ABC Radio ratings plunge after Red Symons sacking
It’s been more than three months since Red Symons announced his position as morning host of ABC Radio Melbourne had been terminated, and if the ratings are anything to go by, the gamble did not pay off.
Symons, 68, announced last year that he would not be returning in 2018, implying he had been let go. “Why am I going? They haven’t said and I haven’t asked. Other things have been offered here but I think it’s better to make a clean break.”
Replacing him at the helm of the coveted Melbourne breakfast show were comedian Sami Shah and broadcaster Jacinta Parsons.
However, the duo’s performance has evidently left much to be desired, with the latest ratings showing a drop since Symons’ departure.
Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt wrote in the Herald Sun yesterday that the ABC were paying the price for sacking Symons “for being a white male” and instead replacing him with two “leftists”.
“The white bloke with an Australian accent was replaced by a brown one with a thick Pakistani accent and by a woman,” Bolt said, adding that there were two major problems with Shah and Parson’s program.
“They have little chemistry and no great radio skills. Shah’s accent would have been distancing for many Australian listeners.”
The first radio ratings of the year, released just days ago, revealed Melbourne 774’s audience share dropped 2.9 points to 10.1 per cent.
Admitting that it is still early days and that Shah and Parsons’ ratings may pick up, Bolt criticised the ABC for putting “gender and ethnicity above the main criteria for picking a radio host — their ability to please an audience.”
Tell us in the comments below, did you listen to Red Symons’ program? What do you think of his replacements?
Image credit: ABC.