ABC Radio’s rating crash in Melbourne, lift in Sydney

The public broadcaster has sunk to a historic low in Melbourne, heaping pressure on its high-profile line-up, while the ABC’s Sydney network hit an audience peak.

Ben Fordham, Rafael Epstein, and Kyle & Jackie O.

For ABC Radio, the latest ratings results are a tale of two cities – ABC Melbourne has recorded its lowest-ever audience share for the station since the existing survey format began more than a decade ago, while the public broadcaster’s Sydney network has bounced back to register its highest listenership this year.

ABC Melbourne’s audience share of the local radio market was 5.6 per cent, according to research company GfK’s third survey of the year, which covered the period from February 25 to March 30, and April 14 to May 18.

The poor result is likely to heighten the scrutiny on the Melbourne station’s on-air line-up, which has undergone a significant reshuffle in the past year with Raf Epstein moving from drive to mornings, Trevor Chappell promoted from overnights into afternoons, Ali Moore shifting to drive and breakfast host Sammy J McMillan upgrading to a five-day schedule.

ABC Melbourne, led by station manager Mary-Jane Fenech who took over from Dina Rosendorff this year, shed 27,000 listeners in this survey period alone – a further blow to the station which has seen its across-the-board audiences shrink dramatically over the past two years.

All of ABC Melbourne’s radio programs fell this survey, except for evenings, including Epstein whose audience share fell to 6.0 (down 0.7 points), and Sammy J, who had the biggest fall, down one point to 6.3 per cent.

ABC Melbourne also has the fourth lowest audience share (5.6) of the national broadcaster’s main stations in the five major capital cities.

ABC Adelaide (7.5 per cent, up 0.1), ABC Sydney (6.6 per cent, up 1.5 points), and ABC Perth (5.7 per cent, steady) all rank above Melbourne in terms of audience share; ABC Brisbane lags on 5.1 per cent (up 0.9 points).

And while ABC Melbourne is in free fall, ABC Sydney, run by station manager Steve Ahern, is showing signs of improvement.

All of its weekday presenters increased their audience shares in this survey – breakfast host Craig Reucassel captured 7.7 per cent of the market (up 0.6 points from the second survey of the year), mornings host Sarah Macdonald recorded a 1.6 per cent jump to a 6 per cent audience share, while afternoons presenter Tim Webster and veteran drivetime host Richard Glover also enjoyed healthy ratings boosts.

On the FM dial, Sydney’s high-profile breakfast duo, KIISFM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, lost their number one position in their timeslot to 2GB’s Ben Fordham, with the AM talkback host attracting an audience share of 16.6 per cent (up 1.7 points) compared to 14.7 per cent for his longtime FM breakfast rivals, who fell by 1.4 points.

And despite the hype surrounding the foray of the The Kyle and Jackie ‘O’ into the Melbourne market at the end of April, it’s too early to determine whether the pair’s style has gelled with listeners in the Victorian capital, as they were only on-air for three weeks of the 10-week survey period.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson launched their show in Melbourne in April.

Overall, the Nine-owned 2GB and 3AW talkback stations recorded strong ratings growth in this survey, with the Sydney station’s morning host Ray Hadley increasing his audience share to 15.3 per cent (up 1.8 points), while 3AW’s breakfast show, fronted by Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft, lifted 1.7 points to 19.8 per cent share.

Tom Elliott, who hosts mornings, saw his audience share rise to 17.5 per cent, up 0.6 points.

It was Hadley’s 157th consecutive survey win.

“If we get to 160 it will be 20 years since we last lost a survey in mornings on 2GB,” he said on his program on Tuesday morning.

“Hard work has its rewards, my crew get in early, they go home late and they’re rewarded with that with yet another win.”

3AW’s morning show, hosted by Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft continued its dominance in the timeslot, up 0.6 points to record a 17.5 per cent audience share.

The station’s drivetime presenter Jacqui Felgate notched a 0.4 percentage point rise in her audience share, to 8 per cent.

But the Nine-owned 4BC in Brisbane didn’t fare so well.

The station’s breakfast program, hosted by Laurel Edwards, Mark Hine and Gary Clare, had its worst ratings result since the trio began at the station in July 2022, recording an audience share of 5.2 per cent, down from 7.5.

Mark Hine, Laurel Edwards and Gary Clare, the hosts of the 4BC breakfast program.

The threesome were eighth in their slot, having shed 49,000 listeners over the past three months, with the dire result coming after they recently announced on air they had their contract extended.

Nine Radio’s head of content, Greg Byrnes said in April: “I am very pleased to confirm that Laurel, Gary, and Mark’s much-loved breakfast show will be continuing on 4BC after June 30.”

4BC’s drive show hosted by Peter Gleeson was the station’s only daytime show that increased audience share, up by 0.1 points to 4.6 per cent.

B105’s trio of Stav Davidson, Abby Coleman and Matt Acton won the breakfast slow with an audience share of 12.6.

In Adelaide, Triple M’s breakfast show hosted by Mark Ricciuto, Chris Dittmar and Laura O’Callaghan remains the top-rating show with an audience share of 16.4 cent, up 1.5 points in this survey.

FIVEaa’s duo of David Penberthy (also a senior writer at The Australian) and Will Goodings remains in second spot with an audience share of 12.2 per cent, up 0.4.

In Perth, NOVA’s breakfast show hosted by Natalie Locke, Nathan Morris and Shaun McManus took out top spot again with an audience share of 17.4 per cent (down 0.9).

It was the largest audience share of any Perth radio program.