2Day FM’s Dave Hughes says the Sydney breakfast radio market is hard to crack

Comedian Dave Hughes concedes his 2Day FM gig is one of the biggest challenges of his radio career.

2Day FM radio host and comedian Dave Hughes. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Comedian and radio host Dave Hughes’ stint in the highly competitive Sydney breakfast market has been stained by low ratings, but he says he’s far from giving up on one of the biggest challenges of his career.

The 51-year-old’s gig as co-host of Sydney’s 2Day breakfast radio show alongside Erin Molan and Ed Kavalee has been an uphill battle since the show’s launch last year but he says they’re slowly making ground.

“The Sydney market is very established and there are breakfast shows that have been on in Sydney for a decade or more. They’ve got rusted-on audiences and that’s fair enough,” Hughes told The Australian.

“We’re starting a breakfast show on a network that had been playing music for two years before we came on, so we were starting from nothing really in terms of trying to get people to change their habits.”

In the latest radio ratings the trio came in at 9th position in the Sydney breakfast radio timeslot with an audience share of 4.2 points (up 0.9 from the first survey of the year).

Hughes’ move to Sydney came after more than a decade of dominance in Melbourne’s FM radio market, hosting many programs across stations including Nova and the KIIS and Hit Networks.  

Hughes started his radio career in 2001, working alongside Kate Langbroek and Dave O’Neill on Nova’s Hughesy, Kate and Dave breakfast show.

“Sydney radio is definitely a fun challenge and you have to put your ego to one side. You have to do that in showbiz and life all the time, because you are king of the hill at one moment and bottom of the pack the next moment,” he said.

Hughes certainly didn’t hold back in his criticisms of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews during the state’s six Covid lockdowns, but he plans to say far less about the nation’s political leaders in the lead-up to the federal election.

Throughout the pandemic it was a familiar sight to see Hughes trending on Twitter, criticising rules imposed on Melburnians during the lockdowns.

However, the radio veteran concedes that fighting against anonymous online trolls is a complete “waste of time”.

“For people with profiles who argue on Twitter against mainly anonymous accounts, it’s just ­ridiculous.

“I’ve done it and it’s just not worth it,” he told The Australian.

“I probably won’t talk a lot about Albo and ScoMo to be honest, I’m not as interested. I don’t think it’s going to make a massive difference who wins.”

Hughes has spent the last few weeks doing what he loves best — stand-up comedy at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

“We have to laugh at ourselves and our situations.

“Life is utterly ridiculous and it always has been and always will be,” he said.

Originally published as 2Day FM’s Dave Hughes says the Sydney breakfast radio market is hard to crack