Jackie O reveals she almost left Kyle Sandilands and jumped ship to Nova

Jackie O has revealed for the first time why she almost ended her radio partnership with Kyle Sandilands and jumped ship to a rival station.

Jackie O has revealed she was “really close” to ending her radio partnership with Kyle Sandilands and defecting to a rival station.

The pair first became co-hosts in 2000 on the Hot30, which aired nationally on stations owned by Southern Cross Austereo.

“There was a time early on when I didn’t know Kyle that well and we probably weren’t as much of a team as we are now in terms of negotiations,” Jackie O said on The Women Of Influence podcast.

“We’d only just really started working together, so we didn’t have the friendship that we developed a year or two later after that.

Kyle and Jackie O in 2001.

“I remember going into the (Southern Cross Austereo) boss’s office to negotiate and they were just basically saying, ‘We could take you or leave you. You’re not getting anything else, so be happy with what you’ve got’.”

Jackie was so furious with the treatment she received that she approached a rival radio station with the intention to jump ship without Kyle.

“I spoke to Nova,” Jackie told podcast host Kate Meade. “I had a meeting with them and was really close to going.”

Southern Cross Austereo found out about Jackie’s secret meeting with Nova and quickly changed their tune, she said.

“Wouldn’t you know it, they offered me a lot more money,” Jackie laughed.

The radio star insisted on the podcast that she “wasn’t playing games” and genuinely would have defected to Nova had Southern Cross Austereo not upped its offer.

“I’ve never faked an offer from a different radio station if there hasn’t actually been genuine interest,” she said on the podcast. “I don’t like playing games in negotiations. That’s my big, big pet hate.”

Kyle and Jackie O host the number one FM breakfast show in Sydney.

Jackie decided to stay with Kyle and the duo have since gone on to form the most powerful and successful partnership in Aussie radio.

They stunned the industry at the end of 2013 when they announced they were leaving 2Day FM to host the breakfast show on KIIS 106.5 in 2014. And last year the duo extended their contracts with KIIS FM in what’s believed to be the biggest media deal in Australian history.

News.com.au understands their contracts guarantee Kyle and Jackie O between $7-8 million each per year with the duo remaining on air until the end of 2024.

The staggering deal means they get paid more than $39,000 each per 3½-hour radio show.

The Kyle and Jackie O Show is the number one FM breakfast show in Sydney, and the pair are set to return from holidays next week.