Ben Fordham slips in Sydney but keeps top spot
Ben Fordham consolidates at 2GB after Alan Jones’ exit and Melbourne talkback thrives in pandemic lockdown.
Ben Fordham has lost some radio listeners but kept the top spot in Sydney, while talkback shows in Melbourne and Brisbane proved popular during Victoria’s second coronavirus lockdown and Queensland election.
The second radio ratings survey since Fordham took over 2GB’s popular breakfast program in June from veteran broadcaster Alan Jones showed a small audience fall in the nation’s biggest radio market.
2GB’s breakfast audience share fell 1.2 percentage points to 16.1 per cent in Sydney. It slipped 0.6 points in the previous survey issued last month.
In contrast, 2GB’s morning show with Ray Hadley picked up listeners with his audience share up 0.4 points to 17.2 per cent.
Fordham, who was 2GB’s afternoon show host for nearly a decade before his move to breakfast, wasn’t too worried about the drop.
“Ratings will go up and down but there’s solid support and we don’t take it for granted,” he said.
In Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest radio market, 3AW’s breakfast team of Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft, gained listeners during the lengthy second coronavirus lockdown. The pair’s audience share jumped 2.3 points to 28.4 per cent after a 8.8 points spike in the last survey.
3AW’s morning show, which is hosted by Neil Mitchell, also recorded another jump, with his audience share up 3.5 points to 22.6 per cent, according to the fourth survey of 2020.
The Melbourne station’s other shows all increased their audience during lockdown, with evening host Denis Walter recording the biggest audience share jump, up 5.3 points to 20.4 per cent.
2GB’s sister station in Brisbane, 4BC, performed strongly with all its shows picking up listeners. Its breakfast show with Neil Breen - who replaced Jones’s syndicated show - saw his audience share rise 2.4 points to 10.6 per cent.
The audience share of Hadley’s syndicated morning show in Brisbane rose 2.6 points to 13.8 per cent during the survey period from August 23 to October 24, which included the build up to Queensland state election on Saturday.
In stark contrast, all of ABC’s shows on the eastern seaboard lost listeners.
In Adelaide, the No 1 breakfast spot changed hands once again with ABC’s Ali Clarke’s audience share up 0.6 points to 14.8 per cent.
FIVEaa’s Will Goodings and David Penberthy, who is also The Australian’s South Australia correspondent, took second spot with their audience share slipping 1.6 points to 13.8 per cent.
On the FM dial in Sydney, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s KIIS 106.5’s breakfast show remained the most popular show for the fifteenth consecutive survey, with their audience share up 0.5 points to 10.7 per cent.
WSFM’s breakfast show duo, Amanda Keller and Brendan “Jonesy” Jones, remained in second spot on FM, with their audience share slipping 0.3 points to 8.3 per cent.
In Perth, Nova’s breakfast show with Nathan Morris, Natalie Lock and Shaun McManus held onto their top spot, although their audience share slipped 0.1 points to 14 per cent.
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