ABC Radio National tumbles into dead zone

The disastrous ratings for Radio National will be of deep concern to Kim Williams, who this month marked his first anniversary as ABC chairman.

ABC chair Kim Williams. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

ABC Radio National’s flagship breakfast program has suffered a dramatic slump in its listenership across the key markets of Sydney and Melbourne, just months after the public broadcaster’s chairman Kim Williams overhauled the audio division in an attempt to revive the fortunes of the network.

According to figures released by research company GfK on Thursday, Radio National’s breakfast program presented by new host Sally Sara – who replaced Patricia Karvelas in December – has shed almost half its audience in Sydney in the first ratings period of 2025, which ran from January 19 to March 1.

Sara’s audience share in Sydney sits at just 1 per cent (down from 1.9 per cent in the final survey of 2024), with the data showing that the program’s cumulative audience has fallen from 81,000 to 47,000 since the start of this year – a drop of 42 per cent.

In Melbourne, the news for RN breakfast is almost as bad. Its market share fell 0.7 percentage points from 2.5 to 1.8 per cent in the first ratings poll of the year, with Sara’s cumulative audience slipping from 94,000 to 67,000.

The show also registered a drop in its audience share in Brisbane and Adelaide, but improved in Perth.

The disastrous ratings for Radio National will be of deep concern to Mr Williams, who this month marked his first anniversary as ABC chairman.

Mr Williams has spoken publicly about his desire to lift the performance and profile of the national broadcaster’s radio services, and he has been a strong advocate of Radio National in particular.

Last July, Mr Williams delivered an in-person address to Radio National staff, during which he was critical of the network’s failure to prioritise globally important news stories such as the war in Gaza.

But Radio National is not the only headache for ABC executives.

In Melbourne, its heavily promoted new breakfast show duo of former Seven reporter Sharnelle Vella and former AFL footballer Bob Murphy has clearly failed to gel with the ABC’s audience.

Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy will host ABC Radio Melbourne breakfast in 2025. Picture: Supplied/Instagram

The pair registered an audience share of 6.3 per cent in their first full survey, which was down 1.6 percentage points on the final survey of 2024, when the program was hosted by comedian Sammy J.

However, the Melbourne station’s disappointing results weren’t confined to the breakfast timeslot – audience shares were down across all ABC programs in the Victorian capital. Most notably, Rafael Epstein, who now hosts the morning program after moving from his regular drivetime show, saw his market share drop from 5.9 per cent to 4.5, leaving him in eighth position in the timeslot.

But in Sydney, the news was much better for the ABC.

Breakfast show host presenter Craig Reucassel lifted his audience share from 7.8 to 8.8 per cent – his best result since he assumed the hosting duties a year ago.

And the audience outcry over the dumping of former ABC Sydney morning show presenter Sarah Macdonald seems to have dissipated. New host Hamish Macdonald (no relation) registered a market share of 6.4 per cent in his first survey, up 0.2 percentage points from Sarah Macdonald’s final survey of 2024.

Journalist Hamish Macdonald is now the host of ABC Radio Sydney Mornings. Picture: Supplied

Elsewhere in Sydney, 2GB’s Mark Levy notched an impressive 13.5 per cent audience share in is first ratings poll since taking over from the city’s talkback king Ray Hadley, who left the station in December.

Levy’s 13.5 per cent share was just 0.2 percentage points down on Hadley’s final ratings result. His stablemate, breakfast show host Ben Fordham, retained the No.1 position in his time slot, despite his audience share slipping from 15.1 to 14.4 per cent.

Fordham remains slightly ahead of KIISFM’s breakfast show pairing of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, who returned an audience share of 13.3 per cent (down 0.2) in the first survey of the year.

But Kyle and Jackie ‘O’ continue to struggle in Melbourne, where they have failed to cut through since their program was first syndicated into the southern capital last April.

The duo scored an audience share in the city’s breakfast market of just 5.1 per cent (up 0.1 percentage points), leaving them eighth in the time slot.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson have revealed the death clause in their contracts.

3AW’s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft grew their breakfast share to 20.6 per cent, with the station overall up 3.2 to 16.8 per cent. It was a strong survey for the Nine-owned station, with ratings surges across all timeslots including for morning show host Tom Elliott who remains a clear No.1.

Tony Moclair is the new king of afternoon radio in Melbourne after overhauling three FM stations in the space of one survey to now sit in the No.1 position in the timeslot.

Also lifting was the 3AW drive program hosted by Jacqui Felgate, who now ranks in second position overall, behind only Gold 104.3.

The biggest breakfast improver in the Melbourne market was Christian O’Connell with his breakfast program on ARN’s Gold 104.3 climbing 2.8 to 11.5 per cent, ranking him No.1 on the FM dial at breakfast, ahead of former champs Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips at Nova who dropped 1.4 to 10.1 per cent.

In Brisbane, B105’s breakfast trio of Stav, Abby and Matt (Stav Davidson, Abby Coleman and Matt Acton) retained top spot in their timeslot, with a 14.1 per cent audience share (unchanged from the previous survey).

On the AM dial, the ABC breakfast team of Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan boosted their audience share to 8.3 per cent (up 0.3 percentage points), while 4BC’s breakfast program continues to increase its slice of the market under the stewardship of Peter Fegan, up from a 3.3 share in the final survey of 2024 to 4.5 per cent.

Overall, ABC Brisbane had its best ratings result for several months, increasing its audience share across all timeslots.

In Adelaide, Triple M’s Mark Ricciuto, Chris Dittmar, and Laura O’Callaghan slipped 2.1 percentage points to 14.0 per cent, yet their breakfast show continues to rank No.1 overall.

The biggest mover in the market was the ABC Adelaide breakfast program hosted by Sonya Feldhoff and Jules Schiller, which climbed 2.8 to 12.9 per cent.

ABC Adelaide improved its audience share across all time slots, whereas rival station FIVEaa saw its slice of the market go backwards across its slate of programs.

In Perth, the Nine-owned 6PR staggered into the new year with its breakfast program hosted by Steve Mills and Karl Langdon saw its share tumble by 3.5 percentage points to 9.3 per cent. That still positions the station well ahead of ABC Perth, where breakfast with Mark Gibson trails 6PR by 4.0 after edging higher to 5.3 per cent.

The biggest breakfast mover in the market was Nova 93.7 where Nathan, Nat and Shaun (Nathan Morris, Nat Locke and Shaun McManus) pushed their share to 19.8 per cent (up 3.6 per cent), despite Morris’ absence from the show for a large part of the survey period.

Nova remains the No.1 station overall in Perth, pushing further ahead of ARN’s 96FM, which continues to hold the second spot.

Nova 93.7's Nathan, Nat and Shaun.