2GB beaten by Smooth FM for second time in a row
Sydney talkback radio station 2GB has been beaten by Lachlan Murdoch’s Smooth FM in its second consecutive radio ratings survey since coming under new ownership.
While the station fell 0.1 points to 11.7 percent in the fourth radio ratings survey of the year, music-focused Smooth rose again, this time reaching a 13.4 percent share.
2GB was recently sold by Nine Entertainment (publisher of this imprint) to the publican Laundy family, along with stablemates such as 3AW, 4BC and 6PR, who now operate under the new name Tapt Media.
Breakfast presenter Ben Fordham’s program continued to lead the market with a 14.8 percent share, despite a 0.8 percentage point drop.
KIIS FM to drop in Sydney after season ends Kyle and Jackie O’s Show. The station’s share fell another 0.8 points to 6.6 percent. The breakfast show, hosted by a number of temporary figures, also fell 1.1 per cent to 7.1 per cent.
Kyle Sandilands has settled his lawsuit against the channel, alleging that his contract was improperly torn up, in exchange for $12 million in cash and $1.5 million in free advertising for his new venture. He is planning a documentary series about the termination and its aftermath. Henderson is still suing ARN, which owns KIIS and Gold, claiming her $100 million-odd contract was torn up after she raised workplace concerns about her co-host’s behaviour. ARN denied any wrongdoing and said Henderson had refused to honor his own contract.
The beneficiaries of KIIS’s decline were Smooth. ABC Radio Sydney’s Craig Reucassel also noted that viewership for his program increased by 0.4 percentage points to 7.1 per cent.
Gold star Christian O’Connell, whose Melbourne show recently began airing in Sydney, performed well in the previous survey. Kyle and Jackie O listeners. However, in the results announced on Tuesday morning, the program suffered a setback, falling from 7.2 percent to 6.6 percent.
KIIS has dominated the Sydney radio market since the arrival of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson from Southern Cross Austereo’s 2DayFM in 2014. Now, without the ratings silver bullet, it finds itself trailed by a crowded pack of commercial radio networks behind Nova, Gold and Smooth. But it remains ahead of 2DayFM.
ABC Radio Sydney rose 0.7 points to 5.3 per cent after consistently poor ratings. It falls well below the listeners’ historical benchmark.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect with: X or email.
