Simple reason Kyle and Jackie O’s Melbourne gamble backfired
Kyle and Jackie O’s strategy to break into the Melbourne market may have backfired for one key reason, an industry insider says.
Talk of popular sex positions, a literal ‘pissing competition’, rampant drug use confessions, and content so obscene an in-house censor was forced to dump it from the airwaves – these are the failing tactics of KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O show launch in Melbourne.
And new stats show they have haemorrhaged thousands of new listeners, who industry insiders say may never return.
Veteran Melbourne broadcaster Neil Mitchell told The Saturday Telegraph he was convinced Kyle and Jackie O will not be able to win over Melbourne listeners with their “toilet” humour.
“Perhaps he stayed with toilet radio because he didn’t want to alienate his Sydney audience,” he said. “I have always thought Kyle is a clever broadcaster, but my view is changing.”
Mitchell expressed doubt over whether Sandilands’ often provocative approach would resonate in Melbourne, declaring KIIS would need to raise the bar to a higher standard to meet the expectations of the Melbourne audience, “at the potential cost of his success elsewhere”.
Veteran 3AW presenter Philip Brady said his decades-long career with co-host Bruce Mansfield saw ratings skyrocket “when we cleaned up our act”.
“That’s Melbourne,” he said. “There’s a lesson there somehow?”
In April this year, the Australian Radio Network (ARN) launched the Kyle & Jackie O Show in Victoria, the move reportedly based on encouraging streaming numbers from that market and the potential of reducing costs.
However, just months later, amid pressure from investors, ARN revealed in August that the network had budgeted millions of dollars to launch the show in Melbourne – a figure on top of the reported $200 million to be spent over 10 years on the show’s personalities.
On August 8, the second last day of the latest radio survey period, Sandilands told listeners that he had previously consumed “a lot of cocaine” which had impacted his hosting performance on Big Brother.
On the same day as the drug admission, the KIIS censor were forced to replace almost a minute of content on the breakfast show with tone.
The censor, who monitors the radio show live, decided a lengthy chunk of an early morning discussion with a listener wasn’t to a broadcast standard that would impress the federal government’s watchdog, ACMA.
The latest radio survey shows a massive 11,000 listener decline from 502,000 people who tuned in throughout the previous period to 491,000 today.
That figure is a long way from the commanding 750,000 people who listen to the show in Sydney
ARN executives predict that Kyle & Jackie O have the potential to rate a 10 per cent share in Melbourne’s breakfast ratings - according to the latest data, they are rating 6.1 per cent.
The number one breakfast show in Melbourne rates 21.3 per cent at 3AW and the top FM show is 9.9 per cent from Nova.
A statement from ARN also cautioned investors that it ‘takes time to build a new show in a new market.’
Former ARN programming director David Rogerson said the results may be cause for concern among executives.
Rogerson’s analysis points to a trend of short bursts of trial listening, where new audiences tune in briefly before switching away.
“What we’re seeing is the call to action of the marketing that ARN is undertaking,” he said. “They’re trying to build awareness for Kyle & Jackie O in Melbourne at KIIS.
“Marketing helps increase listenership, especially among those who’ve never tried the station before.
“But once people try it, we want them to stay as long as we can.”
Rogerson said the success of the breakfast show is a “sum of two parts,” emphasising that while marketing efforts are drawing new listeners to the station, retaining them relies on the strength of the programming.
Meanwhile, a former radio executive who launched several networked FM shows across Australia, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Kyle & Jackie O Show had “seriously blown the launch opportunities in the Melbourne market”, arguing “you only get one chance to make a first impression”.
Despite the cut to audience numbers, the industry executive forecast Kyle & Jackie O should expect to experience a slow climb to 7 per cent by the end of 2026.
Former 2GB host and TV executive Jason Morrison has weighed in on the ongoing conversation about the success of radio personalities in Sydney and Melbourne, highlighting a longstanding cultural divide between the two cities.
Reflecting on Sydney’s embrace of bold, boundary-pushing talent, Morrison says Kyle Sandilands’ domination of the Harbour City’s airwaves is a result of his raw and unfiltered style.
“There’s a whole lot of radio listeners who are sick and tired of being told by authorities and moralising media types about what you can and can’t say or talk about,” he said. “And suddenly you’ve got two people who don’t give a shit, say what they think, talk about what they want, and guess what … people like it!”.
“The more outraged the critics get, the stronger their audience grows.”
