ABC Radio Canberra has lost ratings share during the COVID lockdown, with the breakfast and morning shifts taking the biggest hits, but its management has brushed off the results.
MIX 106.3 remained Canberra's favourite radio station, albeit also with a reduced market share compared to the previous survey.
MIX 106.3's Kristen and Nige with Kristen Davidson and Nigel Johnson also came out on top in the critical breakfast shift, with a 17.1 per cent market share.
The latest radio ratings results were released on Wednesday, showing how Canberra's radio stations fared during the survey period of April 25 to June 19, and July 19 to September 11, taking in the latest ACT lockdown, which started on August 12.
Canberra FM's two stations came out on top, with 129,000 tuning into MIX 106.3 every week and 115,000 to Hit104.7.
MIX 106.3 snared a 17.7 per cent share (down 1.2 percentage points) while HIT 104.9 scrapped back some of its losses from earlier in the year to sit with a 14.8 share (up 1.9 percentage points).
ABC Radio Canberra had a 12.2 per cent share (down 1.9 percentage points).
Those results were followed by JJJ (10.1 per cent share), 2CA (8.7 per cent), ABC Classic (7.3 per cent), Radio National (7.1 per cent), 2CC (6.2 per cent) and ABC News Radio (4.2 per cent).
ABC Radio Canberra's Lish Fejer (with Adam Shirley in the last half hour) was ousted from the top spot in breakfast, this time coming in at second behind Kristen and Nige, with a 14.4 per cent share (down 2.2 percentage points).
ABC Radio Canberra's share was also down slightly across every shift. People aged 55 to 64 were turning off the most.
ABC Canberra acting editor Julie Doyle was asked if it was a concern audience numbers had fallen during lockdown, when listeners might be looking for information about it and COVID in general.
"I am pleased ABC Radio Canberra has largely maintained its weekly audience from the previous survey and is reaching 94,000 Canberrans each week," she said.
There were some massive variations in the different age groups of listeners between this survey and the last.
While hardly its target audience, MIX 106.3 did almost halve its audience in the 10-17 age group, from 38.6 per cent share last survey to 23.1 per cent share this survey.
Whereas HIT 104.7 had a huge jump in the 18-24 age group, from 26 per cent last time to 40.6 per cent this survey.
Canberra FM Radio content director Rod Cuddihy was thrilled people were tuning in during a fraught time for the ACT.
"Keeping Canberrans up to date, safe and entertained during the region's first major lockdown was our priority over the last couple of months," he said.
"It's been a privilege to keep our listeners company during one of our city's most challenging periods and I am truly humbled that Canberrans have chosen MIX 106.3 and HIT104.7 as their favourite stations with their favourite personalities."
