![\"Kayla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8c115ae7ce966009121f78346f9081b2fa2155d8db17a27ec86aa7bafbd296bf.png\")
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October 8, 2026 \u2014 11:55am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Sydney talkback station 2GB continues to lag market leader Smooth FM, but its sister station 3AW remains well ahead in Melbourne in the sixth radio ratings survey of the year.<\/p>\n The result marks the seventh straight survey since 2GB led the Sydney market overall. Pokies and pubs mogul Arthur Laundy and his family bought 2GB with a suite of talkback stations<\/a>, including 3AW, this year from Nine (the owner of this masthead) for $56 million, creating the new radio business Tapt Media.<\/p>\n In the latest result, 2GB slumped to a 10.8 per cent market share, down 0.4 percentage points from the last survey in September. Lachlan Murdoch\u2019s Smooth FM, which also fell 0.3 percentage points, has a 13.2 per cent share, slightly increasing its lead over the AM station.<\/p>\n In the hard-fought Sydney breakfast slot, 2GB star Ben Fordham is still king, ahead of Smooth FM with a 13.9 per cent share, down 0.9 per cent, compared with Smooth FM\u2019s 11.8 per cent share, a drop of 0.4 per cent.<\/p>\n In the morning slot, Smooth\u2019s Ty Frost has taken over 2GB\u2019s Mark Levy\u2019s claim on the morning slot with 14.2 per cent, compared with Smooth\u2019s 14.2 per cent share, in further losses to the Laundry station.<\/p>\n In Melbourne, 3AW\u2019s Russel Howcroft and Ross Stevenson continue to dominate with 18.3 per cent market share. The duo is down a staggering 1.2 percentage points, but remain well ahead of Gold\u2019s 10.5 per cent share, a drop of 0.5 per cent.<\/p>\n While still clearly Melbourne\u2019s No.1 station, 3AW also fell 0.7 percentage points to a 13.4 per cent total market share, with Gold FM second with a 10.5 per cent share. Smooth FM is a close third with a 10.4 per cent market share, up 0.1 percentage point.<\/p>\n KIIS FM\u2019s overall share rose slightly by 0.1 per cent to 4.9 per cent in Melbourne, and another 0.4 per cent in Sydney to 7 per cent. The beleaguered station last month announced new Sydney breakfast show hosts Dr Chris Brown, Amy Gerard and Jack Charles following the dramatic exits of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Melbourne, just over a week ago, KIIS announced Ash London, Isaac Smith and Elliot Garnaut as its new breakfast hosts as the station shifts back to local talent after the failure and then departure of Kyle and Jackie O in that market.<\/p>\n ABC\u2019s local stations in both Sydney and Melbourne had minor losses. In Sydney, the station fell from 5.5 to 5.3 per cent overall, and in Melbourne, it dropped 0.3 percentage points to 5.7 per cent share.<\/p>\n Craig Reucassel\u2019s breakfast slot fell slightly by 0.1 percentage points to a 7.7 per cent share, while Melbourne\u2019s show hosted by Bob Murphy and Richelle Hunt rose 1 percentage point to 6.7 per cent.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, ABC News Radio improved in both states, with a 1.7 per cent share increase in Melbourne, up 0.1 per cent, and a 1.9 per cent market share bump in Sydney, an increase of 0.4 per cent.<\/p>\n Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter. Sign up to receive it every Wednesday<\/a>. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close![\"Breakfast](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7e545626715e74d32592e1f461419e17f36134b5.jpeg\")
Breakfast show host Ben Fordham and 2GB owner Arthur Laundy.<\/p>\n![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/e24809377fa05cb36bc793ebd652f43cd0dc83e8.jpeg\")
Ross Stevenson and Russell Howcroft with Arthur Laundy earlier this year.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Kayla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791430341_154_8c115ae7ce966009121f78346f9081b2fa2155d8db17a27ec86aa7bafbd296bf.png\")
Kayla Olaya<\/a> is a culture reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 8, 2026 \u2014 11:55am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-920159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920159","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=920159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}