2GB breakfast radio star Alan Jones maintains Sydney dominance

Alan Jones continues to dominate Sydney’s morning airwaves, despite a difficult few months that have included a stint in hospital.

Ray Hadley, John Singleton and Alan Jones at 2GB in Pyrmont. Picture: James Croucher

2GB’s breakfast radio star Alan Jones continues to dominate Sydney’s morning airwaves, despite a difficult few months that have included a stint in hospital with a bad back.

While Jones saw his audience fall 1 percentage point to 16.5% in GfK’s eighth and final radio ratings survey of 2018, he maintains his position as the premier radio force.

In the previous radio ratings survey, Mr Jones’s audience fell 1.5 points to 17.5 per cent.

Fellow 2GB radio host Ray Hadley, who rules the 9am to 12pm Sydney radio audience, was up 0.2 points to 17.9 per cent, according to the survey, which covers the period from September 30 to December 8. That compares to a 2.5 points drop for Hadley in the previous survey.

Overall, 2GB, which is owned by the Nine-backed Macquarie Media (MRN), fell 0.2 points to 13.9 per cent in Sydney. The figures come as Nine is in talks to acquire the minority partners of Macquarie Media, including adman John Singleton.

In Melbourne, talkback radio 3AW continued to attract listeners, up 0.3 points to 14.8 per cent. The station gained listeners across the day, except for its weekday breakfast show, which is hosted by Ross Stevenson and John Burns.

The performance of public broadcaster ABC in Australia’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, was mixed. ABC radio increased 0.4 points to 9.2 per cent in Sydney, but dropped 0.4 points to 9 per cent in Melbourne, its new breakfast show continued to give up listeners.

ABC radio in Brisbane was up 0.5 points, but down in Adelaide and Perth by 0.3 and 0.9 points, respectively.

FM radio stars Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson lost ground, with the pair falling 0.2 points to 10.5 per cent, but kept their spot as the No 1 FM breakfast show in Sydney.

WSFM’s Amanda Kellar and Brendan “Jonesy” Jones recorded the biggest listener gain in the Sydney breakfast weekday timeslot of 5.30am to 9am, up 1.8 points to 9 per cent.

In Adelaide, Australian Radio Network’s radio station Mix 102.3 fell 0.1 points to 12.9 per cent, but still remains the number one station in the City of Churches. Lachlan Murdoch’s Nova 91.9 faired much better, up 0.6 points to 10.2 per cent.

In Perth, Southern Cross Austereo’s music radio station Mix 94.5 saw its popularity increase 0.9 points to 14.8 per cent. The station gained listeners across the working day, but lost some over the weekend.

In contrast, Nova 93.7 fell 0.7 points to 13.7 per cent in Perth. The station lost listeners across the weekend and work week, except the 4pm to 7pm drive slot.

Nova is owned by Illyria, Mr Murdoch’s privately owned investment vehicle. Mr Murdoch is co-chairman of The Australian’s publisher News Corp.