“These are record figures for us.” Smooth’s Peter Clay proud as punch with GfK Survey 3

Not a radio survey goes by in which Peter Clay doesn’t wax lyrical about the efforts of his team, and it’s certainly not lost on Smooth’s Head of Programming just how extraordinary the latest lot of results are.

In a post-survey interview with Radioinfo’s Steve Ahern, Clay is full of praise for the powerhouse on-air line-up of Ty Frost, Simon Diaz and Byron Webb.

In Sydney, GfK Survey 3 sees Frost with the #1 FM Morning show, Diaz the #1 FM host in Afternoons and Webb #1 in Drive.

“All three of them have the highest share and the highest cume in the frequency history. So these are record figures for us,” Clay enthuses.

“These are massive numbers – 14.2 for Ty, 14.9 for Simon and 13.3 just in Sydney – and then Ty and Simon are in the tens in Melbourne. Double digits is quite astonishing.”

“It’s a credit to the team.”

As a place to escape the tensions of the world, the Smooth format continues to attract listeners of all ages, and transcend all demographics.

“I think running clean and the whole analogy of more music, less talk – taking the clutter out – definitely helps Smooth become a one-off station that actually does this,” says Clay.

“It doesn’t put multi-voiced breakfast shows on. It doesn’t have a lot of big cash tactics.”

Clay pays tribute to Kate Mason and Vicki Poupounaki for the station’s lovingly curated playlist.

Given the popular use of classic and original songs in TV shows these days, Clay can certainly see the appeal of Smooth’s music format to younger listeners.

“You get a lot of tracks that are being re-used in TikTok videos,” he notes. “The original is quite often sought after by the younger demo.”

Bonus Radio Today Tonight Survey 3 podcast episode featuring thoughts from Peter, Nine Radio Head of Content Greg Byrnes, SCA CCO Dave Cameron, the ACE Radio Network‘s Jon Vertigan and Duncan Campbell’s last chat in his capacity as ARN’s Chief Content Officer below.