With Aus Music Month now in full swing with the Ausify campaign, ARIA Week coming up, and community radio and ABC stations swinging behind local music, we thought we’d take a pulse check on how the broader radio community is embracing the Aussie music message — and the results are less than stellar.
If ever there was a week that stations would get behind local talent, the first week of Aus Music Month would be it. However, our results show that there is still a long way to go for Australian artists hoping to cut through into the Australian mainstream. We analysed all spins on Sydney stations between 1 and 7 November during the key daytime listening hours of 6am to 6pm to see just how Ausified our commercial radio algorithms really are.
It is no surprise that the ABC and triple j are out in front of the pack with 50%+ Australian content across the first week of November, according to Radio Monitor data. Of the commercial stations, Triple M was by far the best supporter of local content, albeit classic Aussie rock, with 25% of songs across the day coming from Down Under. Whilst the newest Aussie song aired was Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know from 2011, it is still refreshing to see homegrown guitar culture reflected for an older demographic.
Runner-up was Gold FM (ex-WSFM), which also hit 20% Aussie content. While their audience skews older again, at least one in five songs was local, with Icehouse, INXS, and Barnesy topping the rotation.
Nova also embraced the Aussie spirit, with 20% of its playlist reflecting Australian artists. Operating a contemporary hit music format and rating highest among new-music stations in the market, its backing is crucial for breaking fresh domestic talent.
Partnering with Ausify, NOVA Network’s Group Programming Director, Brendan Taylor, said:
“Australian music has always been an important part of what we do at NOVA, from the artists we play to the incredible talent we’ve welcomed into Nova’s Red Room. Our partnership with AUSIFY builds on that commitment, drawing on the reach of NOVA’s shows, creators and platforms to champion local artists, drive discovery and encourage more Australians to get behind Australian music.”
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Nova’s sister station, Smooth FM. The station was the market's worst performer, with just 6% of songs played in the first week of Aus Music Month coming from Australia. As one of the highest-rating stations in Sydney, this is a massive missed opportunity for homegrown acts, with Peter Andre’s Gimme Little Sign clocking in as their most-played local track. The sign is that they are phoning it in. With a rich back catalogue of adult-contemporary gold from icons like Jenny Morris, Wendy Matthews, 1927, Savage Garden, and countless others, there is a clear programming blind spot here. At the very least, spin Mysterious Girl.
Over at ARN, the solid numbers on Gold [WSFM] are not mirrored on CADA and KIIS 1065. Despite launching their new KIIS breakfast show, only 11% of their daytime spins were Australian. Their second most-spun "local" track was Josh Fawaz's viral, AI-assisted cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer.
Their youth-leaning sister station, CADA, scraped just 12%, despite the sheer depth and quality of Australian hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music currently dominating clubs and festival stages.
The wooden spoon among new-music stations, however, goes to 2Day FM, which limped in at 9% Australian content. Following the station’s 2025 repositioning toward playing “the hits before they hit”, this retreat into ultra-safe international pop — alongside the recent axing of their local-championing programme The Hot Hits — marks one of commercial radio’s most disappointing developments this year.
While not quite sinking to Smooth FM levels of disinterest, it certainly leaves industry insiders scratching their heads when Nova can maintain twice the audience share while committing more than double the airtime to Australian artists.
ACMA released its revised Commercial Radio Code of Practice in February, rejecting music industry calls to modernise the broken Australian content quota framework. At the time, ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said:
“We are extremely disappointed that despite all the evidence put forward showing that these quotas aren’t working, the ACMA has not pursued any reasonable or practical changes. CRA Code reviews don’t happen very often and yet this has become another instance of Australian radio policy failing the country’s homegrown culture and artists in the very market where they should have a natural advantage.
“Commercial radio uses publicly owned spectrum to generate over $1 billion of revenue annually. That is a privilege, and it comes with a responsibility to surface Australian stories, Australian voices, and Australian music at times when audiences are actually tuned in. Under the current framework, stations are meeting their obligations while relegating Australian music to overnight and off-peak slots. The practical effect is that the quota exists on paper but delivers little for artists or the Australian listeners it was designed to serve.”
It appears that even during Aus Music Month, truly Ausifying commercial radio remains an uphill battle.
