Kyle and Jackie O to face off against Jase and Lauren at 2024 ACRAs

The Melbourne duo who were axed to make way for Kyle and Jackie O will face their arch rivals at this year’s radio awards.

Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips have the chance to pull off one of the great comebacks at this year’s radio awards.

The Nova 100 hosts have just been nominated for the coveted Best On Air Team award, radio’s equivalent of the Gold Logie, at the 2024 ACRAs.

Jase and Lauren are up against WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda, Gold FM’s Christian O’Connell, the Hit Network’s Carrie and Tommy, Nova 96.9’s Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie and their arch rivals, KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O.

The nomination is a remarkable achievement for Jase and Lauren, who were axed from KIIS 101.1 FM in November last year to make way for Kyle and Jackie O’s expansion into the Melbourne market.

Jase Hawkins, Lauren Phillips and Clint Stanaway. Picture: Supplied/Nova

They were offered a lifeline by Nova 100 at the start of this year and have gone from strength to strength ever since.

Jase and Lauren, along with their co-host Clint Stanaway, have climbed up through the rankings and are currently the number two FM breakfast show in Melbourne behind The Christian O’Connell Show.

Even though it’s still early days, Kyle and Jackie O are a long way behind in Melbourne. They’re currently the sixth-highest rated FM breakfast show in the city.

Who are the favourites to win?

Jase and Lauren may be the sentimental favourites to win the Best On Air Team award, but if history’s anything to go by, they’re going to have a tough time to beat two shows in particular.

WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda have won it four times and KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O have won it eight times.

Amanda Keller and Brendan 'Jonesy' Jones.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O.

More nominations

The other big category at the ACRAs, which will be held in Sydney on October 12, is the Individual Talent of the Year Award.

This year’s finalists are Christian O’Connell (Gold FM), Ray Hadley (2GB), “Ugly” Phil O’Neil (WSFM), Jackie O (KIIS 105), Fifi Box (Fox FM), Kate Ritchie (Nova 96.9), Ricki-Lee Coulter (Nova Network) and Ben Fordham (2GB).

The awards also honour podcasts, and the nominees for Podcast Host/s of the Year are Hamish & Andy (The Hamish & Andy Podcast), Amelia Oberhardt (Secrets We Keep: Shame, Lies and Family), Amanda Keller (Double A Chattery), Christian McEwan (The Dragons Den), Ant Middleton (Head Game) and Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne (Life Uncut).

Christian O’Connell.

Kate Ritchie.

Jase and Lauren’s stunning comeback

The Nova 100 hosts recently opened up to news.com.au about their incredible change in fortune over the past seven months, with Lauren revealing she was ready to flee the country after being axed by KIIS FM last year.

“I was gutted,” she told news.com.au. “I thought that was the end of my radio career.

“Late last year I was ready to leave the country and move overseas. I was like, I’m out of here.

“I felt pretty lost in the world,” she said.

The pair also told news.com.au they broke down in tears after the latest round of radio ratings revealed they had climbed to become the number two FM breakfast show in Melbourne.

“After everything we went through, to have an audience actually follow you from one station to another is quite big and personal,” Jase said.

“I honestly felt like for the first time, we belong.”

Lauren Phillips and Jase Hawkins with Teddy Swims.

When asked why their radio show seems to be resonating with listeners, Jase told news.com.au, “I think there’s a lot of shows out there trying to compete with each other and they’re not actually being their genuine self.”

“There’s absolutely no bulls**t with our show,” he said. “Everything is honest. Everything is true.

“Melbourne’s a smart city, and personally, I think other stations are taking this city for granted or don’t really understand what people actually want here.

“It’s not all about stunts and throwing cash in the air and stuff like that,” he added. “People want to know what the hell’s actually going on in this city and talk about what’s actually affecting them on their run to school.”