At the start of September, 2013, Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek announced they were pulling the pin on their long-running Nova breakfast show, ending an epic innings that began with the station itself  in 2001. Shortly afterwards came a ratings shock to accompany that announcement: just as they were leaving, Hughesy and Kate did what had previously seemed impossible, leaping to the top of the FM ratings charts as long-time winners from Fox's Matt Tilley and Jo Stanley, who found themselves relegated to second position for the first time in years. Then, at the start of October, Tilley and Stanley – as close to a sure thing in ratings terms as it was possible to find –  called it quits.

The field was suddenly wide open in the competitive fight for  FM audiences. Meanwhile, in AM land, customary king Neil Mitchell was having an uncharacteristically difficult year, falling behind ABC 774 rival Jon Faine.

In 2014, the uncertainty has continued – but with only two surveys of the year to go, the atmospherics have somewhat dimmed as the old guard has reasserted itself. Survey six of the year  appears to have confirmed the message of survey five. And while industry wise-heads are disinclined to take as gospel the results of even two or three surveys on the trot, the traditional AM and FM heavyweights are taking comfort from some good, consistent numbers.

FOX ON THE RISE: If any station had cause for anxiety a year ago it was perennial FM victors Fox, but 12 months into the new era Fox has cause for satisfaction. In a tight field,it is top of the tree for two surveys running and appears to have bedded in its new Breakfast team more solidly than its rivals – Fifi Box and Dave Thornton picked up half a point in this week's survey to be only a half-point behind the timeslot leaders at Triple M, where football-heavy Eddie McGuire, Luke Darcy and Mick Molloy dropped by the same margin to hold the slimmest of margins at the top.

Southern Cross Austereo head of content Craig Bruce describes the past year as "nerve wracking" – but says to have the new Breakfast team already recording the same or slightly better numbers than their predecessors is heartening. "For us to be an eight share and essentially ahead of where we were at this time last year is a brilliant effort and well ahead of what our expectations were. We are very, very happy with where Fox is sitting six surveys in."

NOVA UP AND DOWN: After Hughesy and Kate's stellar leap to the top of the charts one year ago, their replacements have had a mixed year – though given the tightness of the race, far from a failure. Meshel Laurie and Tommy Little have bounced around the ladder – coming in fifth in the timeslot in surveys four and five, but popping up to third in the latest round. Bottom line: it's painfully tight, with contenders three to five separated by a mere 0.3 points.

GOLD A STRONG SILVER: The team at Gold FM made a lurch to the top of the charts earlier in the year but has since steadied – but there will be no complaints for a station that has more than held its own over 2014, with Breakfast veterans Brigitte Duclos and Anthony Lehmann holding steady in again the last survey.

AW TAKES AM HONOURS: 3AW station manager Shane Healy has faced some awkward survey results the last two years, as long-time Mornings champion Neil Mitchell has faced an unusually tight fight with the ABC's Jon Faine while Breakfast behemoths Ross Stevenson and John Burns had an unprecedented slump against Red Symons. Suddenly, Healy is breathing easy — Mitchell has two wins on the trot and the brekky boys are back in familiar territory, thumping Symons by almost six points in their hour-by-hour head-to-head battle.

Healy says that's a more accurate assessment of where the market is right now — though he concedes: "It's probably been the most competitive year I can remember in a long long time."

We also asked Healy about the big news to mark the end of the  footy season — the announced departure of 3AW football anchor Brian Taylor.

After a season that found Taylor embroiled in one particularly nasty controversy over homophobic remarks (albeit on TV), we wondered if the station had decided he was out of touch with modern sensibilities. "There were a couple of things" involving Taylor this year, Healy said, but: "That had nothing to do with that decision. We talked about it back in August and it was one where we were happy to have the footy go into next year without him running it. And he was comfortable to look at the TV options. Whether he does anything else on radio, I don't know. But there's nothing to be read into that at all. It was a very mutual agreement."