That was our headline for Survey 8 exactly 10 years ago, give or take a day.
 
Funny how some things change while others stay the same. Even Angela Catterns is back on breakfast at ABC702 as a holiday fill this week.
 
Back then SCA’s Craig Bruce was program director and Breakfast anchor at SA-FM which commanded a 23.1 share of Adelaide. At that time Austereo was unassailable on the FM band. Now Craig’s the Head of Content for the group and is facing the biggest programming challenge of his career as he attempts to build three new breakfast shows, a new national Drive show and a revamped one, all at once.
 
As the surveys prepare for the biggest change in six decades, here are some of the highlights of the ratings around the country from ten years ago, Survey 8, 2003.
 
Sydney

2Day-FM was in top spot (outright) just a fraction ahead of 2GB and ABC702, both equal second on 9.7%, closely followed by Nova 9.0% and 2UE 8.8%.

ABC702’s Angela Catterns is number one breakfast in Sydney with a 12.8 share, just ahead of 2GB’s Alan Jones on 12.7. 2UE’s decision to put Mike Carlton on breakfast seems to have paid off – Carlton lifted the breakfast share by 1.7 share points (9.9), putting him in third place ahead of 2Day’s now departed morning crew (8.9).

John Laws once again jumped into number one morning spot on 11.3 share points (up 0.6), ahead of 2GB’s Ray Hadley (10.4) and 2Day’s Adam Willescroft (9.9).

ARN’s stations both increased, with WSFM up 1.1 share points to 7.1% and Mix up 0.5 to 7.9%. Mix’s love god Richard Mercer had the best shift on the station and also did well around the country.

Melbourne

3AW and Fox consolidated their top positions in the market. 3AW in top spot increased by 1.1 to 16.2%, followed by Fox, up 1.5 share points to 12.7%.

3AW’s Ross Stevenson and John Burns are number one breakfast in Melbourne with a 19.7 share, well ahead of ABC774’s Red Symons on 14.3 and Fox’s now revamped breakfast team (10.0).

3AW’s Neil Mitchell continues to dominate mornings on 18.3 share points, followed by ABC774’s Jon Fain (12.3), Fox’s Jodie and Jo(11.4) then Gold’s Mark Johnson (10.7).

ARN’s Gold had a good increase up 1.4 to 10.2%, while Mix was slightly down by 0.1 to 5.8. Mix’s Richard Mercer love god program, originating in Sydney, was the highest rating shift on the station.

Nova was steady on 10.0%, with slight decreases in daytime shows being offset by increases in other shifts.

Austereo’s Triple M was down 0.7 share points to 8.3%, with the new shows The Cage and Whole Shebang not doing as well in Melbourne as Sydney, both shifts dropped fractionally this survey.

Brisbane

B105, in top spot, increased by 0.3 to 18.0%, followed by FM 97.3, up 0.1 share points to 14.2%. Triple M was third on 13.2% (down 0.4), followed by 4KQ up 1.9 share points to 10.3% then ABC612 down 0.3 to 8.8%.

4BC scored 8.2% (down 0.5), Triple J was 6.4% (down 0.9), followed by 4BH on 6.3% (up 0.6). Classic FM dropped 0.4 share points to 3.4%, Radio National was down 0.4 to 2.3% and NewsRadio increased 0.1 to 1.0%.

ARN’s 4KQ and 4BH had the biggest increases of the survey, while Triple J and 4BC showed the biggest drops.

B105’s Jamie, Penny & Ian are number one breakfast in Brisbane with a 19.5 share, well ahead of Austereo sister station Triple M on 12.5 and 97.3 (11.3).

Triple M’s L.J leads mornings on 15.7 share points, followed by B105 (15.5) and 97.3 (14.2). Triple M won afternoons, B105 had a strong lead in drive and dominated evenings. B105 also won weekends.

Adelaide

SA-FM consolidated its top position, increasing by 2.9 share points to 23.1 in a strategy that saw the changes at sister station Triple M sending alienated listeners to SAFM.

While Triple M fell significantly, down 2.7 share points to 12.8%, the station would be happy with the network strategy that flowed listeners from one station to the other, leaving Triple M free to pursue its younger target demographics in the new year. Most of the movement happened in the 40-54 demographic, with Triple M losing 8.7 share points and SA-FM gaining an equivalent 8.1 share points.

Second placed 5AA dropped 0.5 share points to 16.6%, Triple M was third with 12.8%. Mix 102.3 jumped 2.0 share points to 11.4% into fourth place, followed by ABC891, down 0.1 to 10.4%.

Triple J dropped 0.5 to 5.9% and 5DN was up 0.6 to 5.6%. 5DN’s Ray Fewings night program was up 1.1 to 10.1% in that timeslot and Jeremy Cordeaux increased 1.1 share points in Mornings. Anne Wills will join Jeff Sunderland on 5DN Breakfast in 2004.

Perth

FM 94.5 retained its lead, down 0.2 to 20.7%. Second placed 92.9 increased 1.1 share points to 12.2%, followed by ABC720 in third place, which dropped 2.5 to 10.1%.

Southern Cross talk station 6PR jumped 1.5 share points to 9.4%, while stablemate 96FM dropped 0.9 to 8.9%.

Nova was down 0.3 to 8.8%, followed by Triple J, up 0.2 to 6.6%, 6IX up 0.4 to 6.3%.

94.5 won all shifts and all over 25 demographics. 92.9 won 10-17s and Nova won 18-24 year olds.

For more detailed on Survey 8, 2003 go to the original article here.
Note: Due to the age of the article, the links in it no longer work.