Raymond Morris Hadley (born 27 September 1954) is a retired Australian talkback radio broadcaster and a rugby league football commentator for Channel Nine. He presented 2GB Sydney's Monday to Friday morning show, and lead the Continuous Call Team, a rugby league-based talkback radio panel program.
Ray Hadley was born in 1954 and raised in a "housing commission house in Dundas Valley" Sydney but later went to live with his grandparents on an Eungai Rail farm near Stuart's Point on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
While working as a cab driver, he was offered casual work at the radio station 2UE after giving the then news director, Mark Collier, a ride in his taxi. By 1982, he was covering sports including rugby league and horseracing.
In December 2001, Hadley joined 2GB to present the weekend rugby league coverage but when fellow 2UE presenter Alan Jones moved to 2GB from 2UE in April 2002, he began presenting the morning show as well.
Hadley's talkback show started in a traditional local community and state-based current affairs format but later included federal politics. His favourite music genre is country (both traditional and modern). Hadley's opening theme was "Murrumbidgee" by Wolverines, while the closing theme was the instrumental "Last Date" from country pianist Floyd Cramer.
Hadley's program from 9am to midday was also broadcast to 4BC Brisbane, 2CC Canberra and stations across regional New South Wales, Queensland and parts of Victoria. Some of these stations are part of the Southern Cross Austereo Triple M network and are some of the stations which also broadcast the Continuous Call Team.
In May 2011 he became the highest-rating radio announcer on Australian radio with 20.1% of the audience, until being beaten by the top rating Ross and John breakfast program on opposite number 3AW in Melbourne a year later.
On 19 May 2011 Hadley hung up on 7 News reporter Lee Jeloscek during a phone interview. Hadley took offence that Jeloscek wanted to correct something he asserted was suggested on-air before the interview began, and Hadley cut off Jeloscek mid-sentence telling his listeners:
No hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Listen! Listen! Listen! Listen to me! Listen to me! Listen to me! Goodbye Lee. You seem to forget, Lee, it's the Ray Hadley morning program...
Hadley has been credited with discovering Samoan country singer Sam Ah Chookoon aka Mr Cowboy 62 in 2019.
In November 2024, Hadley announced that he would be retiring from radio after 43 years of service. His final morning show aired on 2GB on 13 December 2024.
Hadley was named the best Radio Sports Broadcaster at the RAWARDS on multiple occasions, and was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's Birthday 2002 Honours List for services to rugby league and fund-raising initiatives for charitable organisations.
Hadley won an accolade at the 2006 ACRAs (also known as the RAWARDS) for "Best Current Affairs Presenter". He won that award again 2009 and became the first radio broadcaster to win both that award and best sports commentator. He has won 20 major ACRA Radio awards since 1987.
In December 2021, Hadley was added to the Sydney Cricket Ground Media Hall of Honour.
After commencing as a sports reporter on Channel 7, Hadley was recruited to Channel 9 as part of The Footy Show, along with his radio and rugby league colleague Steve "Blocker" Roach, appearing between 1994 and 1998. He also made a one-off appearance on The Footy Show in 2005 in a forum to discuss brawling and antagonism between Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs supporters during a game against the Brisbane Broncos at Telstra Stadium. Hadley has also appeared in TV commercials, and for 17 years was spruiking the budget menswear establishment Lowes.
During 2010, he appeared on The Matty Johns Show on the Seven Network, an NRL-focused program hosted by Matthew Johns.
Also in 2010, Hadley was signed by Sky News Australia to present a weekly current affairs programme entitled Hadley!. The programme aired on Wednesday nights. , Hadley resigned from Sky News Australia after only four episodes, reportedly due to "differences" and staff not wanting to work with him.
In October 2011, Hadley was signed up by Channel 9 to commentate on the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks but was not invited to return.