You could cut the airwaves with a knife ... the Australian metropolitan cities radio ratings are released today. In Brisbane, chances are that Nova 106.9 will continue its tussle with Triple M for overall leadership, 97.3FM will probably win the hearts and wallets of grocery buyers, and 4BC and 612 ABC will battle it out for the talk audience and older demographics. Eyes will be on B105, the former market leader that is trying to reinvent itself with a new breakfast show supported by extensive television and bus-stop advertising and big promotions. More as it comes to hand.

On 612ABC and ABC News Radio's election coverage, host Richard Fidler has referred to guest Kevin Rudd as "the ABC's federal spokesman for foreign affairs". Rudd is, of course, the ALP's spokesman on foreign affairs.

It's been a busy week of broadcasting for me, with spots on ABC Coast FM on Wednesday (now a regular weekly gig with Mary-Lou Stephens) and Thursday (a half-time report last night on Dusty) and this morning's chat on 612 ABC with Spencer Howson. Spencer and I spoke about the sacking of Extra host Rick Burnett, the Dusty opening night and what happens when you type "Windsor Station" into the Translink site.

Breakfast radio star Meshel Laurie is officially staying put in Brisbane. Nova national program director Dean Buchanan says he has no plans to change the current Nova 106.9 breakfast lineup.

Community radio station Family 96.5 is asking its listeners to join in prayers for rain from 8am tomorrow. It might just work. The Weather Bureau is already predicting showers for early next week.

Here's the audio from 612ABC this morning of Spencer Howson and me listening to Campbell Newman on Nova.

One of my questions from the previous post has already been answered - Jabba will be replaced by a Sydney announcer called Simon Kennedy. As I reported on the ie blog, Nova GM Sean Ryan reckons it's all about keeping things fresh.

Can "Can-do" Campbell Newman do just about anything? Tomorrow Brisbane's Lord Mayor will be reading the 7am and 7.30am news and the 7.15am traffic update on Nova 106.9. Can somebody run a tape over it for me? I'll be talking on 612ABC around the same time.

I'm not taking sides in the Queensland election here, merely passing on this amusing song by Gary Clare from radio station 4KQ about the competing leadership ambitions of Liberal leader Bruce Flegg and Nationals leader Lawrence Springborg.

The much-derided British city on Milton Keynes is to get a high-speed Wi-Max broadband network. If I understand the technology correctly, it could pose a further threat to traditional media - in particular radio. With some people already installing Mac Mini computers into their car dashboards, the ability to connect to the internet while on the move makes listening to web radio as easy as listening to local radio. With the choice of thousands of channels, will people be necessarily content with what's served up locally? And will the licensing system - under which broadcasters have paid millions of dollars to the government for access to the airwaves - become redundant?

Nova 106.9 has convincingly won the Brisbane radio ratings, both in the overall results and the important breakfast shift. Triple M was second overall and in breakfast, with 4BC third in breakfast but fourth overall. 973FM came third overall and fifth in breakfast, while 612ABC was fourth in breakfast. The biggest gains overall were made by 4BC and 4BH and in breakfast, 4BC and Nova. Onetime market leader B105 was equal fifth overall and, despite a marginal gain, seventh in breakfast. In the survey of grocery buyers, 97.3FM was the leading station.

They don't call it "theatre of the mind" for nothing. Sydney's 2DayFM has, apparently, been "rocked" by claims that calls on its Kyle and Jackie O breakfast show were faked. The Sydney Confidential column in today's Daily Telegraph reports that a call in which a woman threatened to leave her husband was "a set-up between two staff members" of the radio station, although the hosts were unaware of it. A call last year which claimed to be with a personal trainer suffering from body odour was also said to be faked.

Podcasting and MP3 players are having a minimal impact on broadcast radio in Australia. At least that's according to a survey released by Commercial Radio Australia, the organisation that represents the interests of boradcasters. The Neilsen Media Research survey found that only 16 per cent of Australians aged 14-plus own an MP3 player, with less than a quarter of owners saying they have ever downloaded a podcast. In contrast, 39 per cent of survey respondents say they listen to six or more hours of commercial radio per week.
[Source: Commercial Radio Australia media release dated July 18, 2006]

As a wannabe radio star, I'm impressed by this story. Two British guys who broadcast an internet radio program from a spare bedroom in Wales got to interview Jeff Daniels - the star of Good Night, and Good Luck, Dumb and Dumber, Pleasantville and The Purple Rose of Cairo, about his new album. The CD, Jeff Daniels Live and Unplugged, includes a song called If William Shatner Can, I Can Too.

