‘Listen now. We’re behaving’: Kyle and Jackie O make new year radio resolution after ratings flop

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson claim to have changed their ways on KIIS FM after a disastrous launch into the Melbourne radio scene — but is it too little, too late?

Kyle and Jackie O have released fresh advertising to promote KIIS FM failing a radio flop last year. Picture: Facebook

After the calamitous arrival of The Kyle and Jackie O Show into the Melbourne market last year, Kyle Sandilands is apparently a changed man.

Or at least he and his KIIS FM co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson are promising to “behave” this year.

Sandilands and Henderson attracted the ire of pundits, activists, a senate estimates committee, Media Watch, and honorary president of the anti-Kyle lobby, Steve Price, for the profane and grubby content that polluted their show last year.

Arguably the KIIS nadir came in August 2024 when Sandilands and the team took part in a pissing competition where the show’s male and female staff recorded themselves peeing and then played the audio on-air as part of a game to guess who each urine stream belonged to.

But that is now all in the past — apparently.

While the mischief will undoubtedly remain, Sandilands and Henderson are seemingly parking the porn.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson claim to have changed their ways after their disastrous launch into Melbourne on KIIS in 2024. Picture: Supplied

New Kyle and Jackie O marketing landed in Melbourne last week with buses sporting the show’s new advertising slogan spotted on various routes around the city.

The new messaging for the show is “Listen now. We’re behaving.”

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O failed to capture the Melbourne radio scene on their move to KIIS last year. Picture: Facebook

The multimillion-dollar question is will people listen or is it a case that they heard what was served up last year and have already made up their minds about staying or going.

Sandilands and Henderson ended 2024 on a ratings share of 5.0 in Melbourne, putting them well behind Nova’s Jase Hawkins, Lauren Phillips and Clint Stanaway who topped the FM breakfast ratings with an 11.5 share.

The overall winner in the breakfast shift was 3AW’s Ross and Russel who closed out 2024 with a 19.3 share.

Sandilands and Henderson’s show was starting to clean up its act towards the end of last year, as confirmed by the Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) Chief Content Officer Duncan Campbell.

ARN is the parent company of KIIS FM.

Campbell told RadioInfo in November that the graphic sexual content had been removed from the show.

“The research we’ve done has showed us that was an issue. So, we’re glad (Kyle’s) decided to sort of peel that back,” Campbell said.

“We aren’t proposing to change the show. All he (Sandilands) agreed to do was to reduce the … to remove the graphic sexual content, which he’s done. That’s happened, and that’s made a difference to the show. It’s made it more palatable.”

Originally published as ‘Listen now. We’re behaving’: Kyle and Jackie O make new year radio resolution after ratings flop