With #1 overall results for Sydney’s 2GB and Melbourne’s 3AW in the second last radio survey for 2025, Nine Radio is ending the year as it began, dominating the major metro radio markets.
The latest book also saw solid uplifts in Brisbane and Perth. And that, says Nine Radio’s Head of Content Greg Byrnes, sets the scene for some exciting plans and lineup changes in 2026.
But that’s about as much as he’s prepared to say for now.
When quizzed on these ‘exciting plans’ in his post-Survey 7 chat with Radioinfo’s Steve Ahern, Byrnes laughs and says “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Byrnes says Oly Peterson‘s move to ABC Radio Perth Drive creates a new opportunity in 6PR’s lineup.
Apparently, Peterson’s departure as host of 6PR’s Perth Live came with little warning.
“He made us aware last week of what he was thinking,” says Byrnes.
The question of whether billionaire John Singleton will buy Nine’s radio stations elicits another chuckle from Byrnes.
“Steve, there is a sales process underway being headed up by the CEO,” he laughs. “I’ll leave any commentary around that to Mr Stanton.”
With a continued growth in streaming of Nine’s talk stations, Byrnes is asked about some recent technical issues with Google speakers, which prompted an influx of calls to 2GB from listeners saying they were having problems picking up the station.
“What was really interesting is how passionate our listeners are in listening via (this) device,” Byrnes observes.
“Anyone that has been listening to 2GB knows that we have been talking about this on-air, saying that A), this is not our fault and B), we are working, as the industry is, to rectify it.”
“Those calls were filtering through our engineering department and coming to me. I consume, basically, all my radio by streaming and I wasn’t having any problems. But I’m listening by the app.”
Byrnes says they were quickly able to pinpoint the issue, which was Google-related.
“Then we could tell the audience – as we were on air and talking about it … this is relating to Google Home and Google Nest any Google devices … one really good way to overcome it is to download the app and listen via the app.”
“What was really interesting is how passionate people are in relation to consuming (our content) via a digital device, in this instance, Google.”
And not just younger listeners.
“There were a lot of mature voices ringing us and telling us they were having problems,” says Byrnes.
“And that, also, is really encouraging. I’ve always known, I think proudly so, that, say, the 40-55 + demo are very quick adopters of technology. And the amount of our P1s or our long-term listeners ringing up telling us ‘I can’t listen! I walked into the kitchen and I’ve said: Google, turn on GB, and it’s not working!’”
“And they’re not happy! Because that’s how they’re consuming our product daily.”
“Which is really, really encouraging … because the audience is adapting to this technology.”
Byrnes says at one point, 2GB Breakfast host Ben Fordham rang him, saying “Mate, I need to be talking about this on air, because we’re getting so many calls.”
Byrnes says Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) is leading the charge in terms of rectifying the problem.
His message to listeners in the meantime?
“We know it’s frustrating. We are working with you. Bear with us. This is a much wider problem than just our radio network. But we can’t hide from it, because people are so passionate about it.”
“And that’s what we are really proud of with our content.”