Morrison acknowledged that Sandilands might not be to everyone’s taste, but emphasised that his success speaks for itself.
“There are a lot of people in Sydney who like it,” he said. “And I reckon in a year or so’s time we might be talking about a similar story in Melbourne.”
When it comes to the differences between the two cities’ radio markets, Morrison pointed out that even the greats have struggled to make the transition. “John Laws, arguably the greatest broadcaster Australia has known, to the best of my knowledge, has never succeeded in Melbourne. Alan Jones - the Don Bradman of the airwaves in Sydney, no one has got even close to his numbers.
“Alan’s radio show was never live-fed into Melbourne because there was this sense that it wouldn’t work.”
Morrison also mentioned Wendy Harmer, a Melbourne native who found massive success in Sydney but couldn’t replicate it in her hometown.
“Melbourne listeners clearly love the rule breakers – that’s what Kyle and Jackie are. You can’t blame ARN for thinking, let’s give it a go.”
Melbourne-based radio consultant Irene Hulme has revealed to The Saturday Telegraph that if the show was to make “slight adjustments” it could dominate.
“If they bring the same passion, creativity, and killer instinct that made them famous, then, ‘yes,’ I believe they will be the number one FM breakfast show in Melbourne despite Melbourne’s fiercely competitive breakfast radio market,” she said. “At their best, the Kyle & Jackie O Show has an unparalleled magnetic pull on audiences.
“They need to continually look for opportunities to show Melbourne audiences they are offering something different and better.”
Meanwhile, Mediaweek Editor-in-Chief James Manning said The Kyle & Jackie O Show may need to embrace both its established formula and a tailored approach to stand out in a new market.
“It could get to number one, but it could also stay near the bottom of the pack,” he said. “Clearly, a show that is number one in another city has the ingredients to make it elsewhere.
“ But that’s also a reason it may not succeed. Radio is littered with failed breakfast shows based outside the city they are targeting.”
ARN is sparing no expense for the Kyle & Jackie O Show, the show boasts a team of 20, including a team of censor, marketing and audio production staff. This large team is rare for a breakfast radio show in Australia and reveals ARN’s ambition to dominate the radio ratings.
Former ARN network program executive Peter Yiamarelos said it was “abnormal” for a breakfast radio show to have so many staff working on just one show.
“The fact that it’s successful in Sydney is in part due to the large team behind the scenes, but it also puts more pressure on them to hit the Melbourne ratings goals faster.”
Mr. Yiamarelos added that the expectations for the show’s success are high. He speculated that ARN isn’t planning on a gradual rise to the top but is instead aiming for quick results.
“I can’t imagine ARN would be forecasting or budgeting for the show to get to number one by the end of 2026. That’s too far down the track for impatient investors. I would say they’re expecting to hit a successful target of number one or number two by the end of 2025,” he said.
In recent weeks, the show has been attempting to hire an executive producer to replace Pedro Cuccovillo Vitola who was in the role for almost two years. Mr Vitola has been on leave, but that didn’t stop Sandilands from throwing him under a bus, telling listeners that the EP’s attitude was ‘a bit cancerous’, saying he argued with management and hadn’t assembled entries for the annual industry award program.
The vacancy and push to continue to increase audience numbers in the southern state comes as ARN executives made the unusual move to release internal research for investors, showing a 17 per cent improvement in Victorians saying that they’ll ‘consider listening’ to the Kyle & Jackie O Show, and a 29 per cent improvement in Melburnians saying that they have ‘trialled’ the show.
ARN said that on one day in June, the Kyle & Jackie O Show received 3 million phone calls for a promotion where they gave away $5,000 to random callers on the KIIS breakfast show. And, during one 15 minute period on that day, 28 per cent of the calls were originating from Victoria.
The number one radio show that Kyle & Jackie O are trying to beat in Melbourne is hosted by Lauren Phillips & Jason Hawkins who were axed by ARN last year to make way for the Sydney pair.
In a strange twist, Kyle Sandilands was influential in helping Jason ‘Labby’ Hawkins early in his career. The friendship resulted in Kyle accepting an invite to be the MC at Mr Hawkins’ 2012 wedding, but he failed to show, stunning Hawkins, his new wife and guests.
Hawkins confirmed the incident to the Sunday Telegraph, but declined an interview preferring to remain focused on his number one FM Melbourne breakfast show on Nova 100.
Originally published as Simple reason Kyle and Jackie O’s Melbourne gamble backfired
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