Southern Cross Austereo’s (SCA) 2DayFM breakfast duo of comedian Rove McManus and Bachelorette sweetheart Sam Frost are set to take on the airwaves beyond Sydney, with the launch of a new national show.
Across the nation, each weeknight from 7pm-8pm on the Hit Network, the pair will host a national highlights show featuring a mix of the content delivered by Rove & Sam from that day’s Sydney breakfast show.
The slot will go to air across Australia after Hamish & Andy and will be followed by the Hit 30 with Emma Freedman and Angus O’Loughlin at 8pm. The move gives listeners three consecutive national weeknight shows.
In this week's second radio ratings of the year, Kiis hosts Kyle and Jackie O held onto their lead in the Sydney FM breakfast stakes, despite dropping 1.2 percentage points, while 2DayFM's Rove and Sam remain flat on the second survey of the year.
Rove and Sam stayed stable from the previous survey on 3.0% audience share.
Hit Network head of content Gemma Fordham says the national highlights show will take advantage of the show's popularity outside the Sydney region.
"The decision to spread the love of Rove & Sam across the acountry is due to the positive response the breakfast show is receiving," Fordham says.
"Rove & Sam is one of our top podcasts weekly, giving us strong evidence that markets outside of Sydney are keen to part of this show."
The news follows a change to the Hit Network which refreshed its format, tone and positioning to women, with Fordham saying it looks to tap into a “new wave of feminism”. Fordham also spoke of her amibition for the network to AdNews, calling it a long-term strategy and noting that Sydney only constitutes one brand in a stable.
“The reality is we’re a national product and we have a huge amount of revenue that sits outside Sydney breakfast, so it would be foolish of me to just focus on Sydney," she said at the time.
In October last year SCA confirmed that Frost would co-host Sydney breakfast on 2DayFM, alongside McManus. Then in January the first marketing push for the duo arrived. The 60-second spot runs thorugh a list of fantastical giveaways with McManus and Frost correcting the voiceover after each item on the list.
Did you catch the first radio ratings of the year?
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