Nova and 2Day FM set for 'battle royale' On the charge .. Nova 96.9's breakfast pair Fitzy and Wippa saw their share rise by 1 per cent. Photo: Scott Dougherty Nova 96.9 has set its sights on first place in the Sydney FM market and on the basis of the latest ratings survey results, it's not just an empty claim. "Nova is going to be the number one FM station," predicted DMG group program director Paul Jackson last month, and as good as his word, DMG's youth-focused station has now rocketed into second place, hot on the heels of ratings stalwart 2DayFM. Sydney radio survey #6 2013 results. Speaking on Tuesday, Jackson was reticent to gloat, despite Nova also claiming top spot nationally from Austereo for the first time. Rather he congratulated his team while predicting the competition would only get fiercer. "It's going to be a battle royale for the rest of the year," said Jackson. Nova across the board, it's been growing steadily this year and continuing this trajectory who knows what could happen. FM Spectrum total audience share Mon‐Sun 5.30am‐12.00 Midnight smoothfm 95.3 Last survey Nova proved to be the only commercial FM station to record a gain as the election saw listeners migrate to the AM bandwidth. This survey, which tracked audience numbers from July 7 to September 14, saw Nova record a significant gain of 0.9 per cent audience share, second only to DMG stablemate SmoothFM which increased its listener numbers by an impressive 1.3 per cent. Jackson described the result as "beyond exceptional" but by no means an anomaly, saying "we have our own information behind the scenes that we track and we've seen it be at that level for a very long time. This station's not even 18 months old yet. We've got a great long-term plan. WSFM, the most recent pretenders to the throne having claimed the top spot for a single survey in April, were the big losers this survey. As a whole the network dropped 1 per cent share, slipping from second to fourth in the FM race, overtaken by both DMG stations. It was worse news for the ARN-owned station's breakfast crew as Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones saw their audience fall by a whopping 2.3 per cent, having drawn within 0.5 per cent of top spot last survey. ARN's national content director Duncan Campbell described the survey as "inconsistent" and proof that "the Sydney market is a very competitive landscape." These results are inconsistent and we don't see these being sustained. They will take a couple of results to work out but as far as we're concerned the WSFM strategy is on target. It was a good but not great survey for Austereo's 2Day team as they recorded an increase of 0.4 per cent, which was not as many as they lost last survey. Their flagship breakfast program Kyle and Jackie O recorded a 0.4 per cent gain which sees them comfortably on top in the FM breakfast race after WSFM's Jonesy and Amanda fell away. It also marks the fiftieth consecutive survey in which the pair have held the FM breakfast crown. Austereo Sydney General Manager, Jeremy Simpson said, "Today, 2Day is about Kyle & Jackie O and the incredible sustained success that they have shared over more than six years." It's not a great result for us today but there's certainly no trend there and the result is inconsistent with the performances to date. Campbell was also confident the breakfast team would bounce back, ready to work hard despite Jones' participation in Dancing with the Stars, which is about to start on Seven, and Keller's work with Network Ten. Jonesy and Amanda is one of the best breakfast shows in the market. We won't react to that by making any changes. As far as those two are concerned the priority is the breakfast show. Being the professionals they are they don't let any external activity impact that. Austereo's Triple M also recorded a 1 per cent drop in audience share, recording big losses in the morning and afternoon slots. AM Spectrum total audience share Mon‐Sun 5.30am‐12.00 Midnight The AM stations as a whole lost the advantage they gained in the previous survey, as the overlapping nature of the radio survey windows meant that this survey included the election itself but not the lead up to the ALP leadership spill. 2GB remains the number one station in Sydney, having dropped 0.5 per cent, the exact gain they recorded last survey. Alan Jones and Ray Hadley are still top in their breakfast and mornings time slots, recording a 0.1 per cent loss and gain respectively. Ben Fordham dropped 0.9 per cent in the drive slot however, which allowed the ABC's Richard Glover to retain top spot despite recording a massive 1.7 per cent loss.