Sydney Radio Wrap Day 4: 2CH and 2Day FM

Posted on 6 September 2018

• Two Sydney stations share same ratings & quirky musical mixes

Radio metro market reviews: Week 1 Sydney

There couldn’t be two more different parent companies – Southern Cross Austereo operates Sydney’s 2Day FM while EON Broadcasting runs 2CH. However, there are a number of similarities – both have a 10+ share of 4.2% and a breakfast share of 3.3% after GfK survey 5, 2018. They are also offering audiences a very quirky musical mix.

2CH 10+ 4.2%, Breakfast 3.3%

Cume audience: 10+ 234,000, Breakfast 103,000

Garry Puckett and Neil Sedaka have never sounded so good – on the AM band. Nova’s Paul Jackson talked to Mediaweek recently about finding tunes not many other people are playing – that’s something 2CH does big time. The station’s new breakfast show with Indira Naidoo and Trevor Sinclair showcases the station’s playlist from the 60s and 70s and there is plenty of great stuff on offer.

Indira Naidoo and Trevor Sinclair

The challenge the station faces though is how to move listeners from the FM band to AM. The breakfast show features a Pop Quiz for boomers called $5,000 Minute.

There are plenty of iconic entertainment names still on air from Bob Rogers in morning, Ian Rogerson in afternoon through to Johnny Young in the evening. The station’s Best Disco In Town weekend also sounds like it could be worth a listen.

104.1 2DayFM 10+ 4.2%, Breakfast 3.3%

Cume audience: 696,000, Breakfast 306,000

2Day might have the same 10+ shares as 2CH across the week and in breakfast, but the cume audiences tell a different story. The FM station has three times the cume audience of 2CH. We’ve stopped counting the number of 2Day FM breakfast show combos (or lost count might be more accurate), but there will be another one next week after Em Rusciano hosts her final program on Friday September 7.

The recent trio of Em with Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee showed some encouraging signs of growth earlier this year, but the survey 5 results were disappointing. SCA will be hoping people might sample the station again when rising star Ash London joins Grant and Ed. The biggest shock they might get if they haven’t listened for a while is the music mix.

Hit Network head of content Gemma Fordham agreed the recent Sydney result was a little disappointing.

“It can be tough when you have momentum and encouraging ratings only then to get a bit of a whack out of nowhere,” she told Mediaweek. “We want 2Day to be successful again and we have spent the first six months of this year on what looked to be the right path. There are a couple of areas we will look at to make sure we are performing as well as we can in the workday. Even in drive we know we are getting some incorrect brand attribution for Hughesy and Kate and that is hurting us.

“We feel the strategy is right for 2Day and we know the music strategy has been correct as well. We still have work to do though after this result.

“We will cop it on the chin and keep going.”