Radio ratings: ARN’s big changes may need a little time

It seems that Jonesy and Amanda’s Sydney fans didn’t stay locked into Gold 101.7 to find out what this new Christian O’Connell bloke is all about, with the station’s breakfast show dropping 3.6 points in O’Connell’s debut radio ratings book in the city.

The Gold listeners didn’t necessarily follow Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller over to their new home in drive, though, as this timeslot stayed static at 8.4 points — which amounts to a win in the fickle radio game, especially considering they replaced Steve Fitten, who was bolted into Gold’s drive slot for the past eight years.

Also in Sydney

Nova also played switcheroo in Sydney during this ratings book, moving Ricki-Lee and Tim Blackwell from national drive to Sydney breakfast, and moving previous brekky team Fitzy, Wippa, and Kate Ritchie to national drive. The first radio ratings of 2026 cover January 18 (the first “official” day of ratings) through to February 28. Nova’s drive/breakfast switch started on February 9, so it’s a bit hard to attribute any ratings success/failure to either team. Nevertheless, Nova’s breakfast slot rose by 0.5, from 7.9 to 8.4 to land in third place in FM, while drive dropped 0.3 points, from 10.5 to 10.2.

As you may know, ARN also switched out its Kiis breakfast stars Kyle and Jackie O at the start of March, replacing them with a gaping big two-city programming hole. Interesting move! In Sydney, Kyle and Jackie O stayed at 12.7 for their final ratings book, making it 57 straight survey victories in the FM breakfast slot — a massive achievement despite all the serious misconduct that went to air. Overall, 2GB’s Ben Fordham is well in front, gaining 1.7 points to reach 16.6.

Meanwhile O’Connell sits in fourth on the FM dial and sixth overall, with 6.1. He has some building to do.

In terms of the Sydney stations, Smooth is again the top dog, with its 13.5 points (up 0.5) remaining ahead of 2GB’s 12.2, despite the latter gaining a point this book. Kiis dropped 0.5 to sit at third overall with 9 points.

Melbourne

Over in Melbourne, Nova’s breakfast duo Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips ought to be feeling pretty smug right about now.

Let me take you back to late April, 2024. After Kyle and Jackie O signed their $200m deal at the end of 2023, Jase and Lauren were unceremoniously dumped from their Kiis breakfast slot to make way for the interlopers.

The pair quickly signed with Nova, and carried on delivering their breakfast show for a new network. Not content with taking their jobs, one weekend in late April during a Jase and Lauren meet-and-greet with listeners, a hot pink bus branded with Kyle and Jackie O’s image and the Kiis FM logo parked across from the event, in the background of all the photography and footage.

Hawkins branded it “bully-like behaviour” on air the following Monday, with Phillips reminding her past employer: “We haven’t done anything wrong to them. They got rid of us, told us we weren’t good enough, and now they’re turning up … trying to sabotage, it’s a bit tasteless.”

Fast forward to today, and Jase and Lauren have the top show in Melbourne FM breakfast, climbing 2.3 points to sit at 11.1 — more than double what Kyle and Jackie O have managed in their former Kiis slot. Sandilands and Henderson rose just 0.1 in their final book to command a paltry 5.1 points — eighth overall. Now K+J are off-air, it’s safe to officially dub their Melbourne expansion a failed experiment.

To make it even sweeter, Jase and Lauren moved past former #1 Christian O’Connell on (ARN’s) Gold, who slipped 0.4 points to 10.6. It would be tempting to credit this slip with O’Connell taking his eye off the ball locally, in order to break nationally, but Gold fell 0.8 points overall, and also lost listeners across morning, afternoon, and drive — the latter which marked Jonesy and Amanda’s Melbourne debut.

Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody on Fox FM sit in third in FM breakfast, climbing 1.6 points to land at 8.8 (where Jase and Lauren sat last survey). Despite dropping 0.9 points, Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft on 3AW on the AM dial still out-rate all the FM shows, with 18.9.

As mentioned, overall Gold dropped 0.8 points, but remained in the (FM) lead with 12.5 points (3AW is #1 overall, with 13.8). The closest contender to Gold on the FM band is the similarly targeted Smooth, with 9.4, while Smooth’s sister station Nova sits in third, with 8.7 (down 0.8).

Adelaide

Adelaide just loves Triple M. Despite dropping 1.4 points this book, the SCA station still sits on 12.5 points, 1.6 clear of Nova, which climbed 0.8 to sit in second. ARN’s rebranding of Mix1023 to Kiis1023 will take some bedding in, it seems, as the station dropped 3.3 points to land at 9.6. Mix Kiis lost percentage share across all day parts, and all age demographics. These things take time.

Triple M’s breakfast team Roo, Ditts and Loz remain in the lead, despite dropping 0.7 to sit at 14.4.

FiveAA and ABC Adelaide are in second and third (both AM stations) while the closest FM competitor to Triple M in breakfast is Nova’s Jodie Oddy and Andrew Hayes, who scored a 9.7.

Brisbane

Robin, Kip, and Corey on Kiis have dodged another bullet. Last year, it was announced they would be replaced in breakfast by Craig “Lowie” Low, before “feedback from Brisbane listeners … strong audience engagement and recent survey results” saw them back in the breakfast role six weeks later, with Lowie moved to national nights.

Then, they got cocky, with a radio stunt where they lifted ARN boss Michael Stephenson ten feet into the air on a cherry picker before questioning his “dumb-arse” decision to fire them. Then, they dropped one point in the final ratings book of the year. Gulp! Luckily for their future at Kiis, they have picked up 2.1 points this survey to sit at 12.3.

Triple M’s Marto, Margaux and Dan leads the breakfast pack with 14 points, while Nova’s Nick, Luttsy and Susie O’Neill had a shocker this survey, dropping 3.6 points to fall from first place to fifth overall (including AMs). It’s not just them though, Nova fell from second overall station to fifth, dropping 3 points and losing percentage in every day part and across most demographics (the over 55s still love it!)

Triple M rose 1 point to remain Brisbane’s top station, with 13.1, while Kiis slid into second, up 1.3 to 11.7.

Perth

ARN’s 96FM also had a rebrand this survey, whacking a “Gold” at the front of the name, and managing to lose 1.8 points in the process, allowing Mix 94.5 to catch up — with both sitting in equal second with 11.6. Nova still rules the roost in Perth, up 0.7 to sit at 16.1 this survey.

Same deal in breakfast, where Nova’s Nathan, Nat and Shaun shed 0.1 point to sit pretty in front with 17.6. Their nearest competitor in breakfast is Mix’s Pete and Kymba with Ben Cousins at 11.3, and Steve Mills and Karl Langdon on Nine’s AM talkback station 6PR up 2.7 points to land in third overall, with 11.2.

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