Ray Hadley loses top spot in radio ratings for the first time in 20 years

Retiring 2GB radio host Ray Hadley has lost his first ratings survey since 2004, falling to third place in the mornings slot.

The stunning coup breaks Hadley’s 160 survey winning streak, and comes exactly a week after the 70-year-old announced he would be hanging up his headphones in December.

His 2GB mornings show dropped to an 11.1 per cent audience share in the latest GfK survey for the year. Hadley fell from 12.4 per cent in the previous, sixth survey and further, still, from 15.7 per cent in the fifth survey.

He has one more survey at the talkback station before he leaves the studio for good on December 13.

WSFM’s Phil O’Neil (who goes by ‘Ugly Phil’) usurped the 2GB veteran, capturing 12.7 per cent of the Sydney radio audience in the seventh survey, up from 12.2 per cent the previous survey. Ugly Phil rose from fourth place (with 10.0 per cent of the audience share) in the fifth survey.

Coming in second, SmoothFM held steady with 11.2 per cent of the audience over the past two surveys.

2GB suffered a decline overall, falling to a 9.8 per cent share of the Sydney metro audience. This is the station’s worst audience share results since the second survey of 2004, when it last dipped below 10 per cent.

The station was beat by WSFM (10.9 per cent), SmoothFM (10.3 per cent), and KIISFM (9.9 per cent).

After being knocked from the top spot in the all-important Breakfast radio market last survey, Hadley’s 2GB colleague Ben Fordham held firm in silver behind KIISFM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson.

Fordham won a 12.3 per cent share of the Sydney Breakfast market (up 0.1 percentage points) to the KIISFM shock jocks’ 13.1 per cent (down another 0.6 percentage points on the last survey)

However, the coup is a bruising blow for Hadley decorated 43-year broadcasting career which he announced on-air last week would be coming to an end in December.