- Outgoing talkback king drops to third place in the latest radio ratings
- Popular WSFM duo Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller rise to first place
- Kyle and Jackie O take the Sydney breakfast show crown again
- Controversial combination fails to gain further traction in the Melbourne market
Once unbeatable talkback titan Ray Hadley will end his long-running career with 2GB on the back burner after being knocked from top spot in the ratings for the first time in two decades.
The veteran broadcaster’s morning show fell to third place in the latest radio survey, released on Thursday, ending its record reign in the critical Sydney timeslot dating back to 2003.
Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller’s popular morning show, Jonesy and Amanda, on Pure Gold Network’s flagship WSFM, took pole position after attracting a 12.7 percent share of the available audience following a 0.5 percentage point increase .
Hadley had an unbeaten poll of 160 ratings until this week, when his show fell 1.3 percentage points, took an 11.1 percent market share and came third behind smoothfm 95.3 with 11.2 percent of the audience.
The shock result comes just a week after Hadley announced that he was hanging up his 2GB mic for the final time at the end of the viewing season on December 13, despite having two years left on his multi-million dollar contract.
The drop will pose a major headache for Nine Radio’s senior executives, who are already concerned about retaining Hadley’s audience in the highly profitable 9am to 12pm slot.
The error also comes at a critical time for 2GB, with the new owners of talkback startup 2SM planning to take advantage of the dominant station’s vulnerability to try to attract a large share of Nine’s radio audience and advertising revenue.
Ray Hadley’s morning show has fallen in the ratings for the first time in more than two decades, less than a week after he announced he would retire from radio at the end of this year.
Popular WSFM duo Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones have secured the top spot in the crucial morning radio time slot in Sydney’s fiercely competitive radio market
The low-profile station’s management has already been in talks with a number of former 2GB stars about joining the outlet, in a move that would pit them against their old paymasters.
Former 2GB presenters Chris Smith, Jason Morrison and Deb Knight have all been spotted at 2SM’s Sydney headquarters, along with former Seven breakfast TV star Melissa Doyle.
Elsewhere, in the tightly contested Sydney breakfast show timeslot, 2GB’s Ben Fordham again finished in second place behind Kyle and Jackie O, although the duo failed to make further inroads into the Melbourne market, with their audience share stagnating on about 5.1 percent. behind the 20 percent of 3AW.
Daily Mail Australia revealed that within hours of revealing he was retiring from Nine Radio, Hadley was spotted in secret talks with Sky News Australia about a possible move to the political news channel.
Sources said Hadley arrived at the news channel’s Sydney headquarters last Thursday evening for the secret meeting, after most of the broadcaster’s staff had already gone home for the day.
He then spent more than an hour in an in-depth conversation with Paul Whittaker, the CEO of the News Corp network, and Mark Calvert, head of programs.
Television boss Paul Whittaker is determined to lure Hadley to Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia insiders said the network was determined to lure the award-winning broadcaster – and its loyal audience – with Whittaker personally rolling out the red carpet for the potential signing.
While it is understood Hadley’s contract prohibits him from appearing on a rival radio network, sources said he could be free to join Sky News Australia under the terms of the agreement as the television station does not compete directly with Nine Radio .
Any deal between Hadley and the network would likely see him take a break over the summer to spend time with his family before starting on air in the new year.
Sources said Hadley’s strong political views actually meant he had long been more in tune with Sky News Australia’s sensibilities than those of Nine and would be a natural fit for the network.
Deborah Knight is among the former 2GB hosts who 2SM’s new management hope to sign in a bid to take on the current market leaders
There are suggestions that the potential deal could also see rugby league continue to call great football matches for Fox Sports.
Sources within Nine have said the network’s executives would be looking for an established radio star to replace Hadley in the highly competitive timeslot.
Fordham has emerged as one of the early favorites tasked with winning over Hadley’s audience after successfully replacing Jones in the equally important breakfast show timeslot four years ago.
The only downside is that the network would then have to find a replacement for the award-winning Fordham at breakfast.
Mark Levy, who currently presents the evening show Wide World of Sports six nights a week, is another leading contender, while there is speculation that the channel could even try to poach the show from Jonesy and Amanda.