3AW radio ratings drop after Dee Dunleavy axed; Gold 104’s Christian O’Connell loses crown

3AW Afternoons has continued to slump in the ratings after the sacking of Melbourne radio queen Dee Dee Dunleavy.

3AW Afternoons is in decline since Dee Dee Dunleavy was sacked from the station in June.

A day after her dumping the host topped the ratings for her timeslot with a 12.9 per cent share.

On Tuesday 3AW came in at 11, behind FOX FM on 12.1; GOLD FM on 11.5 and Smooth FM on 11.3.

Every show increased except Afternoons, which rotates its hosts and now has Jacqui Felgate in the chair.

Axed 3AW host Dee Dee Dunleavy. Picture: Instagram

Meanwhile, Gold FM breakfast king Christian O’Connell has been dethroned after 25 radio ratings surveys at the top.

O’Connell, who notched 1000 shows last week, came in at 8.4 (last survey was 9.8) and he was overtaken by FOX FM’s Fifi, Fev and Nick who triumphed on 9.4.

The Smooth FM team of Mike Perso and Nikole Gunn moved up to second on 8.9.

KIIS FM’s Jase and Lauren climbed to 7.5 while Triple M’s Marty Sheargold also lifted to 6.

FOX FM’s Brendan Fevola recently caused a stir when he said on air that he’d heard Sydney’s breakfast juggernaut Kyle and Jackie O were taking over KIIS FM in Melbourne.

Gold 104.3 radio host Christian O’Connell. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Kyle Sandilands, whose show came in behind 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday, denied the rumours on Monday but believes he would dominate the market.

“I think we would do pretty well there. We already have hundreds of thousands of listeners there. We can monitor via the iHeart Radio app,’’ he said.

“A lot of people don’t realise. This radio show is the most listened to radio show in the history of radio shows in this country. Ever. It doesn’t take a genius to realise how much money you would save if we just had the one big show everywhere.”

FOX FM breaky team Brendan Fevola, Fifi Box and Nick Cody. Picture: Fox FM

Meanwhile some of the ABC’s flagship Melbourne radio shows have failed to make ground.

A recent internal report was tabled into the troubled network’s free fall over the past year, and the struggle continues.

In breakfast, Sammy J (with Charlie Pickering on Fridays) dropped 8.9 to 8.1 while 3AW’s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft extended their dominance to a 22.3 per cent share.

Kyle Sandilands has denied he and Jackie O were taking over KIIS FM in Melbourne.

In mornings Virginia Trioli fell marginally from 7.6 to 7.5 while in drive Rafael Epstein improved from 5.4 to 6.7 but is still well behind 3AW’s Tom Elliott on 11.7.

Afternoons with new host Trevor Chappell also saw a slight improvement from 4.8 to 4.9.

Neil Mitchell, who is weighing up his future, was also a big winner rising to 20.1 in mornings.

Neil Mitchell. Picture: Nicole Cleary

SEN mornings host Gerard Whateley improved from 3 to 4.1, the sports station’s afternoons program with Dwayne Russell also went up from 2.5 to 4.1, while breakfast remained the same at 3.1.

In drive Gold FM’s Dave Higgins (10.7) jumped ahead of Nova’s Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel (10.5), with FOX FM’s Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little (9.8) not far behind them.

This survey was the fifth release of the year with Gfk also providing accumulative and average audience figures.