Nova Entertainment has shaken up its personnel on and off air this year. As Mediaweek reported recently the broadcaster parted company with its Nova head of programming Ben Latimer recently.
Mediaweek has detailed all the 2023 on-air changes as they have happened over the past few months, including moving Ricki-Lee in as a regular part of drive with Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey (pictured above).
Nova Entertainment’s group program operations director Brendan Taylor told Mediaweek: “They are changes a broadcaster might generally make over a longer period of time. They were all the right moves, and the results so far indicate there is an appetite for the changes. But these things will take time.
“While we are already very competitive with the results, we will give our new shows time to bed in. The cumes are already very strong and we must do the best job we can converting that into share.”
Brendan Taylor
Nova Melbourne breakfast: Ben, Liam and Belle
Nova 100’s new Ben, Liam & Belle breakfast secured a 7.1% share and was the equal second most listened-to FM breakfast show with 580,000 listeners (increasing by 42,000 listeners). Nova 100 breakfast has increased to 36,000 cumulative listeners YOY (survey 2 2022 was 544,000 listeners).
Over 1.1m listeners tuned into Nova 100 again this survey with a cume of 1,167,000.
Taylor: “Ben, Liam and Belle lead an incredibly hard-working team and have a 7.1% Melbourne share just on the second survey.”
Ben, Liam and Belle
Sydney: Kate Ritchie joins Fitzy & Wippa
Over 1.1m listeners tuned in to Nova 96.9 in Sydney again this survey (1,185,000).
Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie increased to 7.0% share and is the second most listened to breakfast with 611,000 listeners, an increase of 61,000 and a record cume for the show.
Taylor: “Kate was on air for just two weeks out of the five-week survey period. If you look at the result it’s a record cume for Fitzy and Wippa so the early indicators are good. There will be some trialling amongst the audience, but the on-air chemistry is great.
“Kate is a brilliant broadcaster and I’ve been working with the team and executive producer Tom Ivey does an excellent job. They are working on a few elements, and the content will only get better.”
Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie
Nova Adelaide breakfast: Jodie & Hayesy
Nova 919’s Jodie & Hayesy (they get a sleep-in starting at 7am) is Adelaide’s most listened-to breakfast in that timeslot (7am-9am) with 167,000.
“A very good result in just their second survey. The new show has a great lead-in from Ben, Liam and Belle [early breakfast].”
Taylor explained that the show changes at Mix 102.3, and the growth at Triple M means there has been a lot of sampling in the Adelaide market. “The Triple M breakfast show is now the heritage show in the market. They have had two surveys on top, now we want to build consistency in our new breakfast product. Josh McCabe and Jordan Marshall are doing such a great job producing Jodie & Hayesy. They have put a great plan in place and the job now is to deliver great shows day in, day out.”
Jodie and Haysey
Brisbane: B105 v Nova – Game on
No big changes on air at Nova Brisbane this year, but the market is super competitive.
“The Ash, Luttsy and Susie O’Neill show is very close to my heart, particularly over the past three years. Full credit to B105 which had a good survey day. But for Nova, the station cume is over 700,000 and the breakfast cume is over 400,000. The station has the #1 drive show. Is #1 on weekends and #1 commercial 25-54.”
The competition between 106.5 and B105 keeps all players on their toes. Taylor noted the Nova team don’t take survey day well. Susie O’Neill has the same competitive streak she showed in the swimming pool. “The chemistry between the team is excellent and they are just a pleasure to work with.”
Ash, Susie & Luttsy
Perth: Bow to Nathan, Nat and Shaun
Taylor: “Joel and Amy and the team in Perth are doing a great job with Nathan, Nat and Shaun, a breakfast program that continues to deliver incredible numbers.”
Chrissie Swan is doing very well in that market too. “Nationally across the metro markets, Chrissie has a cume of 1.4m and a very healthy share.”
So too is drive with Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel, #1 in Perth and it boasts a metro cume over 1.5m. But wait…there is more. Smallzy’s Surgery is #1 FM night show nationally in cume (8.6%) and share (642,000).
Nathan, Nat and Shaun
smoothfm: Strong ratings feel good
Taylor: “The team continues to deliver outstanding results and it is #2 FM in Sydney and Melbourne. The digital station is #1 DAB in Adelaide and Perth and has a strong audience of 61,000 in Brisbane.
“As I have mentioned previously to have Simon Diaz #1 in afternoons shows what a terrific performance that is.
“Persistence is key to smooth and we have seen it deliver over a long period of time. Peter Clay and the whole product team are true believers in the brand and they continue to get it right.”
Simon Diaz