Southern Cross Austereo acknowledges the poor performance of 2Day FM's Sydney breakfast and says it’s been hard to build an audience since Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O's exit By Jesse Hyland For Daily Mail Australia Published: 06:09 BST, 14 October 2021 | Updated: 06:13 BST, 14 October 2021 Viewcomments Southern Cross Austereo and radio station 2Day FM have conceded their poor performance in the Sydney radio market against their rivals. Ratings for the network have stagnated since Kyle and Jackie's switch to KIIS FM back in 2014, with 2Day FM finding it especially tough in the primetime Sydney breakfast slot. SCA CEO Grant Blackley claims Sydney’s 2DayFM remains as the primary focus now for the radio and television company, reports to Radio Today. A tough market: Southern Cross Austereo has acknowledged the underperformance of 2Day FM's Sydney breakfast and says it’s been hard to build an audience since the exit of Kyle and Jackie O (pictured) '2DayFM remains our highest priority given its underperformance for several years against well-established and strong competitors in Sydney,' Blackley said. 'Particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, it’s been a difficult time to encourage trial and build audiences for new Breakfast and Drive shows,' he continued. Blackley believes that lockdown due to the Covid pandemic and people working from home have contributed to the middling ratings and added that many who are still listening to radio are tuning into AM radio for the news over FM. Primetime slot the key: SCA CEO Grant Blackley claims Sydney’s 2DayFM remains as the primary focus now for the radio and television company. Pictured: Dave Hughes and Ed Kavalee who currently co-host 2Day FM's morning show with sports presenter Erin Molan In the latest ratings report in early October, 2DayFM had a 3.4% share, up 0.8 points. In Breakfast, its share was 2.9%, up 0.5. The station’s cumulative audience was 658,000. Its Breakfast show had a cumulative audience of 207,000. By comparison, KIIS FM's was 8.0% and 10.8% for breakfast, Smooth FM's was 8.0% and 4.5% for breakfast, Nova's was 4.7% and 4.0%, while Triple M had a 4.7% and 4.6% share respectively. KIIS also had a cumulative audience of 1,080,000 overall. Struggling: The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin premiered in January in a long list of short-lived radio shows that have run on 2Day FM breakfast since the Kyle and Jackie O' show moved to rival station KIIS FM in early 2014 2Day FM's current Sydney morning breakfast show is The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin - that's comedians Dave Hughes and Ed Kavalee with sports presenter Erin Molan. The show premiered in January of this year in a long list of short-lived radio shows that have run on 2Day FM breakfast since the Kyle and Jackie O' show moved to rival station KIIS FM in early 2014 due to conflict over contract negotiations. Several radio shows have since filled up the breakfast spot in Sydney for 2Day FM - all of which have lasted up to a year or less. 2Day FM's struggle in the Sydney market comes as Kyle and Jackie O' consistently retain the top spot for Sydney FM breakfast radio, even beating AM network 2GB at one point earlier in the year in an unprecedented ratings win. Success: 2Day FM's struggle in the Sydney market comes as Kyle and Jackie O' consistently retain the top spot for Sydney FM breakfast radio, even beating AM network 2GB at one point earlier in the year in an unprecedented ratings win Read more: Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility