After a year of often unpredictable results, the latest radio ratings are out - and Melbourne audiences appear to have settled down, with no surprises and virtually no change on the listener leader board.
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In the headline battlegrounds, it was steady as she goes.
In the AM market, the sixth survey of the year delivered a second consecutive win for 3AW over rivals ABC 774. The commercial powerhouse has picked up almost two full points across the last three surveys and sits comfortably atop the charts on 13.6 per cent. That's a slight drop on the last survey result (13.9 per cent) while the ABC has seen a steady decline over three surveys - from a winning position in survey four of 13.1, dropping to 11.7 in survey five and now way down on 11 per cent.
In the key breakfast and mornings contests, the long-term winners for 3AW have re-asserted their authority after some nervous days this year and last.
In mornings, Neil Mitchell scored his second consecutive victory over the ABC's Jon Faine - 14.3 per cent to Faine's 12.6. That's a near-identical result to survey five (when Mitchell bested his rival 14.4 to 12.7) and a reversal of survey four when Faine was on top, which he had been more often than not since the start of 2013.
In breakfast, Ross Stevenson and John Burns similarly appear to have re-established themselves at their customary spot atop the ratings tree. After a surprise run of reversals, the long-running duo thumped 774's Red Symons 18.3 per cent to 13.4. That represented a 0.3 drop for the 3AW team, but a full point drop for Symons - who has now shed almost a full 4 percentage points since the middle of the year.
On the FM dial, there was virtually no change in standings, just some fiddling around the edges. Fox FM remained overall winner, unchanged on 7.8 per cent; Gold FM moved up a notch to second spot on 7.6; Nova (7.3) grabbed third spot from Triple M (7.1) - with smooth.fm, Mix 101.1 and Magic bringing up the rear.
In the key FM breakfast battle, the top two spots were unchanged - Triple M's Eddie McGuire-led show on top (8.5 per cent, down from 9), followed by Fox FM's Fifi Box and Dave Thornton (steady on 8 per cent) and Nova's Meshel Laurie and Tommy Little slipping into third on 6.7 percent - a blip ahead of Mix's Chrissie Swan and Jane Hall on 6.5 per cent and Gold FM's Brigitte Duclos and Anthony Lehmann on 6.4.
■ 3AW and The Age are owned by Fairfax Media.
