Paul Jackson: “One of the most outstanding radio shows is on fire.”

The team at NOVA Entertainment have plenty to beat their chests about today. Most notably in Perth, where Nova 93.7 is now the city’s most listened-to radio station (+0.4%), toppling Mix94.5 (-1.0%).

“After 14.5 years of rating the books eight times a year, [Nova 93.7] is now the number one station. It’s beyond deserving – not just for Dan and Garry – but Nathan, Nat and Shaun, and the entire team behind that result,” said NE Group PD, Paul Jackson.

Nova drive show Kate, Tim & Marty also have cause for celebration. They are #1 in Sydney (+1.2%), Brisbane (-3.1%), Adelaide (+0.6%) and Perth (+0.4%).

We asked Jackson if Kate, Tim & Marty will deliver a home run across all cap cities in the next book? “We’ll get there soon enough,” said Jackson. “One of the most outstanding radio shows is on fire.”

In fact, Nova performed remarkably well in Sydney with an 8% share off the back of a +0.9% bump in breakfast with Fitzy & Wippa, to 7.8%. “Very strong Sydney numbers and Nova 96.9 has had a great card,” he told Radio Today.

Unfortunately, smoothfm did not topple 2GB as some predicted or hoped, but the easy listening station remains #1 FM in Sydney and #2 FM in Melbourne.

“I think this is on par with numbers we’ve previously scored when number one and we’ve been number one all year,” he said.

Leading into today’s results, Jackson says he was not speculating a smoothfm lead on 2GB. He also commented on WSFM’s strong results, saying the ARN-owned Sydney station is a “strong product” and a genuine competitor.

“The smoothfm story this year is number one after number one, fantastic. And a similar story in Melbourne.”