The story behind how the Australian Audio Awards came about.

Find out how to enter and hear about the judging criteria.

Entry details at www.mumbrella.com.au/audioawards

When your submisison is ready, enter here https://2026-aus-audio.awards-portal.com.au/

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It's straight back into the radio year with the release of GfK's Survey 8, 2025 results, as Jen Seyderhelm and Steve Ahern summarise the results and talk to the main players.

For the first time, the last survey of the year has been released in the following year. The strategy for the change in release dates is to get radio audience numbers in front of advertisers early in the calendar year, rather than waiting until March, as has been the practice in the past

Survey 8 was conducted for CRA between Sun Oct 5 to Sat Dec 13 2025, which includes the beginning of the Australia v England Ashes cricket series.

• In Sydney - Smooth FM 95.3 finished 2025 as the No 1 station with a 13% share (up 1.6) and as the most listened to station in Australia
• 2GB's Ben Fordham No 1 on breakfast (down 1.9). Kyle and Jackie O No 1 FM (up 0.2). Jonesy and Amanda go out on a high - up 0.8 to 9.7
• Melbourne - Daylight between Ross and Russ (19.8 down 0.3) on 3AW and Christian O'Connell (11.0 down 0.2) on Gold 104.3 on breakfast. 1.5 drop for Fifi, Fev and Nick on the Fox to fall below Nova, smooth and the ABC breakfast teams.
• 3AW just ahead of Gold 104.3 overall
• Triple M Brisbane leads overall. Nova 106.9's Ash, Luttsy and Nikki Osborne take top spot in breakfast in their last survey as the trio.
• A 1.0 drop for Robin, Kip and Corey Oates on Brisbane's KIIS 97.3, attributable to their dumping then reinstatement during the Survey 8 measurement period. 4BC the most negatively affected this survey by their significant line up changes.
• Adelaide - Triple M also No 1 overall. Great survey for Nova talk station FIVEaa, second on breakfast for Dave & Will behind Triple M and gaining ground.
• No change in Perth with Nova 93.7 No 1 and in breakfast. 96FM was up as they usually are to cap off the year. 92.9 Triple M appeared to pick up listeners from Mix 94.5 with Pete and Kymba returning just as a duo this year hopefully to give better stability for their listeners
• Nova 969 had more listeners in Sydney than KIIS 1065. Gold was the most listened to in Melbourne, but down.
• ABC Local stations were mostly steady, with the exception of Perth, which had a good rise. It is likely that the first Ashes test in Perth in the final weeks of survey delivered the 2.1 share point rise for ABC Perth, with good gains in all shifts in the daytime cricket timeslots.
• Commercial Radio reaches 12.4 million Australians every week.

We hear from to Nine Radio's Greg Byrnes, ARN's Gold network head Sue Carter, SCA's Matthew O'Reilly and Ace Radio's Jon Vertigan with their thoughts on the survey results.

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Radio Today's survey reports:

https://radiotoday.com.au/gold-networks-sue-carter-on-gfk-survey-8-these-radio-stations-are-my-babies/

https://radiotoday.com.au/an-unprecedented-summer-greg-byrnes-reflects-on-radios-reaction-to-bondi/

https://radiotoday.com.au/ace-radios-jon-vertigan-bbq-bob-is-still-sounding-amazing-hes-thriving-in-our-environment/

https://radiotoday.com.au/outright-1-in-sydney-ultra-smooth-finish-to-2025/

https://radiotoday.com.au/onward-christian-soldiers-in-gfk-survey-8/

https://radiotoday.com.au/radio-ratings-survey-8-timewarp/

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Jen Seyderhelm reveals the stories that resonated with you most this year.

Radio Today:

• "My whole life is going to change." Kyle sets the record straight on his healthRatings
• First survey results for 2025
• Hamish McLennan: "We've made a huge financial commitment to Kyle & Jackie O. We need to get payback on that"
• Triple M's Marty Sheargold offers public apology over comments on women's sport
• The price of a reckless pursuit

Radioinfo:

• Vale Sam Bailey who stole hearts, including wife Jenny, through the ABC
• Robin, Kip & Corey Oates axed from KIIS 97.3 breakfast, replacement announced next week -
• Ratings survey 4 results 2025: Gold top in Melbourne, beats 3AW, Smooth tops Sydney, beats 2GB -
• Choosing to live life with life, not grog- Chris Smith takes on the Super Radio Network Morning Show in 2025
• Ash Bradnam departs Nova 106.9 Brisbane breakfast

Publisher Steve Ahern gives Jen a breakdown of the numbers.

Also , we hear from Simon Kennedy, President of The Australian Association of Voice Actors , who recently headed to Canberra to campaign for AI voice labelling to protect human voices sourced without permission.

A reminder to submit your entries to the Australian Audio Awards

https://mumbrella.com.au/audioawards

We are taking a break for the Christmas New Year holidays and will be back in your feeds next year.

Happy Christmas from Jen, Sarah, Steve and Wendy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.