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Trolling, mischief and endless giveaways: Every power play in Melbourne’s breakfast radio rivalry

With the battle for supremacy in Melbourne’s highly competitive breakfast radio market in full flight, hosts are going to extreme and shocking lengths to secure listeners.

Jase Hawkins takes a playful swipe at Kyle Sandilands ahead of radio return

With the battle for supremacy in Melbourne’s highly competitive breakfast radio market in full flight, the only guaranteed winners are the listeners.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson taking over the KIIS Melbourne breakfast shift with their Sydney based, Kyle & Jackie O Show, has caused rival stations Nova and Fox FM to double down on their offering, stand firm against the invaders from the north and defend their turf.

Breakfast is very much a cutthroat battle for advertising dollars, bragging rights, ratings points, listener loyalty, and share of voice in the wider community.

Jason (Jase) Hawkins and Lauren Phillips are the new NOVA breakfast team. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Jason (Jase) Hawkins and Lauren Phillips are the new NOVA breakfast team. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

As Melbourne’s breakfast teams fight for audience, listeners are being showered with competitions, cash giveaways, tickets, opportunities to meet hosts at outside broadcasts and radio promotional stunts. Cash and prizes are flooding the city.

Melbourne is practically wallpapered with advertising for the Kyle & Jackie O Show, Nova’s Jase & Lauren (Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips) and Fox FM’s Fifi, Fev and Nick (Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody). There is even a ‘golden Fev’ statue outside the Clocks cafe/bar at Flinders Street Station.

Brendan Fevola, Fifi Box and Nick Cody are defending their breakfast turf in radio war against Nova and KIIS.
Brendan Fevola, Fifi Box and Nick Cody are defending their breakfast turf in radio war against Nova and KIIS.

Meanwhile, Gold FM’s Christian O’Connell is getting his listener to advertise his show on their council rubbish bins.

The Kyle & Jackie O Show made sure everyone knew they had arrived when the button was pushed on April 29 and Melbourne woke up to Sandilands’ eyebrow raising descriptions of himself – “I’m a fuel guzzling, ex f-boy, c**e sniffing asshole” -, Henderson – “STI free” – and his production team including show director Bruno – who “despite being straight, I love getting pegged” – and social media whiz Josh – “a sex addict currently spiralling back into the depths of d*ck and filth.”

Christian O’Connell, Gold 104.3 radio host, is getting his listener’s to advertise his show on their rubbish bins.
Christian O’Connell, Gold 104.3 radio host, is getting his listener’s to advertise his show on their rubbish bins.

The show didn’t stay in its own lane. It deliberately swerved into the path of its FM rivals, Nova and Fox.

The big pink KIIS bus with Sandilands and Henderson’s faces plastered over it crashed Nova’s ‘Say Hey’ meet the listeners morning at the South Melbourne market and then turned up a couple of days later in Moorabbin where Nova was presenting the ‘Say Hey’ competition winner with a cheque for $10,000.

A bus promoting Kyle and Jackie O for KIIS FM circles the South Melbourne area at the same time Lauren and Jase from Nova FM do a promotion at South Melbourne Market. Picture: David Crosling
A bus promoting Kyle and Jackie O for KIIS FM circles the South Melbourne area at the same time Lauren and Jase from Nova FM do a promotion at South Melbourne Market. Picture: David Crosling

Phillips called the trolling “pretty poor form,” while Hawkins described it as “bully-like behaviour.”

Sandilands retaliated by calling them “cry babies” and claiming the KIIS bus had turned up at the two locations where Nova was rolling out their promotion “by accident.”

Fox’s Fifi, Fev and Nick have not escaped the KIIS mischief as Sandilands tries to get into the heads of his opponents.

The day before KIIS launched into Melbourne, Sandilands revealed to the Sunday Herald Sun that Southern Cross Austereo (SCA owner of Fox FM) had matched the offer made by the Australian Radio Network (ARN owner of KIIS FM) when he and Henderson were in contract negotiations last year.

The offer from both companies included the guarantee that the Kyle & Jackie O Show would broadcast into Melbourne breakfast as well as Sydney.

“We were offered their job,” Sandilands said of Fox FM’s Box, Fevola and Cody.

SCA’s Chief Content Officer, Dave Cameron, quickly refuted Sandilands’ claim saying the Fox breakfast team members were “on long term Melbourne breakfast show agreements that have been in place for a while, and our ongoing firm commitment to this show has always been and remains unwavering”.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have heated a breakfast radio battle with their move to Melbourne. Source: Facebook, The Kyle and Jackie O Show
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have heated a breakfast radio battle with their move to Melbourne. Source: Facebook, The Kyle and Jackie O Show

Sandilands and Henderson went on to ink a $200 million 10-year deal with ARN, triggering their show’s Melbourne expansion.

