102.9 Triple M is the leader in Newcastle in GfK Survey 3 with no change to its listening audience (21.1% for all audiences 10+). Around them 2HD, the local ABC and ABC Classic all saw growth, with Triple M SCA stablemate Hit 106.9 significantly closing the gap between 1 & 2 (+3.3 to 18.5 for all audiences 10+, +2.6 to 18.8 for Jess and Ducko on breakfast). The two SCA stations have a 40% audience share of Novocastrians.
At the end of 2023 SCA let go Nick Gill from its Hit Breakfast team, but after initial drops Jess and Ducko and the station have improved by around 5% each across the year to seriously challenge Tanya and Steve‘s decade as No 1 breakfast show in the region.
The Super Radio Network‘s 2HD has a good survey with Mornings up 1.4 off the back of John Laws‘ retirement announcement. Richard King was up 1.0 in Breakfast. He has been networking into Sydney’s 2SM for the last couple of years. With it looking likely that Sydney will get a local breakfast show in 2025, that will allow Richard to focus solely on Newcastle which I would think benefits both him and the station. Currently Dave Cochrane is doing the networked morning show.
105.3 New FM and triple j took the biggest hits. That was despite New FM nearly doubling its audience 18-24, poaching them from triple j. Cumulative listening was mostly steady.
