Apologies, I transcribed that incorrectly - the local shift is actually 10am-2pm.
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Iâm not suggesting RN or Classic FM should turn into a commercial radio clone. But in my opinion RN does need to broaden its appeal a tad to reach more people. Look at the figures, nobody is listening! RN gets better ratings in metro areas so theyâre missing the mark in these small towns considering the comparative number of choices.
I agree with Cranky that the methodology is flawed and some RN and even Newsradio listeners might be falsely recorded against ABC Local. But Classic FM? No way. Surely someone knows if theyâre listening to that.
The plug needs to be pulled on Classic FM and replaced by (equally âintellectualâ??) ABC Country or Double J or BBC 2. Tweaking and promotion is needed for RN. No changes to JJJ. Just to be clear.
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You miss the point that RN isnât about the ratings, never has been and never will be.
So if it rated 0% that would be ok?
It doesnât make sense what youâre saying. Itâs not about RN aiming to be number 1, but it has to have SOME listeners doesnât it?
No public broadcasting service can survive with nobody listening.
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It has been quite a while since the last Xtra Insights ratings survey has been released, but today, Mackay has released theirs: http://www.radioalive.com.au/RA/media/General/Documents/Surveys%20for%20Regional/MACKAY-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RESULT_1.pdf?ext=.pdf
Hit has maintained its top spot, but fell 2.1% last year to 22.8%, with Triple M not far behind at 22.1%, unchanged from last year. The Grant stations had a good boost in their ratings, with Star 101.9 going up 2.7% to 12.6%, whilst sister station 4MK went up 2.5% to 9.3%. ABC Tropical North was 3rd overall at 14.8%, down 2% from last year.
In the demographics, Hit is a hit (pun intended 
) with the under-40s, Triple M wins the 40-54s & ABC Tropical North wins the 55+. In the 55-64s, 4MK closes the gap behind Triple M, lowering from 6.8% last year to just 1.2% this year.
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Star up 2.5% in drive - must be the KTM effect 
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Great humour @AustralianAerial.
Whatâs interesting is 4MK.
The original Mackay station has been pushed every which way by successive owners and varying management.
New state programmer, Ronnie Stanton will have his ideas on what can be done within the Cameronâs âbudgetâ.
Without such constraints, smart investment in the station could return a lot of share to it.
Shepparton has their ratings out, their first in 2 years: http://www.radioalive.com.au/RA/media/General/Documents/Surveys%20for%20Regional/SHEPPARTON-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RESULT_1.pdf?ext=.pdf
Hit 96.9 (formerly Star FM) has its ratings share fell significantly from 2 years ago, in which they went down 10.6% to 21.6%, but maintained its #1 position. Triple M (formerly 3SR) went up 1.2% to 21.4%, only 0.2% behind Hit. ABC Shepparton fell 4.6% to 10.9%, whilst JJJ went up 2.4% to 7.5%.
In the demographics, Hit is #1 in the under-40s, Triple M tops the 40-54s & ABC Shepparton is #1 in the 55+. The Other Stations scored a whopping 35.6% share, which is up from 23.8% two years ago.
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Iâve got cousins in Mackay and thereâs still a lot of goodwill towards 4MK, despite it being pushed every which way over the years. I donât know how but they have managed to keep the love for the station. Even I have a soft spot for 4MK as it was my most listened to long distance station overnight growing up in Maryborough in the 80s. 4MK and 4HI.
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Huge other station figure in Shepparton, which stations would likely make up that?
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Aside from the other Triple M/Hit stations from Bendigo & Albury, which have identical playlists to its Shepparton stations, the âOtherâ figure would be towards the Community stations (such as One FM 98.5 & others within the licence area such as in Echuca, Seymour & Alexandra), as well as towards the ACE stations from Wangaratta, Deniliquin & Albury, Gold Central Victoria from Maryborough and possibly Triple M from Griffith in the northern parts of the licence area, which carries the âClassic Hitsâ log as opposed to the âGreatest Hits from the 70s to Nowâ log as heard in Shepparton, Bendigo & Albury.
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Thereâs 35.6% to others. When looking at the demos, the other listening skews towards to older audience - 66.6% of 65+ are listening to other stations.
Iâd say itâs a safe bet to say that the neighbouring AM stations combined would take a good chunk of that - 3NE, 2QN and Gold all have pretty good coverage throughout the licence area with Shepparton approximately the same distance from Wangaratta, Deniliquin and Bendigo. Combined, they could easily take a 20% share.
On the same note, Edge FM would also take a good chunk too, but only 5-10% between them.
One FM would be strong as far as community stations go - theyâre a fairly big station with a good local presence. They could have 5-10%. The other community stations are fairly small operations in small towns so would be fairly negligable. Iâd even question how far out of Shepparton the survey even covered.
The SCA stations from Bendigo and Albury would be negligable too - Albury doesnât make it too far past Wangaratta, and they all have the same playlist anyway, so thereâs no reason to not listen to the more local station that has a better signal and more local content (despite how little that may be).
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Edge FM at most would only take 1-2%. Honestly, I know no one who listens to Edge yet receives it that well from anywhere in the Goulburn Valley, Wangaratta excluded. Poor result from Hit today, still #1 but really poor that they have lost 10% without Triple M gaining much of that. Almost certainly a result of inconsistent breakfast shows and no local Mornings announcer. Hit also take a massive hit in the 10-24s, probably because the Gold Coast log is trash with way too many Old School songs being played to a limited rotation of new songs. Triple M deserves to be #1, also One FM would more likely account for at least 12% maybe 15 as yes it would be very strong in the 55-65+ category.
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Why? Itâs still suffering from the same line-up inconsistency - albeit perhaps not to the same extent - as hit96.9 has.
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Presumably Triple M Goulburn Valley still has some form of local programing between the end of breakfast and the drive shows kicking in? That may explain why theyâre outrating Hit 96.9 (even if not by very much) in the morning & afternoon timeslots these days!
Slightly off topic, but it sounds like Hit 96.9 currently runs some form of generic networked programing from the Gold Coast in the mornings these days? If so, thatâs a shame.
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Correct
It really depends how wide the survey was. Edge is popular in Benalla and Echuca, which are both in the licence area.
I believe that theyâre on the hunt for a new mornings presenter, although itâs probably on the back burner until they get someone else for breakfast.
For the hit regional stations, there is networked (live to semi-live) content out of the Gold Coast from 9am - 3pm for the stations that donât have local announcers. Apart from cheap programming for the stations who only have breakfast local, it also makes it easy to fill the shift when an announcer goes on leave. Itâs pretty generic though because itâs got to be relevant to 3 states - so can sould pretty bland.
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Any gut feel as to why ABC Shepparton lost so much audience? I wouldnât have thought they would have âthe pleasureâ of Jacinta and Sami in the morningsâŚ
Driving around Albury-Wodonga late Saturday afternoon scanning the radio trying to find something to listen to apart from football, Classic FM and RN. The radio stopped on a station that was playing ok music and the quality of the station idents gave me the impression it was a tiny community station Edge FM. There were no ads for over 30 mins, but when they came on I realised it was a commercial station. There were promos for a competition during the breakfast show that were so lame I immediately forgot what it was about. So, the music mix wasnât bad to fill-in an hour drive, but everything in between the songs was rather clunky.
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Would it be a bit like Warnambool with more people listening to the bigger ABC Goulburn Murray rather than the local station?
I was up that way a few weeks back and had clear reception on ABC Bendigo.