‘Green shoots’ appear for HitFM as Kiis boss denies taking eye off the ball in Sydney

Hamish & Andy returned to the airwaves yesterday for a ‘secret’ week on-air

The content bosses of Australia’s three biggest commercial radio networks have ramped up the rhetoric and traded jibes as the contest for Drive time audiences heats up across the country.

While Nova cemented its lead in the national Drive market with Kate Ritchie, Marty Sheargold and Tim Blackwell Australian Radio Network’s team of Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek had a mixed bag of results, posting a heavy drop in Sydney and a decent rise in Melbourne.

Meanwhile Southern Cross Austereo saw all of its stations on the TripleM and HitFM networks post audience increases, with chief content officer Guy Dobson describing the results as “green shoots” for the troubled HitFM network, which welcomed star duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee back to the airwaves in Drive yesterday.“Better days are ahead for the HitFM network,” Dobson told Mumbrella. “Any day you see ten of your stations rise in the one day is good and there are some nice green shoots for the HitFM network right around Australia.”