Radio reflections

What a year 2005 has been for Brisbane radio. We began the year with a new No.1 station in Triple M and ended it with a different new No. 1 station, Nova 106.9. The big loser, of course, was longtime ratings leader B105, whose 15 years of dominance came to an official end when Jamie Dunn left the station he helped build last week. With new kids on the block Nova on top over summer - as the breakfast team's Meshel Laurie (pictured above opening the door to the Nova offices) pointed out yesterday, "the good thing about this one [survey No.8] is that it last about three months" - you can expect all the stations to come out fighting early next year. The best thing is that there's no bolter from the ratings pack. You could just throw a metaphorical blanket over the top five or six stations, meaning they'll all be on their toes and (hopefully) the listeners will be the winners.
PS: In Sydney, despite boasts earlier this year, 2Day's Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have failed to reach the top of the FM ratings. Interestingly, both of them have had significant television exposure in the latter part of the year - former Queenslander Sandilands on Australian Idol, which failed to match its previous high ratings, and O on Australian Princess, which we almost certainly won't be seeing again.