Fordham keeps breakfast throne as surprise new station claims top spot

Sydney radio sees a shake-up! Smoothfm is now number one, beating 2GB in the latest ratings. More music seems to be the key, but 2GB’s Ben Fordham still rules breakfast.

2GB Presenter Ben Fordham has maintained top spot in the breakfast category, but his station has seen a dip. Picture: John Feder

More music and less talk has triumphed in Sydney radio with smoothfm trumping talkback station 2GB in the latest radio ratings.

Smoothfm has risen to the top as the most listened to station in the Harbour City, coming in with a 12.3 percentage share of the overall market, ahead of 2GB at 11.6 per cent.

That represents a drop of two percentage points for 2GB.

“Radio’s never been more competitive and we welcome the challenge,” 2GB’s Greg Byrnes said.

“With the footy, household budgets and world affairs, there’s plenty to talk about and we thank our listeners for tuning in each day.”

KIIS is the number three station in Sydney overall with a share of 10.4 per cent, up 1.1 per cent.

Talkback king Ben Fordham, on 2GB, however, remained the top breakfast show in market with share of 14.7 per cent, down two share points, followed by Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS at 13.9 (up 1.4) and Bogart Torelli on the smoothfm dial with 9.2 per cent 9 (up 0.1).

Smooth FM’s breakfast host Bogart Torelli.

Kyle and Jackie O maintained second spot on the breakfast leaderboard. Picture - Supplied

It is the fourth of eight GfK Radio 360 survey results for the year. The next results will be released on September 9.

Ty Frost, Simon Diaz and Byron Webb across the smoothfm workday are all outright number one in their timeslots.

“Today marks another stellar performance from the Smooth team, taking out the outright number one station in Sydney and the number two FM position in Melbourne,” Smooth Network Head of Programming Peter Clay said.

“It’s a real credit to the consistent listening experience that brings our audience together in music. At Smooth it’s always about the listener so, on top of being Sydney’s number one, we’re thrilled they continue to connect with us across the country, day in and day out.”

2GB radio host Mark Levy saw a slight dip pictured today inn Sydney. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Smooth FM's Ty Frost claimed the top spot. Picture: Supplied

In mornings, 2GBs Mark Levy slipped behind smoothfm with a share of 13 per cent, down 2.5 per cent.

Frost hosts mornings on smoothfm and came in with a leading share of 13.7 per cent, down 0.5.

Looking at listening figures for Sydney for this ratings period, data shows the top station to be smoothfm with a total of 1.322 million cumulative listeners tuning in, followed by KIIS at 1.153 million, Nova at 1.039 million and Gold FM at 799,000.

Talkback station 2GB, despite its popularity, had 655,000 cumulative listeners.

The reason talkback scores high percentages is due to the fact listeners tune in for longer periods of time.

The Daily Telegraph reached 3.39 million people in May 2025 alone based on IPSOS Iris monthly audience data.

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