{"id":756374,"date":"2026-06-24T03:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T03:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756374\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T03:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T03:14:19","slug":"is-sydney-fm-breakfast-radio-losing-listeners-to-competitors-or-losing-them-altogether","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756374\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sydney FM Breakfast radio losing listeners to competitors \u2013 or losing them altogether?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

This week ARN somehow managed to simultaneously deliver both clarity and confusion on the future of KIIS Sydney Breakfast, when it confirmed Kris Fade was not part of its plans for 2027.<\/a><\/p>\n

Fade himself then revealed that, whilst he had been offered the opportunity to join the network, he\u2019d turned it down.<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, he reportedly signed on for another year with Virgin Radio Dubai.<\/p>\n

This prompted a flood of comments to the Radio Today inbox, including one from Paul who suggested that signing a one-year contract hardly constitutes a commitment:<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like Kris from Dubai will be doing KIIS breakfast in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big question now is: What does ARN do in the meantime?<\/p>\n

Universal NSW Manager and AFTRS graduate Scott Thomson \u2013 who has worked across the broadcast, print and digital media industries \u2013 raises concerns about the current holding pattern of rotating co-hosts on KIIS Breakfast.<\/p>\n

On LinkedIn, Thomson said:<\/p>\n

\u201cARN executives have spoken about taking their time and launching a new KIIS Breakfast show next year. But that\u2019s the real risk. Once listeners break the habit of waking up with radio, they don\u2019t simply sit around waiting for a better Breakfast show to arrive. They find alternatives. Podcasts. Spotify. YouTube. Their own playlists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomson says the latest Sydney radio ratings<\/a> revealed a troubling truth: that radio\u2019s biggest problem isn\u2019t losing listeners to competitors. It\u2019s losing them altogether.<\/p>\n

He says KIIS Breakfast shedding 3.5 share points in the wake of Kyle & Jackie O\u2019s departure was hardly surprising. Replacing a long-established Breakfast show was never going to be a walk in the park.<\/p>\n

The worrying part, he says, is that those listeners didn\u2019t appear to go anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t flock to Nova. They didn\u2019t migrate to Gold. They didn\u2019t suddenly discover 2DayFM. Many of them seem to have simply left radio altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomson says some broadcasters will point to share increases as evidence of success, when they actually lose listeners.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like securing a bigger slice of a smaller pie.<\/p>\n

\u201cGold\u2019s Christian O\u2019Connell enjoyed an increase in share and a modest rise in cumulative audience. Yet the show still sits around two share points behind where Jonesy & Amanda were this time last year \u2013 and they achieved those numbers in a far more competitive market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s 2DayFM, which arguably had the biggest opportunity in years to capitalise on disruption in the market. Instead, it went backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real story from these ratings isn\u2019t who won and who lost,\u201d says Thomson. \u201cIt\u2019s that radio itself lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomson says that for years, Breakfast radio has been the engine room of the industry. When audiences disengage from Breakfast and don\u2019t resurface elsewhere on the dial, the challenge becomes far greater than simply finding a better show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer radio waits, the harder and more expensive it becomes to bring those listeners back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry shouldn\u2019t be celebrating marginal share gains while the total audience shrinks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA bigger slice of a smaller market isn\u2019t growth. It\u2019s a warning sign.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week ARN somehow managed to simultaneously deliver both clarity and confusion on the future of KIIS Sydney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[168390,33024,64,63,31328,134,141776,352970,360896,361962,147438,136,361963],"class_list":["post-756374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2dayfm","tag-arn","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-christian-oconnell","tag-entertainment","tag-gfk","tag-gfk-survey-3-2026","tag-kiis-breakfast","tag-kiis-sydney-breakfast","tag-kyle-jackie-o","tag-music","tag-nath-emma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}