Greg Byrnes: “We know 2GB has suffered today and we’ll look at that.”

“I think we’re delivering everything the audience expects from us. It can be frustrating on days like today, but we remain committed to doing what we do.”

Nine Radio’s Head of Content Greg Byrnes says there’s no ‘golden answer’ when it comes to explaining 2GB’s sharp decline in GfK Survey 6, the Sydney station losing the #1 spot, slipping 3.1% to now be fourth in the market.

In an interview with our sister publication RadioInfo, Byrnes admits the result came as a surprise.

Byrnes believes wholeheartedly that the network achieved its aim of delivering Olympic radio coverage like no other during the Paris Games.

But, from a ratings perspective at least, he says the impact was mixed.

“Melbourne has had wonderful results today. Is that Olympics related? It’s very hard to say.”

“Certainly in Sydney we’ve lost some older listeners and they seem to have gone elsewhere.”

But Byrnes believes they’ll come back.

“Will it take a couple of surveys to wash through? Yes, it will. But we know from Survey 5 last year – where we had a similar figure of the 65+ demo leave us for no apparent reason.”

3AW posted its best result of the year, dominating Melbourne’s airwaves as the outright #1 radio station.

Its audience share of 14.9 was up 0.2 on Survey 5.

Ross and Russ continue to reign supreme in Melbourne Breakfast radio with a 23.0 share, up 1.3 points on Survey 5 and a whopping 12.9 points ahead of their nearest rival.

“Melbourne Breakfast at 23 – that’s the highest result in they’ve had in probably in 18 months or so,” says Byrnes. “And they were taking exactly the same programming in Melbourne as what we were delivering in Sydney.”

“It’s unfair I think to blame one particular factor. What we do know is that 2GB has suffered today and we will look at that.”

“Are we going to make wholesale changes? Not at all.”

Byrnes says the Nine Radio continues to work at attracting younger listeners, and that’s reflected in its current on-air line ups.

“We’ve probably got more personnel on air under forty than is traditionally the case on, say, talk radio stations … mixed in with those mature voices that people have been listening to for 20, 30 odd years.”

“That’s really important to us, getting that balance right.”

“We’ve said that from the outset. As the audience evolves, our sound needs to evolve also. We’ve got a few things right. We’ve got other things that haven’t gone as well as we would have liked. “

“Line ups are a continual challenge, and we’re continually looking at them.”