Radio broadcasters will conduct ratings surveys in at least 20 key regional centres across Australia in 2016 in a move to put regional radio in the spotlight and demonstrate radio’s power to reach audiences outside the metropolitan capitals.
 
Industry body Commercial Radio Australia said the NSW cities of Griffith and Dubbo will be the first regional markets to be surveyed, with research also planned for the centres of Bendigo, Shepparton, Cairns, Toowoomba, Wagga Wagga and others through the year.
 

Australians love to travel. In the past six months 4.5 million Australians aged 14+ have travelled by air domestically and 4.6 million overseas by air in the past 12 months.

Radio creative director Matt Dickson, winner of the Gold Siren for 2015, is the overall winner of round four of the 2016 Siren Awards.
 
Dickson, from Southern Cross Austereo, won the overall and single award for his unscripted ad “Dutch Oven”, which features a husband annoying his wife by farting in bed and then being unapologetic about it.
 
The ad is part of the “We Don’t Do Husbands” campaign for client Allpest, which won the campaign category.
 

Pop-country artist and X Factor 2014 Top 5 Finalist Caitlyn Shadbolt has been announced as the winner of the Commercial Radio Australia New Artist to Nashville Scholarship.
 
The award provides Caitlyn with the opportunity to perform at the Country Music Association’s global artist showcase GlobaLive! at the world’s largest country music festival, the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, in June 2016.  
 

The commercial radio industry recorded a slight fall in metropolitan advertising revenue of 2.09% in November.

Australians are embracing digital radio, with new data by GfK showing four out of 10 Australians in the five metropolitan capital cities now have access to a digital radio at home, work or in the car.

Joan Warner, CEO of industry body Commercial Radio Australia, said the industry was pleased with the strong uptake of DAB+ technology, which offers high sound quality and new digital-only radio stations.

Commercial Radio Australia  and Presslaff Interactive Revenue have released the third in the series of Finding Consumer Trend (FCT) reports, offering insights into the lifestyle interests and buying habits of regional radio listeners.
 
The latest survey, on the topic of insurance, involved more than 1700 listeners from across 96 stations throughout Australia, providing their views on the types of insurance policies they purchased and the factors they considered important when choosing a policy.
 

An ad by George Patterson Y&R titled “Fast Conversation” for client Public Transport Victoria (PTV) has won round three overall and the single category of the 2016 Siren Awards.  The ad features two mates waiting for the train, speaking very fast, before the next train arrives.