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.

ENTER THE 2026 AUSTRALIAN AUDIO AWARDS HERE

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.

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Jen Syderhelm wraps up the results from todays ratings survey.

Steve Ahern talks to programming heads of Ace, ARN, Nine Radio, Nova Entertainment and SCA.

More at https://radioinfo.com.au/news/radio-ratings-survey-7-weekly-listeners-up-to-12-4-million/

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Jen Seyderhelm tells you how to enter the new Australian Audio Awards and hears about the behind the scenes moves that led to the launch of the new awards.

Steve Ahern's advice is to start thinking about your entry now. "While you're preparing your Christmas best-of tape, put aside some material to use in your audio entry."

He also explained to Jen the behind the scenes preparation that led to the awards announcement:

"We have thought about the importance of radio and podcasting to Australia, so part of the judging criteril will include impact and how your work has helped to build the Australian audio industry... These will be part of all the other judging criteria you would expect for an entry."

Tim Burrowes said:

"When Steve and I realised were were both working on similar ideas, it made sense to work together... the audio sector in Australia is collegiate, so we're glad to work together on creating a ceremony that Australia's audio industry deserves."

Enter at https://mumbrella.com.au/audioawards

Moredetails at: https://radiotoday.com.au/radioinfo-radiotoday-to-launch-new-awards-for-the-australian-audio-industry/

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See all our coverage of the ARN Upfront announcements here.

In this podcast Jen summarises the ARN changes and we speak to:

• Chief Audience and Content Officer Lauren Joyce about the network changes and longer range plans for Kyle and Jackie O

• Ben Campbell Director of Digital Strategies, Data and Digital takes a deep dive into iHeart’s new data partnerships and ad tech
• Chief Operating Officer Michael Stephenson (pictured) talks with Steve Ahern about how partnerships will work to the best serve ARN advertisesrs.

Smallzy was confirmed to be joining the KIIS network with The Smallzy Show which will air from 3-4pm weekdays and a night edition from 7-9pm. He will be heard on KIIS 1065, KIIS 1011, KIIS 97.3, KIIS 102.3 and KIIS DAB+ Perth from January 2026. This will mean the end of The Pick Up with Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne who previously hosted the early drive 3-4pm spot. It was already confirmed that their Life Uncut podcast would no longer be associated with ARN iHeart. Will and Woody will continue on Drive.

ARN’s KIIS and GOLD networks are going fully national in 2026, in a move which brings Kyle & Jackie O to a new audience in Perth, via a new KIIS DAB+ station. Adelaide’s Mix102.3 will rebrand as KIIS 102.3.

In consolidating the GOLD brand, Perth’s 96FM becomes GOLD96FM. Adelaide’s Cruise1323 evolves into GOLD1323, and new GOLD DAB+ stations will launch in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Jonesy & Amanda will have a GOLD Network National Drive program with Steve Fitton also announcing that he is leaving his drive role with the network at the end of this year.

The new hosts of Mix 102.3, which will become KIIS 102.3, will be Ben and Liam (Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton) with Belle Jackson returning to her off air role as producer.

The new host of KIIS 97.3 will be Lowie, Craig Low, returning to Australia and radio after a long period in the US.

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Last week the Community Broadcasting annual conference was held in Hobart.

Jen Seyderhelm reviews conference highlights and we hear from several conferecne speakers.

• The opening keynote was from Adrian Sargeant, Professor of Fundraising at the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy and Research Director at Philanthropy and Fundraising International.
• ABC Radio Sydney breakfast presenter and known force for change Craig Reucassel wrapped things up. He spoke to Steve Ahern.
• Then it was the Community Radio Awards and we’ll also hear from CBAA board member Dave Houchin from 3RRR wrapping proceedings up
• Finally the conference debuted the Community Radio Airplay Charts to further champion Australian music and acts. I caught up with CBAA Music director Andrew Khedoori about that and I’ll introduce you to the Community Radio Airplay Chart No 1,

Tile Picture: CBAA CEO Jon BIssett

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The Radio Today special Survey 6 edition with Jen Seyderhelm.

• Steve Ahern chats to Greg Byrnes, Peter Clay, Lauren Joyce, Matthew O'Reilly and Jon Vertigan about their network ratings results
• Big wins for Nine stations 2GB in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne

• Cume gains for The Fox FM and Gold in Melbourne
• Kyle and Jackie O slightly down but a bigger hit for Jase and Lauren on Nova 100
• CADA and smooth still dominating DAB+

and the National Radio Airplay Chart song of the week, Taylor Swift's Ophelia.

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