Ben Fordham wears the Sydney radio crown in a post-Hadley world

With the departure of top-rating presenter Ray Hadley at the end of 2024, 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham suddenly found himself the king of Sydney radio.

2GB Presenter Ben Fordham in his studio. Picture: John Feder

With the departure of top-rating presenter Ray Hadley at the end of 2024, 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham suddenly found himself the king of Sydney radio.

But it wasn’t that long ago that Fordham’s radio career was still in the balance, as he weighed up the relative merits of TV versus the wireless.

The long-time Nine employee was best known for his TV work on the Today show, and as host of Australian Ninja Warrior.

But in 2014 he decided to go all in with radio, focusing on his drive show on 2GB before he was anointed as successor to Alan Jones in 2020 in the key breakfast timeslot.

The decision to commit to radio is one he has never regretted. “When you know what you love, life becomes a whole lot easier,” the 48-year-old told The Australian.

Since taking over from Jones, Fordham has consistently topped the ratings in the breakfast timeslot, barring a couple of losses to KIIS FM’s controversial duo of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

But Fordham, 48, has widened the gap between 2GB and the ABC — during the Jones era, the ABC would occasionally go close to beating the veteran presenter.

Now, with Fordham at the helm, it’s not even close.

Fordham recalled the speculation surrounding how he would perform in his initial ratings after replacing Jones. Then Nine CEO David Gyngell forecast a 15 per cent debut share, but Fordham himself thought it might take longer for the breakfast audience to warm to him and predicted a ratings result in single figures.

History shows Gyngell called it correctly.

These days, Fordham doesn’t nervously await survey days.

“I don’t know what day is ratings day. No one tells me and I find out when I get off air. I made the rule that no one says anything to me about them,” he said. “I know it’s a reality of the job and it’s great when they’re high and it’s beautiful when they go up.

“But I’m not going to lose the plot just because they’ve gone down. What goes up must come down.”

Asked about the secrets to building his audience, Fordham’s response is direct.

“Hard work and persistence rather than gimmicks or headline grabbing antics,” he said.

The 2GB breakfast show had a dip during 2024, but has since bounced back. Fordham has previously been quoted as saying he thought that fall was triggered by radio coverage of the Paris Olympics — an event that doesn’t quite resonate on radio like it does on TV.

Fordham’s stablemate, morning show presenter Ray Hadley, offered Fordham some advice at the time. “You’ll have a hundred people tell you to change a hundred different things. Don’t change anything,” Fordham recalls Hadley telling him.

“Just keep doing it the same way you were doing it. It’s exactly the same show and audiences move around and numbers go up and down. But the one thing that can’t change is you and what you’re doing.”

That strengthened Fordham’s resolve to maintain his direction. “That was a powerful vote of confidence from Ray and I love him for it,” he said.

Although talkback remains a key part of his format, the text line attracts the most feedback.

Fordham recalled a story last week about a mother talking about the death of her son because of a mistake at a Sydney hospital. The 15-minute segment attracted over 300 text messages.

Fordham takes pride in the fact that his program also breaks news stories.

“Arguably the most talked about political story last year was one that was broken on our show — Albo buying the beach house at Copacabana,” he said.

The results of the first radio survey of the year will be released on March 27.