Amidst the euphoria of a stunning start to the year for its new KIIS brand as well as a resurgent WS-FM, ARN’s top brass may have been forgiven for opting out of last night’s function for their lesser known third brand, The Edge 96.ONE. But no, CEO Ciaran Davis, Network PD, Duncan Campbell were both there along with a bevy of senior execs including Edge and WSFM PD Charlie Fox to lend enthusiastic support to this unique station that serves up hip hop and dance hits to the ethnically diverse youth of the western suburbs of Sydney.

For a station with no ratings, it had no trouble attracting a crowd of agency types and media buyers to fill the Boom Box at Sydney’s STAR.

The last time they held a function of this type in September 2012, in an article entitled ARN’s Sexy Little Secret, radioinfo reported on the huge inroads the station had made with listeners as measured through social media activity. Everything, but actual ratings.

We wrote then, “The Edge harbours a sexy little secret, one that other Sydney stations would rather not confront and that ARN itself is reticent, if not hamstrung, to exploit. And that is, that the station, if it were able to participate in surveys, would probably rate at between 4% and 6% of the Sydney market – or about half of the ratings share traditionally attributed to “other FM.”

But if the vibe was strong back then, it’s much more vibrant now. With digital and online listening growing rapidly, The Edge is uniquely poised to exploit the changes in radio delivery. Already it is the most popular Australian station available through iHeart.

Breakfast duo Mike and Emma (pictured) gave a brief presentation and announced a new competition to find the next Edge Radio Star giving one talented listener the chance to work a shift at the station. “It won’t be breakfast or anything,” Mike was quick to point out.