Radio ratings, GB slides, Price tanked, Ben Fordham followed - Virginia Trioli gets thumbs down
Tuesday, 17 December 2019
Here's how The Australian saw it
The ABC’s Virginia Trioli has lost radio listeners in Melbourne after taking over from longstanding host Jon Faine, who ended his two-decade stint at the public broadcaster on a major high.
Trioli’s audience on ABC Melbourne morning radio program dropped 1.7 points to 11.5 per cent, according to the first radio ratings survey that completely takes into account her time in the new role.
The journalist, who started in radio, took over from Faine on October 14 after landing the coveted role in May. Prior to that she co-presented ABC News Breakfast on television from 2008, and was a regular guest host of ABC’s weekly national affairs talk program Q&A.
Faine ended his 23-year morning run with his highest audience share in almost four years, up 1.4 points to 13.2 per cent. However, his average share for the year was 11.4 per cent.
The ABC's performance around the country was mixed, with its radio shows in Sydney and Melbourne increasing its audience. But it lost listeners in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Across commercial radio, Alan Jones' audience in Sydney slipped, but his breakfast program on 2GB remained in the No 1 spot.
Jones, whose controversial comments about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently triggered an advertising backlash at Nine Entertainment's newly acquired Macquarie Media, saw his audience fall 1.4 points to 14.7 per cent.
In Brisbane, his radio audience was flat at 8.1 per cent, according to GfK's eighth and final radio survey of 2019.
The survey, which ran from September 29 to December 7, also showed that fellow 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley, fell 0.3 points to 13.8 per cent in Sydney. His audience also fell 1 point to 7.3 per cent in Brisbane.
Overall, 2GB remained the most popular radio station in Australia’s biggest radio market, Sydney, accounting for 12.1 per cent of the market, down 1.2 points.