd and Mr Bradley on the 9th July through my comment on Mumbrella the following “should Survey #5 show a decrease in the 10-17’s for Classic Rock to a more appropriate 3.7 (as per Survey #3) would we not then see Classic Rock actually dip in the overall result for All People 10+.” There was no response. As we now know there was no real correction in the 10-17’s in Survey #5 but there most certainly was in this Survey #6. In fact they dropped to a more understandable 2.1 from 8.4! This has to have effected the overall result. No doubt about it. And what hurt more was the drop across all demographics with the next biggest drop for them being their core demo of 40-54 with a 2.3 decrease. What does this now tell us? It can’t be the election excuse of listeners tuning out of music stations to listen to talkback because look at 2Day’s 40-54 demo…up by 2, look at WS…up 0.9 overall, and more significantly, ABC702…drop by 1.2 and 2UE…drop by 0.9.
Looks to me that Survey #6 has delivered the most accurate survey so far this year.
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“Never more than 2 listeners at a time”. CLassic Rock 95.3FM
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@ Humphrey. Regarding your comment “Comparing CR numbers to other ‘day-part’ shows might not be accurate (apples with oranges). It’s an entirely different model. ” I must ask if this is the case why do Survey’s at all? How is it a different model? It still plays music, has news and traffic breaks…the only difference is there’s no live announcer. Dont be misled, model is just another word for format.. How are we, as marketing professionals, suppose to develop strategic and successful campaigns for our clients if we dont compare dayparts on all stations including demographics, average audience figures and actual audience figures.
By saying the comparison of Classic Rock dayparts with others may not be accurate you are suggesting that Classic Rock are individual and unique and should be critiqued as such. Well, going off past ratings and #6 in particular there are other stations that I would prefer to recommend to my clients for strategy purposes.
If as you say, its a different model, would Triple M then also be a different model to WS? The real ‘model’ differences are ‘Talkback’ and ‘Music’ in Australia. It’s only the format that differs because those that make the decisions in radio have all been in radio too long to think of anything new.
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Classic Rock is not an entirely new format. This time last year Vega was focused on their “Rock Legends” positioner. It failed to rate. In March they rebranded the station Classic Rock. It has also failed to rate. There has never been a great difference between the Rock Legends music and the Classic Rock music.
DMG claimed that there was a hole in the market for a station that focused on old rock songs. They claimed that WS and Gold were annoying listeners with all the pop stuff they threw in with the rock. It appears Sydney prefers the WS model -more variety.
The decision to drop announcers to save dollars is 100% madness.
A classic rock station that cannot back announce the year songs were released.
Good one DMG
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DMG was 100% correct when they claimed that there was a gaping hole in the market for a “Classic Rock” format, but they have not done their homework. Most radio markets have similar opportunities for a fair dinkum classic rock format, but it appears management execs don’t realyy understand how to deliver this format in a way that it would attract large audiences. Just promoting a station as having a classic rock format, doesn’t cut it.
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