Canberra radio stations have reacted favourably to ratings released on Wednesday despite some bigger winners than others emerging.
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Philip Clark wrested back the breakfast crown for 666 ABC Canberra just three months after taking over from Ross Solly while a refreshed breakfast team at MIX 106.3 enjoyed some traction in the results.
In a tight race for the top station, FM outfit 104.7 remained the top dog in Canberra, its audience share at 17.5 per cent. Next were sister station MIX 106.3 (15.9 per cent) and 666 ABC Canberra (15.6 per cent).
The much-anticipated first radio ratings results for Canberra in 2014 were released on Wednesday and include measurement by new radio ratings provider GfK.
Clark, who started at 666 on January 20, proved the big winner, scoring a 20.1 per cent share of the breakfast audience, up 3.4 percentage points from the last survey under previous long-time presenter Solly.
The urbane broadcaster relegated the previous breakfast kings, Scotty and Nige of 1.4.7, to No.2, their share down 4.1 percentage points to 18.6.
The new breakfast team on MIX 106.3 - Kristen Henry, who replaced Carla ''Biggzy'' Bignasca, joined returning presenter Rod Cuddihy - has shown immediate results. The breakfast audience share for 106.3 went up 3 percentage points to 13.1 per cent in this survey.
2CC breakfast presenter Mark Parton had an almost 50 per cent rise in audience share, up 1.9 percentage points to 5.9 per cent.
Other results from the overall standings had ABC youth station JJJ coming in fourth with a 10.3 per cent share, followed by ABCFM (10.2), Radio National (6.9), 2CC (6.6), 2CA (6.1) and News Radio (3.5). JJJ had losses across most sessions, except for evenings and weekends.
A switch in presenters elsewhere in the day at 666 paid dividends, especially for Mornings with Genevieve Jacobs, which was up 3.4 per cent to 14.7 per cent. The afternoon (Alex Sloan) and drive (Adam Shirley) sessions on 666 had slight improvements of less than 1 percentage point.
666 ABC Canberra station manager Andrea Ho laid claim to 666 being the ''No.1 talk station in Canberra''.
"It is really rewarding to see how quickly Philip has settled into breakfast and how the Canberra audience has embraced his inclusive and conversational style,'' she said.
New provider GfK is conducting three rather than two ratings surveys in Canberra, covering 24 weeks of the year, a big jump from the previous eight weeks monitored. Survey one covered February 16 to April 12, survey two will be from May 4 to June 28 (its results will be released on July 9.
A ''minimum pf 1100'' participants are surveyed
Canberra FM Radio general manager Eoghan O'Byrne, who is in charge of both 104.7 and 106.3, was happy with the results. He believes 104.7's breakfast ratings will bounce back.
''You look at survey trends and, to be honest, this is not unusual for the first survey of the year,'' he said. ''Scotty and Nige, I believe, have got a great following.''
2CC and 2CA general manager Michael Jones said the ratings sessions did not match exactly with the 2CA 3pm-6pm drive program. He said new presenter Luke Bona had lifted audience share between 3pm and 6pm from 3.3 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
''Both stations went up,'' Mr Jones said. ''We're very happy''.
Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner said online recruitment and data capture by mobile devices were the key additional features of the new GfK radio audience measurement.
In survey one, a minimum of 20 per cent of participants were recruited online; they completed an e-diary. The remaining 80 per cent of participants were recruited face to face and completed paper diaries. In addition, instant updates of the audience sample were used to ensure accurate demographic quotas.
■ The ABC launched its newest radio digital station, the reborn Double J - a Triple J for grown-ups - at midday on Wednesday with a reel of greatest hits from on-air moments at Double J and Triple J over the last 39 years, a nod to the station's nostalgic bent.