Alan Jones, Ray Hadley gain ground in latest ratings

Sydney stars Alan Jones and Ray Hadley further cement dominance in the latest ratings survey.

Broadcasters Ray Hadley (left), Alan Jones (right) and major Macquarie Media shareholder John Singleton (centre). Picture: James Croucher

2GB’s Sydney radio stars, including Alan Jones, Ray Hadley, Chris Smith and Ben Fordham all picked up new listeners in the most recent ratings survey, amid increasing focus on Canberra and the federal budget ahead of the upcoming election on May 18.

Breakfast king Jones, who is in the midst of negotiating a new contract with Nine affiliate Macquarie Media, saw his audience rise 1.2 percentage points to 16.4 per cent, according to GfK’s second ratings survey of 2019.

Hadley, who rules the 9am to 12pm Sydney radio audience, was up 1.9 points to 16.9 per cent, followed by Chris Smith, who also saw his audience rise 0.8 points to 12.2 per cent.

Fordham, who recently announced that he and his wife were expecting baby No.3, saw his audience rise 0.7 points to 10.2 per cent, according to the survey, which covers the periods from February 10 to March 2 and from March 10 to April 13.

2GB’s 7pm to 12am weekday evening programming, which includes money news with Ross Greenwood and news and current affairs with Steve Price, also gained listeners, up 1.5 points to 16.5 per cent.

In Melbourne, talkback radio 3AW also attracted listeners, and was up 0.8 points to 15.2 per cent. The station gained listeners across the day, except for its weekday breakfast show, which is hosted by Ross Stevenson and John Burns. Stevenson and Burns, who are on air from 5.30am to 8.30am, dropped 0.4 points to 19.5 per cent.

ABC Melbourne’s radio audience dropped 1.1 points to 7.8 per cent, with losses across all the different time slots throughout the day.

Back in Sydney, 2GB, rose 1.1 points to 14.5 per cent, cementing its grip on the nation’s most lucrative radio market.

Meanwhile rivals ABC Sydney and 2CH lost listeners, slipping 0.1 points to 8.8 per cent and 1 point to 3.5 per cent, respectively.

Nine, which holds a 54.5 per cent stake in ASX-listed Macquarie Media after its $4 billion merger with Fairfax Media, is keen to mop up the remaining shares in the company that it doesn’t own.

But the latest strong ratings performance could drive the price up, which is good news for advertising boss John Singleton, who is Macquarie’s second biggest shareholder with a 32 per cent shareholding.

On the FM band, shock-jock Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson also attracted more listeners, their audience up 1.3 points to 11.4 per cent on KIIS, continuing their dominance as the No 1 breakfast show on FM radio in Sydney.

WSFM’s Amanda Kellar and Brendan “Jonesy” Jones fell 0.3 points to 7.9 per cent share.