Nova 106.9 is No. 1 overall and in breakfast, leap-frogging Triple M. 97.3FM is third overall, ahead of 4KQ and 612 ABC (tying for fourth place). In breakfast, 612 ABC is third, just ahead of 4BC. Onetime market leader B105 is still struggling, coming seventh overall and in breakfast.

[Lots of goss to read here; please click on Read More]
Further intelligence has come to hand regarding my item in the ie liftout of The Sunday Mail today: Jamie Dunn's visit to the 4KQ studios in Brisbane to prerecord a segment for tomorrow's Ian Keenan show (at 5pm) caused a bit of panic at KQ and sister station 97.3FM - especially when the longtime B105 breakfast host spent time behind closed doors with station boss Peter Verhoeven. Dunn is, of course, now heading up the breakfast show on Zinc 96.1FM on the Sunshine Coast. I was unable to contact him late last week, but I feel sure he'd be keen to stoke any rumours about him returning to the big smoke - if only for mischief-making purposes.
Also in radio land ...
* As I also reported today in ie, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee will soon be heard on the drivetime shift on B105, heralding a return to Martin-Molloy style networking in the late afternoons. If internet gossip is to be believed, they'll be up against Merrick Watts and Tim "Rosso" Ross next year. The comedy duo are said to be ready to relinquish their breakfast show on Sydney's Nova in favour of a networked Nova drive show. Rove McManus and Peter Helliar are filling in for M&R soon, and they are touted as possible permanent replacements - pitting them against former Brisbaneite Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O in the Sydney FM breakfast stakes.

Further to my radio rumour item, the Q Confidential column in today's Courier-Mail says former Big Brother housemate Chrissie Swan was approached to join B105's new breakfast show - but declined. If Swan did have an offer - and I've heard that story, too - it would have made things fairly crowded in the B105 studio, with four people already on air at breakfast time. Or maybe it meant one or more of the incumbents were in for the chop. Whatever happens at B105, I feel sorry for the likeable and talented team already in place. Gabby Millgate, Mike Van Acker, Stav Davidson and Ben Wasley were on a loser to nothing when they took over from the hugely popular Jamie Dunn and the Morning Crew. A good number of his fans aren't going to like them no matter what they do.

The third radio ratings survey for the year is in, and - as usual - the joy has been spread around. In Brisbane, Nova 106.9 won (narrowly) overall, followed by Triple M, 97.3FM and 612 ABC. In the important breakfast shift, Triple M was No. 1, followed by Nova. The biggest improver in breakfast was 612 ABC's Spencer Howson, who added 1.6 percentage points to claim third place (just 0.9pc shy of Nova), while the biggest loser was 4BC, which dropped 3 points, but only slipped from equal second to fourth place. (This is, of course, unrelated to the fact that I had a regular spot on 4BC's breakfast show last year and this year I'm on 612ABC.) There was a setback for B105's new breakfast show, which dropped from 8.6pc to 7.7 and seventh place.

New Sydney/Melbourne radio station Vega has struggled to find an audience since it launched last year. Now comes news that one of its stars, Wendy Harmer, has quit. If the failure of the Vega format sounds like bad news for radio, the people who run our broadcast companies - and have paid many millions for their licences - better hope that Jeffrey Cole, the director of the centre for digital future at the University of Southern California, isn't on the money when he predicts the ultimate death of radio (and daily newspapers). He says the survivors among existing media in 50 years time will include music, cinema going, Sunday newspapers, and lifestyle and special interest magazines.

There'll be a bit of nail-biting in the world of Australian radio over the weekend, with the first ratings for the year due to land on Tuesday. In Brisbane, all eyes will be on B105 in its first post-Jamie Dunn survey.