More than three years after its launch onto Perth airwaves, Nova 937 has consolidated its hold on the city’s younger listeners, particularly in the 18 to 24 age group.
The Nielsen radio ratings released on Tuesday showed Nova gained 1.9 percentage points and leads the group in this demographic, well ahead of rival radio station 92.9 which made up ground in survey five with a 4.5 percentage point increase.
This time last year, WA Business News reported that changes to Nova’s breakfast line-up appeared to be paying dividends for the FM station, which took top spot for breakfast listeners in the 18 to 39 age group after hitting airwaves in 2002.
Nova 937 managing director Gary Roberts continued to provide strong support for the breakfast team of Nathan and Nat, despite the loss of 0.5 percentage points.
Mr Roberts said the unique combination of an ex-Big Brother contestant and a chiropractor, neither with any prior radio experience, had achieved very good results.
Although MIX 94.5 rules the daytime zone, number one breakfast team Botica’s Bunch lost 0.5 percentage points and is only 0.6 percentage points ahead of ABC720 breakfast presenter Eoin Cameron, who continues to gain audience share – 1.2 percentage points this survey.
And with ABC’s cricket coverage under way, ABC720 is predicted to gain again in survey six.
Talk radio listeners drifted, with 6PR and ABC720 morning presenters Paul Murray and Liam Bartlett respectively both dropping. But their loss is MIX94.5’s gain, with that station increasing audience share in morning, afternoon and drive timeslots and topping all four categories.
96FM’s survey four lead in the 25 to 39 age group has disappeared, with MIX94.5 gaining 0.7 percentage points in survey five.