Melbourne's easy-listening station makes history
Melbourne's Smooth FM has made ratings history after leapfrogging the ABC's breakfast program for the first time since the easy-listening station was created.
Topping the FM ratings in radio's second ratings survey of the year, the station had wins across the board, with NOVA's programme director Paul Jackson describing the numbers as "outstanding".
Jumping 1.7 percentage points since the last survey in March, Smooth FM's breakfast program – hosted by Mike Perso alongside newsreader Jennifer Hansen – now holds a 9.5 per cent audience share, while ABC's rival program, hosted by Jacinta Parsons and Sami Shah, has fallen from 10.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent.
The breakfast increase saw the station lift to an overall audience share of 11 per cent for the recent ratings period (from February 10 to March 2 and from March 10 to April 13), beating its 2018 record of 10.6 per cent and giving Smooth FM its highest audience share ever.
They were topped only by 3AW, who came away with a 15.2 per cent share overall, up 0.8 percentage points from the last survey, while their breakfast program, hosted by Ross Stevenson and John Burns, easily won its slot with a 19.5 per cent audience share.
Jackson said he was delighted by Tuesday's numbers. "In particular, the results in breakfast are outstanding with Mike Perso and Jennifer Hansen the number one FM team for the first time in an incredibly competitive market," he said.
"We are so proud of the passion and hard work of everyone associated with the station since it launched in May 2012."
The results, said Jackson, were outstanding given the station started seven years ago at the bottom of the marketplace.
"We've always done well in breakfast in Melbourne, but to be at 9.5 [per cent] share and significantly ahead of other [FM] competitors... it's a sensational result," he said. "And Mike Perso's been in radio for 40 years so it's a great result all round.
"We started with an audience of 250,000 and a share of three. It was a slow and steady rise. We tried to become people's weekend station of choice. After two, two-and-a-half years we had enough listeners to take us to the number one position [overall]."
Jackson said Smooth's appeal was that, unlike other stations, it hasn't played musical chairs with presenters over the years.
"We've consistently kept Mike and Jen in Melbourne and had a very different approach to breakfast," he said.
"It definitely feels listener first, making their day better and not just talking nonsense. We don't talk about ourselves. It's a strategy we've kept to over the years. It's been a slow, steady climb."