While the focus of the recent Gold Coast survey has mostly been on the slanging match between Sea FM and Hot Tomato, the ABC also participated in the survey, receiving some sobering results in the station’s Christmas stocking.

Survey figures obtained by radioinfo indicate the ABC station scored lower than it did in the last survey, held in 2000.

ABC 91.7 Coast FM headed into Christmas by participating in the survey, which gathered information about audience listening patterns between 26 October and 22 November 2003.

ABC Local Radio entered into partnership with Hot Tomato to commission the survey without the participation of dominant market leader RG Capital, whose last survey in 2000 (before Hot Tomato) confirmed the market dominance of its Gold and SEA FM brands.

The latest survey was an important step for Hot Tomato, which was searching for early intelligence to inform both its rate card and program strategies.

The ABC is believed to have been hoping for a positive market reaction to a review and restructure of 91.7 Coast FM, which kicked off in November 2001 and ended in April 2002 at a rumoured cost in excess of $1 million dollars.

At the time, ABC Head of Local Radio Michael Mason said the ABC would re-brand Coast FM as a local information station, to “obviate the need” for people to tune to 612 ABC Brisbane for news about the Coast, and deliver to Australia’s 6th largest city “the service the Gold Coast deserved.”

Like Hot Tomato, the ABC was also looking for a personal best from this survey.

The ABC has made no public comment about the outcome of the recent survey, but results obtained by radioinfo indicate ABC Coast FM scored an overall market share of 4.0%, an outcome which places it almost one percentage point lower than the 2000 survey.

The evening shift was the only timeslot to outperform the previous survey in weekday share, but weekends scored good gains compared with the 2000 survey.

Flagship programs 0745 News and AM were well down on last survey, which was before the revamp. ‘PM’ was the only Current Affairs program to show significant gains from last survey.

While share was down, the station’s reach was up, with a cume of 45,000 weekly listeners, compared with 34,200 in the 2000 survey(see chart below).

Insiders say Gold Coast ABC staff are optimistic that this time around, should any format change emerge as a result of these figures, they won’t be sacked (as were 6 of their colleagues in 2001) and that the patience with which ABC Local Radio allowed Adelaide’s 891 to repair from its 5% market doldrums over several years, will now be employed on the Coast.

Some Gold Coast radio industry players told radioinfo they believe Briony Petch and Martin Powley have good potential to mature into their roles and are likely to return to breakfast and mornings on Coast FM, despite shares of 4.2 and 3.1% in the survey, but another industry watcher said “more significant choices of talent in the breakfast and morning slots” will be required to establish the station’s core branding as both a credible and entertaining information station.

In the meantime, Queensland Senator Santo Santoro is still anticipating answers to questions on notice in the Senate Estimates hearings of late 2003, regarding the ABC Coast FM restructure of 2001 including costs, displacement of staff and survey outcomes.

RG Capital is seeking broad industry agreement for an all-in audience survey later this year.

Results: