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Sydney radio ratings: Smooth regains FM lead following Robbie Williams marketing campaign

Nova Entertainment’s Smooth 95.3 has taken the lead from Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) WS FM to become Sydney’s leading FM station.

Smooth kicked off a new marketing push on Valentine’s Day featuring pop star Robbie Williams. On the back of that, Smooth has climbed from an 8.1% total audience share to 9.0%, putting it at the top of the FM pile.

Last survey, Kiis and Smooth were tied on 8.1% and WS FM was on 8.4%. This survey, WS FM climbed 0.5 points to 8.9%, and Kiis climbed 0.4 points to 8.5%, placing it third amongst the FM stations.

Both 2GB (14.8%) and ABC Sydney (9.6%) were ahead of Smooth FM in terms of overall audience share.

2GB’s breakfast program featuring Alan Jones remained untouched in the timeslot, commanding a 17.9% share, up 3.1 points on last survey. The ABC’s duo of Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck managed to hold onto second, despite falling 0.9 points to a 10.9% share.

They remained ahead of Kiis FM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson (‘Kyle & Jackie O), who climbed 0.3 points to 10.2%. The Kyle & Jackie O show has been on top of FM breakfast for 13 surveys in a row.

The breakfast battle in Sydney [Click to enlarge]

Other breakfast programs remained relatively stable, with Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) experiencing small bumps. Its music-focused breakfast program on the Hit Network’s 2Day FM edged up 0.1 points to 3.8%, while Triple M’s Moonman in the Morning, with Lawrence Mooney climbed o.5 points to 6.0%.

Nova’s duo of Ryan Fitzgerald and Michael Wipfli (‘Fitzy & Wippa’) fell 0.3 points to 7.7%.

In drive which GfK measures as 4pm to 7pm, 2GB lost its crown, falling 0.3 points to 10.5%. The ABC, however, climbed 2.6 points from 9.1% to 11.7%, putting it at the top of the pile.

Between 3pm and 6pm, however, when Ben Fordham’s show runs, it was number one, with an 11.4% share, up 0.4 points.

Nova’s line-up of Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold (‘Kate, Tim & Marty’) fell 1.3 points to 9.0%, meaning it now shares the FM drive crown with Kiis’ Will McMahon and Woody Whitelaw’ (‘Will & Woody’), who remained stable on 9.0%.

Sydney radio ratings for 9- 29 February and 1 March – 4 April [Click to enlarge]

replaced the beleaguered Macquarie Sports Radio under new owner Nine

This will be the last radio ratings survey for some months, as industry body Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) and research house GfK decided it was no longer practical or safe to conduct the in-person fieldwork required during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis.

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