‘My fault’: Kyle’s confession on the failed launch of Kyle & Jackie O show on KIIS FM Melbourne

Radio host Kyle Sandilands has taken ownership for the failure of his KIIS FM show with Jackie O in Melbourne and revealed the shock contract arrangement that kept him on air despite the flop ratings.

Kyle Sandilands has admitted last year’s chaotic Melbourne misfire of his Kyle & Jackie O Show was “probably my fault”.

Sandilands said he was without a “handbreak” when the show launched into the breakfast shift in Melbourne last April and was responsible for making to call to turbo charge the shock value.

Melbourne listeners were quick to turn off the Kyle and Jackie O show when it aired last year. Picture: Instagram

That shock was interpreted by many listeners, commentators and critics as shocking and sparked a furious backlash.

“We probably did (go too far) and it is probably my fault because when we went into Melbourne, management were like ‘let’s just take baby steps’ and I was like ‘no’,” Sandilands said while in Melbourne for KIIS FM’s $5m “Dig” giveaway at St Kilda beach on Friday.

“Jackie had come back from rehab, smoking ciggies and wearing leather trousers, and the handbrake was not there and I pushed the envelope a bit.

“Everyone keeps saying ‘why don’t the bosses do something?’ They actually can’t do anything. I own the show, I own the brand and they (ARN, the parent company of KIIS FM) license the show off me.

“I am not an employee. I am the boss of that show and if they want to cancel the show, they have to pay out. The contract is pretty solid.

“We work pretty well with the management and when they did ask to speak about the content I said, ‘Okay, you know what, you are probably right, we will just pull back a bit’. The content has been adjusted by me and (show director) Bruno Bouchet.”

The Kyle & Jackie Show holds 5.1 per cent of the Melbourne breakfast radio audience and had an enthusiastic audience turn up to see them broadcasting from St Kilda, including a couple who arrived at 11pm on Thursday to make sure they were the first in line for a KIIS prize draw.

Sandilands also opened up on his health overhaul following being diagnosed with a brain aneurysm in February.

“I am still chain smoking and still on the weed,” he said.

“I have eaten fish for the first time in my life. Fish, chicken and vegetables, that is all the wife lets me eat.

“I am drinking only water, no soft drinks. Just all the stupid things that I should have given up at 15 that I have kept until I was 53, I have finally chucked all of those out.

“I think maybe I was a bit reckless, but I did not really care about that much, I would just do whatever I felt like, but when you have a young wife and a young child your priorities change.

“Most people learn this when they are 26 and they have children. I left my run a bit late. “Better late than never to learn, I think.”