A presenter shake-up at ABC Radio Sydney has failed to deliver the public broadcaster an early ratings bump this year, its share of listeners having dropped to seventh place in the local radio market as 2GB once again leads the pack.

The ABC fell to a 5.4 per cent share overall in the first ratings survey of 2024, which covered January 14 to February 24, according to ratings agency GfK, down from 6 per cent. While new Breakfast host The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel was able to lift its market share slightly to 7.9 per cent in the morning slot (from 7.8 per cent), it wasn’t enough to protect the ABC’s overall daily ratings.

In his return to the Afternoons slot, former ABC breakfast host James Valentine landed on a 3.5 per cent market share, down from 5.2 per cent, with Drive host Richard Glover’s share of listeners also taking a hit as it fell to 4.1 per cent from 5.6 per cent.

Radio station 2GB, owned by Nine, which also owns this masthead, extended its lead as the No.1 station in Sydney to 12.7 per cent. Mornings presenter Ray Hadley’s 14.1 per cent share was unchanged from late 2023. He led his slot for the 155th consecutive survey, while Ben Fordham reclaimed the lead as Sydney’s No.1 breakfast show host from KIIS’s Kyle and Jackie O.

Fordham’s 16.6 per cent reduced the KIIS pair’s ratings share to 15.4 per cent following a decline of 1.3 percentage points ahead of their launch into Melbourne next month. The Kyle and Jackie O Show began broadcasting from a new studio in North Sydney this week.

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Their loss allowed Nova Entertainment’s Smooth FM to leapfrog KIIS as Sydney’s second-most popular station in the first ratings season, with a 10.8 per cent market share.

The time slots categorised by ratings agency GfK do not perfectly align with program times. For example, the breakfast slot is listed between 5.30am and 9am, with the ABC’s breakfast show broadcasting between 5.30am and 8am.

ABC head of audio Ben Latimer said in December that the broadcaster was “serious about getting ABC local radio back to where it needs to be”, but the results on Thursday morning indicate there is still plenty of work to be done.