Smooth 95.3 (call sign: 2PTV) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

based in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The station is owned by

Nova Entertainment NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. NOVA Entertainment is owned by Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Lt ...

along with sister station Nova 96.9 and currently plays

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

songs from the late-1950s/early-1960s to the present with a 55+ year span.

History

In contrast to

's other Australian radio brand, the pop/rock Nova network, Smooth 95.3 (originally named Vega and Classic Rock) was originally positioned to target the baby boomer market of listeners in the 40 to 60 age bracket, with a mix of talk and music from the 1960s to the 2000s. This changed in 2006 when it moved to a music position, scrapping the talk content. Smooth 95.3's major rivals in the Sydney market are 101.7 WSFM,

KIIS 106.5 KIIS 1065 (call sign: 2WFM) is a commercial FM radio station in Sydney, Australia, on a frequency of 106.5 MHz. KIIS 1065 is one of the flagship stations on ARN's KIIS Network. The station's headline show is ''The Kyle and Jackie O Show''. ...

and

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to ...

. During its first

AC Nielsen The Nielsen Corporation, self-referentially known as The Nielsen Company, and formerly known as ACNielsen or AC Nielsen, is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in New York City, United States. Regional headquarters for ...

ratings survey (No. 8, 2005, covering mid-September to November of that year), Vega 95.3 had failed to attract a significant audience, with a 1.8 percent audience share. However, station management stated that the slow take-up was to be expected, claiming the target audience would be slower than some audience groups to try a new station. In June 200

the station dropped its "40 years of music" slogan and moved drive-time hosts

Rebecca Wilson Rebecca Louise Wilson (22 December 1961 – 7 October 2016) was an Australian sports journalist, radio and television broadcaster and personality, known for the comic television talk sports show '' The Fat'', in which she appeared regularly wit ...

and

Tony Squires Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

to share the breakfast slot with Angela Catterns. The changes were slow in growing market share, with the audience falling to 1.7% (No. 6, 2006). By the end of 2006, Vega 95.3 had reached their ratings peak to that time, reaching a 2.8% share. In January 2007, Vega 95.3 expanded its "Vega Variety" positioner to include "the 70s, 80s and the best new songs", and also put out advertisements in the form of billboards and on the side of buses, based around that expanded positioner. It was hoped that it would get more listeners to sample the station. In the first radio survey of 2007, Vega 95.3 had small increases, reaching 3%. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Vega 95.3 gradually grew its audience. In survey 7/2008, it finally shed its perennial position as the lowest rated commercial FM station in Sydney, passing Triple M. In survey 8/2008, its audience had increased to 5.7%. In its target age groups, it rated 4th commercial FM with 7.9% in the 25 to 39 bracket, 4th in 40 to 54 with 8.6%, and 5th in the 55+ bracket. On 12 March 2010, Vega 95.3 ceased transmission after just five years on air and the station was replaced with Classic Rock 95.3, which included (appropriately enough) a classic rock format. At exactly 7:00am on 21 May 2012, the station was relaunched as smoothfm 95.3 by

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

as the first on-air announcer. In August 2015, smoothfm 95.3 was crowned the number-one FM station for the first time with an 8.2 share.

Announcers

* More Music Breakfast Show with Bogart Torelli * Ron Wilson * Ty Frost * Simon Diaz * Byron Webb *

Cameron Daddo Cameron Peter Daddo (born 7 March 1965) is an Australian actor, musician and presenter. From 1987 to 1988, he hosted dating game show '' Perfect Match Australia''. He won two Logie Awards for his performances in '' Golden Fiddles'' and ''Track ...

Melissa Doyle Melissa Jane Doyle (born 10 February 1970) is an Australian television presenter, author and journalist. She was previously co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program ''Sunrise'' from 2002 to 2013 alongside David Koch and ho ...

* Richard Wilkins * David Campbell

References

*Nielsen Media Research (2005-12-06)
Survey Results: Sydney, Survey No. 8, 2005
. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.

External links

Official site
{{coord, 33, 52, 11, S, 151, 11, 25, E, display=title Easy listening radio stations in Australia Nova Entertainment Radio stations in Sydney Radio stations established in 2005 2005 establishments in Australia