ABC Radio chief Michael Mason is currently celebrating Australia’s national youth broadcaster triple j nearing 2 million listeners. According to the latest radio ratings survey, the station’s national reach is 1.96 million.
But that reach is dropping in Melbourne where, believe it or not, young listeners actually prefer to listen to oldies station Gold FM. As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, under-24s prefer Wham! and Phil Collins to DMA’s and Vera Blue.
According to Fairfax, Gold and Fox are dominating in Melbourne. The two stations are tied at 8.6 percent share of the market, with Fox edging out Gold as the leader in the under-17s market with 27.3 percent and 21.7 percent of the 18-24s.
But what’s most surprising about the fifth radio ratings survey of the year is the fact that Gold has leapfrogged over triple j in the youth market. The j commands 4.5 percent of teen listeners, compared to Gold’s 5.8 percent and it was similar with those in their early 20s.
Where triple j is doing spectacularly well is in the 25-39 demographic, where they command 12.5 percent of listeners. This echoes the results of the May survey, which also showed strong numbers for triple j amongst 25-39s.
Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth were the only major cities in which 18-24s commanded a larger share of triple j’s listeners than the 25-39 demographic and even then, Sydney was the only city in which triple j was the preferred station of 18-24-year-olds.
In most cities, triple j was most popular amongst the 25-39 demographic and often outstripped the market shares of other stations, even commercial giants like NOVA and KIIS, who were actually more popular amongst the 18-24-year-olds.
What’s more, it’s been this way for quite some time. Tone Deaf has previously reported on the results of radio ratings surveys in which triple j have absolutely dominated the highly coveted 25-39 demographic.
The news is always tinged with irony. Since triple j is a commercial-free broadcaster, advertisers cannot purchase time on the most popular station amongst their most sought-after age bracket and it’s not clear just why it’s so popular with those in their 30s and 40s.
Part of the reason may simply be that it takes a while to develop music taste outside of the mainstream, a theory for which there is some actual scientific evidence and even Double J presenter Myf Warhurst has touched on this.
Of course, it’s important to note that radio surveys don’t provide an accurate depiction of the listening habits of Australians, since community radio stations, digital broadcasters, and streaming services are not analysed.
