Triple M’s reign at the top of the Adelaide radio ratings has come to an end.

The fifth radio ratings survey of the year, released today, has Mix taking back the overall lead thanks to improved performances across a range of shifts, most notably in breakfast, where the Ali Clarke-led team registered a significant leap forward.

Mix edged Triple M for first place after grabbing an extra 0.7 percentage points of listener share, while Triple M lost ground. Nova remained in third place.

Talk stations FIVEaa and ABC Radio Adelaide hold two of the bottom three places among the local stations, with the ABC losing share to remain in the basement.

Mix, for years the leading local station, was knocked off its perch this year by Triple M, which held its lead for three surveys.

In today’s data, Triple M’s breakfast team of Mark Ricciuto, Chris Dittmar and Laura O’Callaghan held on to top spot despite losing share, while FIVEaa’s David Penberthy and Will Goodings took outright second place (they were equal second with the ABC’s Stacey Lee and Nikolai Beilharz in the last survey).

Ali Clarke’s breakfast team rocketed into third place for Mix – increasing their share by 2.1 percentage points to hit 11.2.

It hasn’t been an easy road in the ratings for Clarke since she stunned Adelaide radio by leaving her leading ABC breakfast show at the end of 2021. In the equivalent survey last year, she was rating 8 per cent and sitting in sixth place. In the survey before that she was dead last.

But persistence and some tweaks to the program have paid off, with Clarke’s best result since her Mix return feeding into an improved result in the subsequent morning shift and catapulting the station back into the overall lead.

While Triple M still leads in the morning and afternoon shifts, it lost ground in both with Mix gaining share. Nova leads drive, while FIVEaa maintained its dominance in the evenings. Mix rules on the weekends.

The demographic data shows why Mix is such a consistent winner. While some stations have big spikes in certain age groups and few listeners in others, Mix performs solidly across most of the spectrum.

By contrast, ABC Radio Adelaide faces an enormous demographic challenge – an issue vexing ABC local stations across Australia.

While it remains a solid performer in breakfast and, to a lesser extent, mornings, it loses traction as the day goes on.

The station leads among people aged 65 and over, but isn’t competitive in any other age group. Its next best demographic is people aged 55 to 64 – and even among them it is ranked near last of the local stations with 6.2 per cent of listeners, only beating youth-orientated station Nova. Among people aged 40 to 54, it registers a paltry 2.2 per cent of listeners.

Just one year ago, the ABC led the Adelaide radio ratings, with 11.9 per cent of audience share. That performance was driven by even greater dominance in the oldest age group and a solid performance in the 55-64 segment – many in that group of listeners have since moved on from the ABC.

GfK Adelaide radio ratings, survey five, taken from May 21 to June 24, and July 9 to August 12.