Ray Hadley celebrates two decades of talkback success

The Sydney talkback king has won his 158th consecutive radio ratings poll, exactly 20 years since he notched his first survey victory.

Ben Fordham and Ray Hadley.

Sydney talkback king Ray Hadley has won his 158th consecutive radio ratings poll, exactly 20 years since he notched his first survey victory.

Hadley hosts the morning program on Nine-owned 2GB, and his unbeaten stretch over two decades is unprecedented for a key timeslot on Sydney radio.

Hadley lifted his audience share by 1.1 percentage points in the latest survey, taking his audience share from 15.3 to 16.4.

Hadley’s 2GB stablemate Ben Fordham, who hosts the breakfast program, also maintained his number one position in his timeslot, with a 17 per cent audience share (up 0.4 percentage points), well ahead of fierce rivals, KIIS1065’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

The FM duo slipped 0.6 percentage points in this survey, down to 14.1 per cent market share.

This survey also marks the second partial ratings period of the controversial duo’s entry into the Melbourne market, and so far they have failed to make an impact.

The pair, who were on-air for 8 of the 10 weeks of the latest survey, have recorded a 5.9 per cent audience share – unchanged from the previous poll.

Elsewhere in Melbourne, the Nine-owned 3AW saw its poll numbers slip – mornings with Tom Elliott dropped 1.7 percentage points to 15.8, the station’s afternoons show, hosted by Tony Moclair, lost top spot, down 1.7 points to 10.1, and the drive program fronted by Jacqui Felgate shed 0.5 percentage points to record an audience share of 7.5 per cent to be in sixth place in the timeslot.

3AW’s breakfast program, hosted by Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft, remains well ahead in the key timeslot, despite also losing audience share, down one percentage point to 18.8 per cent.

ABC Melbourne had its best ratings result for 2024 in this survey, improving its audience share in all timeslots except afternoons, while ABC Sydney registered a slight bump across the board, led by its breakfast program. Hosted by Craig Reucassel, the show increased its audience share by 0.4 percentage points, up from 7.7 to 8.1 per cent, placing it in fourth position in the prestigious timeslot.

It was a different story at the back end of the day, though, with ABC Sydney’s drive program, hosted by Richard Glover, slipping by 0.5 percentage points to 6.7 per cent, leaving the show in sixth place in its timeslot.

In Brisbane, the Nine-owned 4BC lost listeners in every timeslot. Of most concern to management would be the continuing slide of the breakfast show trio of Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine, who now sit eighth in the timeslot after losing a further 0.4 per cent of audience share in this survey, down to 4.8 per cent.

4BC’s mornings program, fronted by Bill McDonald, also slipped, down 1.2 percentage points from 6.9 to 5.7 per cent, placing the show seventh in its timeslot.

In Adelaide, Triple M’s breakfast show retained its number one spot, despite losing 1.9 percentage points, down to 14.5 per cent audience share. FIVEaa’s breakfast program, hosted by Will Goodings and David Penberthy (who is also a senior writer for The Australian), remains in second place in the timeslot, with its audience share steady on 12.2 per cent.

The ABC improved its overall radio listenership in Adelaide and Perth, following a run of poor survey results dating back to last year.