ABC Western Australia’s acting Local Radio Manager, James O’Brien, says there has been “an overwhelming response” to his advertisement for a new afternoon presenter to replace Verity James on local ABC station 720.
He has told radioinfo: “It’s not often that we advertise an ABC metro presenter’s job.” O’Brien is pleased with the number of interesting people who would like to take over from James.
The station has a high profile in the Perth community and scored well in the last ratings survey.
“720 ABC Perth registered an increase of 1.2% cent of the Perth market, with an 11% share figure, cementing the station’s dominance as the number one talk station. In every session, 720’s reach was higher than that of commercial rival, 6PR,” says O’Brien.
High profile presenter, Eoin Cameron, has a 14.9% share of breakfast talkback and an average audience of 46,000, which “re-establishes him firmly as the number one presenter in the talk market, and number two overall,” according to O’Brien.
“All other 720 ABC Perth programs experienced healthy share increases in the current survey.
“In the battle for the dominance of the morning talkback market, Liam Bartlett regained his rightful position
as leader, with his morning program increasing its audience share to 10.2 per cent, increasing the gap between himself and his talkback competition by 2.9%,” says O’Brien.
In Verity James’ former afternoon timeslot, 720 has “the number one spot in the talk market,” and Drive with Russell Woolf has a listener share “almost twice that of his commercial opposition.”
In the last survey, Evenings scored 11.3 share points (up 0.8%), and weekends also trended upwards. “Sarah Knight’s Saturday breakfast program had a particularly good result with an increased share figure.”
O’Brien says the station’s good result is even more pleasing because “over the past four years, Survey 4 has traditionally shown a slight decline in our audience, and we are extremely pleased to have bucked the trend.”
He is also pleased with the increased growth in the station’s younger demographics. “It is testimony to the efforts of our programming teams, and shows we are delivering our audience relevant and enjoyable
programs,” he said.