Jackie O’s power move hours after she and Kyle ditched radio show

Hours after they dramatically ditched their own show mid-episode, Kyle and Jackie O demonstrated just how powerful they are as radio players.

It takes some confidence to ditch your own radio show mid-episode, as both Kyle and Jackie O did on Friday after a behind-the-scenes stoush over censorship.

Of course, it helps somewhat if you immediately head to an event where you’re announced as the most powerful stars in Australia’s media landscape.

That’s exactly what happened after Friday’s dramatic early end for The Kyle and Jackie O Show, which saw both hosts refuse to stay on-air after their interview with fellow broadcaster Alan Jones was “dumped” off-air by the show’s in-house censor.

Both Kyle and Jackie O left the show more than an hour early, railing against what they dubbed “miscommunication” behind the scenes that left them unsure why their interview had been censored in such a disruptive manner.

Just a few hours later, Jackie O arrived at Sydney’s Crown Resorts – wearing a $4000 Gucci Cape – as a guest at industry outlet Mediaweek’s annual Power lunch.

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Jackie O Henderson arrives at Crown in Sydney for the Mediaweek event. Picture: MEDIA-MODE.COM

Inside the exclusive event, it was revealed she and her longtime co-host had topped Mediaweek’s inaugural Star Power 25 list, a countdown of this country’s “top 25 most powerful talent on screen and on air.”

With TV stars like Tracy Grimshaw, Scott Cam and Carrie Bickmore further down the list, Mediaweek’s top five was entirely made up of radio personalities. Hamish and Andy came in second place, Ben Fordham finished third, and Abbie Chatfield and Christian O’Connell rounded out the top five.

“Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson have had a historic run in FM radio, dominating the breakfast slot since 2004 across two different stations,” Mediaweek trumpeted of the on-air duo.

“The pair is still going from strength to strength after winning a 30th consecutive survey (FM breakfast) and registering its highest cumulative audience ever in the most recent radio ratings survey.”

Jackie O said she was “so honoured” by the gong in a post to her Instagram stories over the weekend.

Jackie O said she was ‘so honoured’ by the gong.

Kyle had previously ranted about being ‘sick and tired’ of his job.

The win came after an extraordinary morning on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, starting when the pair’s seemingly innocuous interview with broadcaster Alan Jones was suddenly “dumped” from the airwaves as Jones told a story about a time he’d lost his temper in the studio.

Listeners were told via a prerecorded message that “someone said something inappropriate and is currently getting in trouble,” before the show went on an extended song and commercial break of more than 15 minutes.

During that time, Sandilands apparently spoke to his own lawyer – and both he and Jackie O were clearly fuming when they finally returned from the break.

Kyle said his lawyer had advised him to “pull yourself off the air until everyone’s singing from the same hymn book.”

He claimed it was “too dangerous” for him to continue broadcasting under current circumstances.

Jackie said she was “confused” as to why the earlier audio been deemed unable to be broadcast, calling it a “miscommunication”.

Kyle and Jackie O both bailed on their show on Friday.

“How are we ever going to know? Communication is key in these situations,” she said.

Kyle seemed to hint at further trouble when he told his co-host that he would be back for Monday’s show – “and if I’m not back Monday … it didn’t work out well for me.”

And with that, the pair were off the air, KISS’ next radio host hastily summoned to start his shift several hours early.

In a statement to news.com.au on Friday, a spokesperson from ARN, the company that owns Kyle and Jackie O’s network KIIS FM, insisted the show would be back to business as usual on Monday.

“Kyle was upset about a segment that was dumped this morning and decided to give himself and the team an early mark. The guys are back Monday from 6am,” they said.

Kyle had previously made headlines with a brutal on-air rant about his own network in late September, fuming over the lack of publicity afforded to The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s latest ratings win.

“I am sick and tired of working here,” he announced.

“Everyone is a loser, except for everyone on this show. Everyone else outside of this show is a massive loser. I am not joking.”