- Top-rated 2GB Morning Show host introduces listeners to his replacement
- Hadley will present his highest-rated show for the last time this Friday
Outgoing talkback radio king Ray Hadley will be replaced by popular sports presenter Mark Levy after the top-rated 2GB star bids farewell at the end of the week.
Hadley, who is retiring from radio after 43 years behind the microphone, officially introduced his listeners live Tuesday morning shortly after 9 a.m.
It ends more than a month of speculation over the long-term successor to the veteran morning show host at Nine Radio’s flagship 2GB station after he announced his shock resignation in early November.
The former taxi driver told listeners on November 6 that he was stepping down so he could spend more time with his wife Sophie, children and grandchildren, but agreed to stay until the end of the radio ratings season on Friday.
Levy immediately became a favorite to fill Hadley’s chair after successful stints replacing hard-hitting breakfast show host and colleague Ben Fordham.
Although Nine Radio’s main presenters traditionally take an extended break during the summer ratings-free period, Levy will take up the role from Monday and will work during the break to ensure his show is ready for when polls resume next year .
The incoming presenter said he was looking forward to taking the reins and replacing his long-time 2GB mentor.
“As a kid, I grew up listening to the kings of talkback and to be in charge of a schedule that has been owned by a mentor and friend for the last 20 years is something that excites me and is a great honor for me,” said Levy .
Popular Nine Radio sports presenter Mark Levy will replace his long-time mentor Ray Hadley as presenter of the network’s top-rated morning show Sydney 2GB from next week.
Ray Hadley will end at Nine’s flagship Sydney talk station, 2GB, on December 13 after hosting its top-rated morning show for more than two decades.
The veteran broadcaster wants to spend more time with his wife Sophie
“I look forward to the challenge ahead and can’t wait to speak to our loyal listeners every morning about the issues affecting them in what is shaping up to be an important election year.”
In announcing the decision, Nine Radio credited the connection Levy had built with a rusty 2GB audience over his 18-year career at the station.
Levy got his start in sports broadcasting and, as the driving force behind Nine Radio’s Wide World of Sports and a key member of The Continuous Call Team, his voice has become synonymous with the country’s biggest sporting events.
He won wide praise (and picked up his sixth Australian Commercial Radio Award) for his live coverage of the devastating Bondi Junction stabbing earlier this year.
2GB content manager Luke Davis credited Levy’s hard work and commitment since joining the station.
“For almost two decades, Mark Levy has proven himself to be one of Australia’s most talented, hard-working and versatile broadcasters, and a favorite of 2GB listeners,” Davis said.
“As we usher in a new era of 2GB Mornings, Mark will make the 9am to 12pm schedule his own, with a new vision for what matters most to Sydneysiders.”
The transfer comes at a critical time for Nine Radio as it seeks to reorient the business in the face of an ever-changing industry disrupted by online podcasts and music streaming.
Mark Levy will work through the holiday season until bedtime on his show before radio ratings return next year.
Levy has had successful stints filling in for Hadley and 2GB breakfast show star Ben Fordham.
Levy will have a mammoth task ahead of him in replacing Hadley, who leaves an extraordinary legacy behind the microphone.
Hadley has dominated the airwaves in the fiercely competitive morning slot for the Sydney-based station since his debut in April 2002, after more than two decades at rival outlet 2UE, where he had begun his radio career as an occasional traffic reporter.
The tireless broadcaster, who celebrated his 70th birthday at the end of September, is also known to sports fans across the country for his unbeaten reign calling rugby league State of Origin matches and the NRL Grand Final.
Hadley’s record-breaking career has seen him recognized with 35 Australian commercial radio awards for his work in news, current affairs and sport (more than any other broadcaster) and he was inducted into the ACRA Hall of Fame in 2017.
Additionally, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for services to rugby league and in recognition of his charitable work along with an induction into the Sydney Cricket Ground Media Hall of Honor in 2021.