Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes’ extraordinary spray at Kyle Sandilands and radio industry

The comedian, whose radio show was axed last year, didn’t hold back when talking about his on-air rival and the industry itself.

Dave Hughes has unleashed on Kyle Sandilands and his struggles in the Melbourne radio market in an extraordinarily candid new interview.

The Taskmaster star and comedian – whose breakfast show, 2DayFM’s Hughesy, Ed & Erin was axed last year – told the Herald Sun that despite the endless scrutiny over radio ratings and line-ups, that it was ultimately “all bulls**t”.

“And now I think that we’re finding that out. It’s just habits. You can be a rock star in one city and the other city cannot give a flying f**k about you because they didn’t have the habit for you,” Hughes said, in a thinly-veiled reference to the Sydney-based juggernaut Kyle and Jackie O show’s well-publicised issues finding a Melbourne audience.

Hughes didn’t hold back in his new interview.

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Asked whether he had “empathy” for his former radio rival’s challenges, Hughes was blunt.

“I don’t really have any empathy because Kyle doesn’t have any empathy for anyone,” he told the publication.

“If he’s on air he’ll just slag everyone off including me. So I’ve got no empathy at all. I couldn’t care less to be honest. But they’re making a fortune so I have probably got more empathy for the shareholders than the on-air people. They are the ones who are bloody bleeding.”

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson.

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During the wide-ranging chat, Hughes also took aim at the often-criticised radio ratings format – or “radio surveys” – which have been in operation for decades.

“When the ratings work for you, it’s like ‘this is a great system’ and when they don’t you say ‘this system is broken’,” he said.

“And you can do exactly the same thing one day and you rate really well and next day ratings have gone down two points and everything you’re doing was a disaster. But then the next survey goes up two points and everything you’re doing is great but really you’re doing the same thing every time. It’s all smoke and mirrors, basically.”

The Kyle and Jackie O Show has long been a powerhouse performer in the Sydney radio market, but hit its first stumbling block last year when its highly-anticipated launch in Melbourne failed to make a significant impact.

Sandilands had previously predicted that he and co-host Jackie “O” Henderson’s show would be the number one FM breakfast program in the Victorian capital by the end of 2024 – and was proved very wrong.

The Hughesy, Ed & Erin show was axed last August.

In the final round of ratings for the year, released in early December, the KIIS FM show finished in sixth place, with a 5.0 per cent market share.

The show has on average 404,000 listeners in the city, a drop of 24,000 since the previous round of ratings.

That’s a long way behind FM market leaders Jase and Lauren from Nova, who have an audience share of 11.5 per cent with 717,000 listeners.

Of course, in their hometown Sydney, it’s a very different story: they finished 2024 on a 13.5% audience share, landing in second place behind 2GB’s breakfast show.

Meanwhile, it was announced in August that Hughesy, Ed & Erin would be coming to an immediate end after four years.

“We’ve loved our time together on 2DayFM Breakfast, however, due to some of our families living in different cities we are unable to commit to 2025, so with a heavy heart we are moving aside so 2DayFM can find the team to take them forward in Breakfast,” the hosts said in a joint statement.

“We are so grateful to Sydney for their support, and to double the number of listeners in three years is something we are immensely proud of, and we will miss each and every one of them.”

Originally published as Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes’ extraordinary spray at Kyle Sandilands and radio industry