The taunting continued when the Fifi, Fev and Nick show launched its $100,000 Secret Sound competition.

Days later Kyle & Jackie O announced their new $150,000 competition, The Noise.

To win listeners had to guess the (secret) noise.

Fox retaliated by upping the Secret Sound prize to $150,000.

KIIS immediately lifted The Noise to $200,000.

Kyle & Jackie O’s secret sound-like competition called The Noise. Picture: Supplied
Kyle & Jackie O’s secret sound-like competition called The Noise. Picture: Supplied
Fifi, Fev and Nick have increased their secret sound prize to $150,000. Picture: Supplied
Fifi, Fev and Nick have increased their secret sound prize to $150,000. Picture: Supplied

Fox’s Fifi, Fev and Nick are hitting the road each Friday with the hugely popular Brekky In The Burbs, where they take the show and a celebrity performer to a Melbourne suburb for a morning of fun.

KIIS are also about to hit the ‘burbs of Melbourne.

On Monday, the Kyle & Jackie O Show is bringing its ‘Cash Cock’ to town.

“You know how Sunrise has the cash cow, we have a giant cock,’’ Sandilands explained.

``We are going to take it into the streets of Melbourne, towing it behind the Black Thunders and whoever rides the cock in public the longest wins big money.’’

The large brown mechanical rooster will be in Mill Park on Monday, Doncaster on Tuesday and Frankston North on Wednesday.

For every five seconds someone stays on the bucking bird they win $1000.

Brendan Fevola, Fifi Box and Nick Cody as they appear in a new TV commercial for their Fox FM Fifi, Fev and Nick breakfast show. Picture: Supplied/Fox FM.
Brendan Fevola, Fifi Box and Nick Cody as they appear in a new TV commercial for their Fox FM Fifi, Fev and Nick breakfast show. Picture: Supplied/Fox FM.

Not to be outdone, Nova’s Jase & Lauren are doing a $10,000 A Day in May giveaway.

Every caller who gets to air goes into the draw to win $10,000, with the winner announced daily on Nova Drive.

They also have a $5000 question at 8am each day.

If the listener answers the question correctly they win $5000.

Hawkins and Phillips hosted a heartfelt Mother’s Day lunch for single mums at Strato in South Melbourne on Friday.

Not one to let criticism go unacknowledged, Sandilands took aim at The Project regular Steve Price who is firmly in the anti-Kyle camp and has kicked up a stink about the crass content on the Kyle & Jackie O Show.

Kyle and Jackie O feature slanderous reviews on a Flinders Street station billboard in an attempt to entice Melbourne listeners. May 10 2024
Kyle and Jackie O feature slanderous reviews on a Flinders Street station billboard in an attempt to entice Melbourne listeners. May 10 2024

Describing Price as an “embarrassing old fool” he said labelled him a male Karen.

“He is the equivalent of Karen, he is a Steve.”

The showdown for the breakfast crown has turned into a high-priced slugfest, but radio is big money in Melbourne.

More than 4.6 million people listen to radio in Melbourne with the commercial FM breakfast market attracting over 2.16 million listeners alone, according to industry body Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA).

Melbourne is the largest revenue market in Australia with CRA research showing total broadcast and digital audio revenue generated in the Melbourne market in 2023 topped $241 million.

3AW’s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft are Melbourne’s kings of breakfast with 18.1 per cent of the audience in the most recent ratings survey.

Fox FM is next with 11.2, ahead of Gold FM with 9.9, Nova with 8.3, Smooth with 7.7, ABC with 7.3, KIIS with 6.4 and Triple M with 5.7.

The next set of survey results, covering the period from April 14 to May 18, will be released on June 4.

KIIS FM breakfast radio hosts Jackie 'O' Henderson and Kyle Sandilands are going head-to-head with their Melbourne breakfast rivals. Picture: Supplied
KIIS FM breakfast radio hosts Jackie 'O' Henderson and Kyle Sandilands are going head-to-head with their Melbourne breakfast rivals. Picture: Supplied

Sandilands, who sits on top of the ratings pile in Sydney with 16.1, said he and Henderson were not coming to Melbourne to lose – “Absolutely not, no, no, no,” – but interestingly he said they were not looking to win at all costs.

“It used to be my mentality, I won’t lie, it used to be ‘they are the enemy and death to them’,” Sandilands said.

“I was a lunatic really, but over the years I just became less obsessed about what everyone else was doing and now I can’t even recall the last time I listened to a competitor.”

He believes he and Henderson can be number one FM breakfast by the end of the year by being a beacon for ``lunatic’’ Melbourne listeners.

``They will come to us, we are like a magnet for lunatics,’’ he said.

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/fiona-byrne/trolling-mischief-and-endless-giveaways-every-power-play-in-melbournes-breakfast-radio-rivalry/news-story/5e747b343c8084f20963b99eecd2cb59