Experts weigh in on whether Kyle and Jackie O can make it in Melbourne

Can Kyle and Jackie O make it in Melbourne? Experts weigh in on why the controversial radio stars can and can’t win over local listeners.

Melbourne radio experts weigh in on whether Kyle and Jackie O will work in Melbourne after signing a new multimillion-dollar deal.

STEVE BEDWELL, former breakfast radio star

Why they can’t: “There’s a certain backlash against Kyle in Melbourne. The only time you see him here is usually when he’s done something ridiculous. So, automatically, there’s something in the minds of Melbourne listeners that says, ‘I don’t think this guy is for me.’

Why they can: “He and Jackie O are extremely successful. They do personal radio that doesn’t need to be based anywhere. They can tell great stories without even mentioning suburbs or locations. They will certainly make a splash in Melbourne.”

KIIS FM radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O celebrate their new deal.

COLIN VICKERY, TV and radio expert

Why they can’t: “We tend to be very local in what we want to hear so it’s a challenge and it’ll be interesting to see how much they’ll have to change up their own show.”

Why they can: “I feel in the FM side of things it’s a fairly level playing field. You wouldn’t have thought coming from England would work, but we’ve seen an outsider (in Christian O’Connell on GOLD FM) succeed in the Melbourne market. They could be more of a disrupter and they are savvy operators so the opposition should be wary.”

SIMON OWENS, 3AW broadcaster

Why they can’t: “It’s amazing to me how many Melburnians HATE Kyle and Jackie O and ‘won’t listen to that Sydney rubbish’. Also there’s a lot of people both in and out of the industry talking about ‘Networked shows never work’ Sydney and Melbourne are too different. Some will say ‘It’s never worked in breakfast’. I will be wrong, but I can’t think of any capital city commercial radio station in my life that’s tried it?”

Why they can: “The fact is that Kyle and Jackie O is an incredibly successful show. Nearly 800,000 people listen to their show each week in Sydney. Even their Facebook page has 1.8m followers and almost 1m on TikTok. So if any show has the potential to go national in breakfast it’s this one. One thing is for sure. 2024 in radio in Melbourne is going to be fascinating.”