‘Really f**ked up sh*t’: Jackie O Henderson opens up on disastrous launch into Melbourne

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has said she gets why Melbourne listeners tuned out from the “smut” on her radio show, and revealed co-host Kyle Sandilands is looking to buy a house in the city to better understand the market.

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has admitted she and her KIIS FM co-host Kyle Sandilands aired some “really f---ed up shit” during the disastrous launch of The Kyle & Jackie Show into Melbourne last year and were “humbled” after listeners switched off their grubby offerings.

But in a surprise twist, she revealed Sydney-based Sandilands wants to buy a house in Melbourne and spend time down south as part of showing more love to the city.

Henderson, speaking at the Heard radio conference on Tuesday, confessed she cringes at the smut that was served up to an unimpressed Melbourne breakfast radio audience last year and admitted the show went far off course and had now undergone a necessary reset.

Melbourne listeners tuned out from Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O’s radio show.

“So, Melbourne .. so, they tuned in and they heard really f---ed up shit that we should not have been talking about,” Henderson said.

“And I cringe when I think (about it). Anyway, it is what it is, it is done and now we have to rely on those people to re-tune in and give it (the show) a second chance.

“I think that word of mouth is probably the way it (the audience) will come around, but that will take time and that is OK.”

She said Sandilands, who is facing a significant health challenge after his doctors discovered an aneurysm in his brain last month, had become focused on Melbourne.

“Kyle has gotten all wrapped up in buying a house in Melbourne and spending more time there,” Henderson said, adding she too wanted to spend time in Melbourne.

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson says failing in Melbourne has been a learning experience. Picture: Instagram

Sandilands did not visit Melbourne at all last year, despite his show debuting in the market, while Henderson made a handful of uneventful visits.

“Melbourne likes to feel like they are not just some sort of afterthought, and rightly so,” she said.

Henderson said she and Sandilands would be “spending a lot more time there and leaning into that content which comes from Melbourne, like sharing that love more”.

“In a weird way, Melbourne not being a success instantly is weirdly a good thing for us,” she said.

“We have been doing breakfast for more than 20 years and there have been times where the show has inevitably gone off track a little bit.

“By it not being a success straight away, it humbled us and it made us go ‘have we lost our way?’, and (it) really made us reassess where we were at, what we are doing with the show (and) do a reset.

The latest Kyle & Jackie O billboard in Melbourne which celebrates their poor ratings.

“It is sounding better than it has in a long time. I really think we have got our groove back. “That smut has really been taken away and it is just good.

“Kyle and I, we have really good chemistry and (when) we talk and just talk shit it is good, it is entertaining, we don’t need that other stuff.”

The Kyle & Jackie O Show finished 2024 holding five per cent of the Melbourne breakfast audience. Nova’s Jase & Lauren topped the FM breakfast market with an 11.5 per cent share.