2007 NZ radio survey results!

After waiting a year the latest New Zealand radio survey ratings are out. Of course radio stations have their big promotions during this period trying to attract listeners by giving away lots of money. There are four markets that I’m mainly interested in and I’ll make comments on these:

Waikato
This is where I live and listen to the radio so that’s why I’m particularly interested in this market. The Rock shoots to number one for the first time after The Edge and Classic Hits dominating Waikato radio for a few years. The Rock is at 15% (up a massive 4%), Classic Hits is now second at 12.6% (down 0.1%), and my favourite station, Radio Hauraki, is now in third place at 9.6% (up 0.7%). The Edge has dropped to fourth with 8.8% (down a whole 4.6%). The talk station I listen to, Newstalk ZB, is fifth with 8.5% (down a little by 1.1%). This is much better than the other talk station, Radio Live, which is only on 2.7%. Another music station I listen to is More FM and it’s good to see them up by 2.5% to 5.7%. More FM has been struggling for a while in the Waikato so it’s good to see them come back up a bit.

Manawatu
This is where I grew up and most of my family are still down there so this is why I’m interested in this market. The Rock hangs onto its number one spot on a big 17% (down just slightly by 0.4%). More FM (ex 2XS) had dominated Manawatu radio for many years but for the second survey in a row they are only in second place, on 13.7, although they are catching up slightly, rising by 1.9%. Oldies station Coast has been growing in listenership over the past couple of years. They are now at 6.9% (up 0.9%). No Radio Hauraki in the Manawatu (which is quite weird!)

Auckland
The largest radio market in the country so these survey results are always interesting. As usual Newstalk ZB is number one again – Paul Holmes still does it for Aucklanders. Newstalk ZB are at 13.3% (down slightly by 0.9%). Newstalk ZB’s main rival, Radio Live, is way down the list at only 3.1%. Coast, TRN’s oldies station, is doing extremely well in Auckland. They are now second at 8.6% (up by 1.1%). The Rock follows closely behind on 8.3% (up by 2.6%). Mai FM dominated Auckland radio for a few years but hasn’t been doing so well in recent times. They are now in sixth place on 5.6% (down by 0.6%). It’s good to see More FM and Radio Hauraki both up a little in the Auckland market – More FM up by 0.5% to 5.2%, and Hauraki up by 1% to 4.5%.

Wellington
Another interesting market being the capital of New Zealand. ZM, which used to dominate Wellington radio, is back in the number one spot on 15.7% (up 1.1%). (You may remember that ZM used to be ZMFM and before that 2ZM – if you can remember that far back!) The Breeze, which had been dominating Wellington radio for the past few years, has now dropped to third place on 13.7% (down 2.4%). (And you may remember that The Breeze used to be Radio Windy way back). Newstalk ZB is now second on 14.2% (up 0.6%). By the way, The Rock is fourth on 8% (up 0.5%).

Nationwide
Now let’s have a look at the country as a whole. For the first time the number one station in the country is, you guessed it, The Rock. It’s not a station I listen to (I prefer Radio Hauraki) but it appears a lot of people around the country do listen to it. The Rock are at 11.7% nationwide (up by 1.6%). The previous number one station in the country, Newstalk ZB, has slipped to second place on 11.3% (down by 1.4%). At least they are still the number one talk station in the country which I’m very happy about, as their rival Radio Live is in 11th place on only 3.1%. I wonder if MediaWorks regrets splitting Radio Pacific in half a couple of years back? Speaking of Radio Pacific (which also carries Trackside) they are at a lowly 1.1%. Next week Radio Pacific are changing to a sports station called BSport. I guess they are hoping to improve their ratings, and image, rather than just being a racing station. Their rivals, Radio Sport, are higher in the ratings on 3.1%, so BSport will have quite a bit of work to do. The number one music station a couple of years back, Classic Hits, are now in third place on 8.9% (down by 0.9%). Perhaps MediaWork’s rebranding of all their local stations to More FM (a couple of years ago) has paid off a little for them. More FM is now fourth nationwide on 7.7% (up by 0.4%). TRN recently renamed its easy listening station Viva to Easy Mix. This has paid off slightly as they are up by 0.3% to 1.6%. Although they are a long way from their rivals, The Breeze, who are on 5.1%. And lastly let’s talk about the wonderful Kiwi FM. This was a rebranding by MediaWorks a couple of years or so back of Channel Z (which did a bit better in the ratings) to an all NZ music station called Kiwi FM. They are on a whopping 0.1%! MediaWorks wanted a frequency in Auckland for The Edge so they got rid of Kiwi FM. So the government stepped in and gave them three frequencies around 102FM to carry Kiwi FM (which TRN were not too happy about). I guess this means it’s a station MediaWorks don’t have to worry about too much because they would have canned it by now. I’ve tuned into Kiwi FM a couple of times and even though I like NZ music I haven’t heard a song on this station that I like, or recognise!

For more information on the survey results see: http://www.radios.co.nz/radio_research/radio_research.htm
http://www.radioscope.net.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=5&Itemid=39

Sad, sad day for New Zealand

We all thought it would be a straightforward win to the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter final this morning, and I was thinking wouldn’t it be funny if NZ lost the match against France. When I was watching the match this morning and the All Blacks were in the lead at half-time I thought they would win no problem. But as is the case all too often with NZ sport, when it comes to the crunch, they fail. Hence, France won the match 20-18. The worst result ever in a World Cup for NZ – bailing out in the quarter final!

S0 who do we blame for the match? The coach? The players? Or maybe the referee. The referee did make a couple of significant mistakes which could have cost NZ the match – the unnecessary sending off of one of the players, and the forward pass by the French before their winning try. Unfortunately referees are not perfect so I guess they do make mistakes, but he shouldn’t have made mistakes like that at this level of rugby. I’m sure there will be an inquest into the All Black’s lost and perhaps some heads will roll too.

NZ had three chances this year at being world champions and I thought at least we’d win a couple of them – the cricket world cup, the America’s Cup, and the rugby world cup – but, we won none! I think NZ sporting teams get too confident of themselves and completely lose it at the end.

Whether we like it or not it is a national disaster. Rugby is the number one sport in this country and it means a lot to a lot of people. It was even the main thing discussed at church today!

There are just two things I wish to say – roll on 2011, and Bloody French!!