Historical Metro Ratings

[TV-Expert]

@anonymousbroadcaster

During 1996 to 1997, MIX 106.5 seemed to be at their maxim, maybe they became more confident with their format, or just had better management at ARN, but for a short wile they were seriously having a go at recreating the old 2Day FM of the early mid 80s. They had heavily cut back on the “Mix Artists”, and started pushing toward a much looser rotation, with a more uncluttered style. I didn’t expect them to suddenly play Maureen Elkner’s “Rak off normie”, but they were several tracks I was surprised to hear for the first time on FM radio, obviously some hang-over from 2UW to what it seemed.

Anyway, must have been another management change at ARN during the later part of 1997, as both MIX and 2WS went back to their tightly rotated crappy playlists again, and that was that.

During that era, Mix 106.5’s audience share went like this:

S1/1996: 7.5% (5th; 3rd FM)
S2/1996: 7.5% (4th; 3rd FM)
S3/1996: 6.8% (5th; 4th FM)
S4/1996: 6.8% (5th; 4th FM)
S5/1996: 5.9% (8th; 5th FM (beaten by JJJ))
S6/1996: 8.4% (5th; 4th FM)
S7/1996: 8.0% (5th; 4th FM)
S8/1996: 7.1% (7th; 4th FM)
S1/1997: 7.6% (6th; 4th FM)
S2/1997: 7.8% (5th; 4th FM)
S3/1997: 7.8% (6th; 4th FM)
S4/1997: 6.9% (7th; 4th FM)
S5/1997: 7.5% (7th; 4th FM)
S6/1997: 7.8% (7th; 4th FM)
S7/1997: 8.7% (4th; 3rd FM)
S8/1997: 9.3% (4th; 3rd FM)

During that time, 2WS was generally at around #2 or #3 FM, whilst 2Day was well ahead, battling with 2UE for the #1 overall spot.

From what I can see on the figures, the changes that occurred on Mix would’ve happened after Survey 4 of 1997, as its audience share increased steadily from that point on, ultimately reaching 10.7% in Survey 6 of 1998, in which it came 2nd on among the FM stations. As for 2WS though, its audience share fell from the beginning of 1998, down from 10.5% in Survey 1 to 7.1% a year later (S1/1999), by which point it had evolved from a “Best Songs of All Time” to a “Classic Hits” format.