Fairfax rules the airwaves … The Fin soars like Eagles

Fairfax rules the airwaves; MTR has its work cut out: Sydney and Melbourne radio ratings for survey four of the year will go down very nicely at Fairfax Media as its radio arm had the best results for more than two years. Its struggling AM talk station in Sydney 2UE had a nice bounce from what it hopes is its bottom. In Melbourne, Fairfax’s 3AW remained on top and in Brisbane 4BC had a solid rise as well to make Fairfax the best overall performer in the survey. At the same time 2UE’s gains have come at the expense of rival 2GB, and especially morning gabster Alan  Jones. 2GB remained on top, and morning host Ray Hadley also lost share.

The other major talk station, ABC local radio 702, had a small gain. Among the music mob, 2DAY, home of the terrible Kyle and Jackie O, lost ground, as it also did in its breakfast session and Classic Rock (the old Vega) had a solid gain.

In Melbourne, there were fewer moves of note: Triple M had a good gain, especially in breakfast with Brand Eddie (McGuire) no doubt taking the kudos, 3AW remained on top, Fox lost a little ground, with Hamish and Andy down in drive (but up solidly in Sydney). The ABC’s 774 slipped a touch. Overall it looks like the hard-talk ranters, Jones and Hadley in Sydney, Steve Price and Neil Mitchell in Melbourne suffered, while the more soft talkers on the ABC stations and on some commercials (2UE) improved at their expense.

In Sydney 2UE stood out: its share bounced from 4.4 to 5.6. Breakfast rose 1.9 to 5.9, providing some respite for the besieged John Stanley and Sandy Aloisi; Steve Liebmann in morning benefited with a rise from 4.3 to 4.7, and gains were felt in afternoons, drive and evenings (and weekends) for probably the best ratings performance since Fairfax took over three years or so ago. The gains came from 2GB, but it was still on top with 15.1, down 1.1 from survey 3. Jones shed a hefty 1.5 points to 17.2 and Hadley 0.8 lost to 17.5. That gave Hadley a higher share than Jones for the second time  this year. In contrast to 2UE, 2GB lost ground in all other shifts as well and at weekends.

ABC 702 saw its share rise to 11.8 from 11.6, with Adam Spencer steady on 13.9 in breakfast and third in market; Deb Cameron (second in market) was steady in mornings. Richard Glover lifted his share to 13.5 from 12.7 in drive and is just behind Hamish and Andy on 2Day FM, whose share rose 1.2 to 14.8. That was the best performance for 2DAY, whose share fell 0.5 to 10.3, with Kyle and Ms O down a solid 1.3 to 10.2 in breakfast.

Among the other stations 2CH (owned by John Singleton, the owner of 2GB) saw its share down 0.8 to 4.4 and is now behind 2UE. Triple M was steady on 5.6, Classic Rock lifted its share 0.9 to 4.5, WSFM lost 0.4 to 6.5 and Nova lost 0.3 to 6.4. The ABC’s Triple J in Sydney added 0.3 to 4.8 and ABC FM added 0.2 to 2.6.

In Melbourne 3AW was on top with a share of 15.1, up 0.1, with the breakfast duo of John Burns and Ross  Stevenson adding 0.9 to 19.4. But Mitchell in mornings lost a hefty 1.2 to 15.9, but is still on top. Fox was second with a small 0.2 dip to 13.8; Hamish and Andy shed 0.5 to 20.8 in drive. Mornings and afternoons lost ground, but breakfast rose 0.4 to 12.6. At 774, breakfast with Red Symons slipped a solid 1.2 to 14.6 (second in market behind 3AW), but Jon Faine was steady in mornings with 13.6 (and second behind Mitchell). In drive, 774 added 0.4 to 9.7.

MTR, the old 3MP and now controlled by Singleton’s 2GB owner Macquarie,  had its first full survey and slipped 0.1 to 1.7, the lowest share in market (and lower than any station in Sydney). Breakfast, afternoons and drive all lost ground. Mornings were steady. Steve Price has his work cut out there. Triple M added 0.7 to 5.9%, Classic Rock lost 0.1 to finish with a share of 3.4, ABC FM was steady on 2.6, Triple J in Melbourne lost a nasty 1.2 to 4.1, Mix 101.1 added 0.3 to 5.3 and Nova lost 0.9 to 7.2. Magic added 1.9 to 6.4, but SEN lost 0.2 to 4.1.

In Brisbane, 4BC added 1.2 (the same as 2UE in Sydney) to finish with a share of 9.1. B105 moved back to the top with a small 0.2 gain to 12.8, while Triple M, on top in survey 2, slid 1.6 to finish with 11.4 and third. 97.3FM added 0.5 to 12 and second, while Nova lost 0.5 to end with 11.3. The ABC station 612 lost 0.3 to 9.5. — Glenn Dyer

Spectator‘s new thespian: Over at Crikey‘s sister publication Business Spectator, there’s a new commentator by the name of Paul Dawber. Alongside analysis pieces by finance legends Alan Kohler and Robert Gottliebsen, Dawber presents DealsTV, a daily to-camera summary of the latest corporate shenanigans, which until last week was helmed by rising star Madeleine Heffernan.

In his debut yesterday, Dawber dazzled viewers with a crisp summary of an apparent revival in the IPO world. But some cursory research reveals Dawber doesn’t exactly have ink running through his veins — Business Spectator‘s star recruit is a journeyman actor who lists stints on Sons and Daughters, Acropolis Now and the Colin Carpenter Show on his CV.

According to the UK-born Dawber’s website, the professional actor “commands an odd mixture of working-class charm, exuberant street-wise s-xuality and aristocratic arrogance.” Crikey understands the scripts are written up an in-house journalist each day and then flicked to Dawber who reads out the words. It is unclear whether there are any plans for Dawber to don his dashing cowboy threads to run through the latest mergers and acquisitions. But we live in hope. — Andrew Crook

The Fin has that Easy Feeling. With MasterChef reeling from last night’s Media Watch excoriation over its hidden branding strategies, it seems sub-editors at the Australian Financial Review have quickly taken up the slack. There’s a prominent ad for The Eagles’ 2010 summer tour on page 9 of today’s Fin. And the opposite page header above a Geoff Kitney analysis piece? “There’s no peaceful easy feeling for PM”. Peaceful Easy Feeling, of course, being the cracking third single taken from The Eagles‘ self-titled 1971 debut. Working beautifully. — Andrew Crook

Sell, sell, sell! The market wasn’t totally enraptured by Telstra’s deal with the federal government on the National Broadband Network. But it certainly liked it better than Channel Nine suggested — which cut the company’s value by about two-thirds on the Melbourne 6pm bulletin last night.

The Big Apple with … maple syrup

“The new issue of The New Yorker magazine might as well be called The Canadian. Yes, The Canadian.” — New York Times

Politicians need to adopt ‘three screens’ coverage approach

“Some call politics a sport. So what can people in politics learn from the major sporting events? Plenty, especially about the way technology has changed the way journalists cover sports and the way fans want their sporting news.” — Huffington Post

Newspapers expand further into online universe

“Boocoo.com, the newspaper industry’s response to Craigslist and Ebay, launches in newspapers today with nearly 300 newspaper and broadcast partners. Boocoo.com is promoted on media sites, which share transactional fees from the online auctions.” — Editor&Publisher

A sign of the Times

“News International has ‘turned off’ the old Times Online website, three weeks after it launched new websites thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk.– Press Gazette

There’s a MasterChef in all of us

As social researcher Rebecca Huntley says, MasterChef, more than any other program, is educating people about good eating and getting children, teens and men into the kitchen.” — The Australian