Nine Radio loses Sydney and Melbourne as listeners switch to FM

Nine’s two flagship talkback stations, Sydney’s 2GB and Melbourne’s 3AW, have both been knocked from the top of the ratings pile, as listeners switch to Smooth and Gold.

The latest ratings survey from GFK, released today, shows that in Sydney, 2GB lost 2 points to slip to 11.6% of the market. Such a big slide means that Smooth is now Sydney’s top radio station overall, commanding 12.3% of the audience. This victory comes despite Smooth losing a modest 0.1 market share since the last ratings book.

The older demographics is where the switch away from talkback was the most pronounced. 2GB lost 6.4% share in the 55-64 year market, where Smooth picked up 4.3%, while 2GB fell 2.2% in the 65+ bracket. Interestingly, it was the newly rebadged Gold 101.7 that saw the biggest gains in the 65+ share, up 2.5%.