Kyle and Jackie O in Brisbane: ‘It’s on!’
Radio rumour mill goes into overdrive. Also: a Vietnamese vlogger in the River City.
The Australian Radio Network’s, Kyle and Jackie O Breakfast Show will be broadcast in Brisbane next year, replacing the local KIIS 973 program starring Robin Bailey and Kip Wightman, radio insiders insist.
Kyle Sandilands has made no secret of the fact that he wants the show to be heard in his hometown. He said so in April this year.
Given ARN bet the farm (reportedly to the tune of $100 million apiece) on securing his and Jackie Henderson’s services for 10 years, networking was always the game plan. ARN even seems undeterred by a disastrous foray into the Melbourne market this year.
Persistent rumours of the change hit overdrive over the weekend when it was revealed that a key production role on the Brisbane show has been made redundant due to a “content restructure”.
There are also reports of a top-level meeting in Sydney this week, with speculation that Bailey and Wightman — whose solid ratings performance, including a surge in the most recent survey, suggests they deserve better than to be unceremoniously dumped — may be offered another opportunity within ARN.
One observer simply said last night: “It’s on.”
The Kyle and Jackie O Show was launched into Melbourne last year and has done very poorly in the ratings. Sandilands did himself no favours by supercharging it with what observers have called “lazy smut” and “filth”.
Network bosses have since insisted that that “graphic sexual” element would be toned down — although Sandilands said that was “the sh-ttest idea I had ever heard in my life”.
One wonders exactly how much control management has over what comes out of Sandilands’ mouth given that even in-studio censors who were appointed at the insistence of the media regulator have been unable to stop the smut going to air.
Will Sandilands’ and Henderson’s shtick work in Brisbane? The main effect is has had in Melbourne so far is to slice valuable ratings points from KIIS and transferred them to competitor Nova, which cleverly picked up the booted breakfast team of Jase Hawkins (a former friend of Sandilands’ who was known on B105 as “Labrat”) and Lauren Phillips. It also mobilised a group known as Mad F—-ing Witches, which is lobbying advertisers to withdraw their support from the show.
If the growing rumours are true, it may be that the Kyle and Jackie O Show does well in the River City. Brisbane people are, arguable, close in terms of interests and mindset to the people of Sydney. But will they find Sandilands and Henderson engaging and relevant?
It’s hard for me to tell, because it’s not a show I’ll be listening to by choice. Nor would I expect them to listen to me — but if they are looking for a clue on how to launch in Brisbane, maybe they should take some advice from Radio Futurologist James Cridland. You can read his assessment here.
Meanwhile …
At a time of significant retirements and retrenchments in radio, it seems a lot of people in Sydney are asking: Who will be the next Ray Hadley, referencing the former-top-rating 2GB Mornings announcer? Well, I’ve got an answer: nobody.
Certainly, somebody will be appointed to his position when he vacates it, but it’s extremely unlikely that any individual will have such a long run of ratings success. Nor will they ever wield the power that Hadley has, and the likes of Alan Jones and John Laws (who has also just retired) had before him.
The day of the “voice of God” talkback radio host who can singlehandedly swing an election as easily as flog fly spray is over. And that’s a good thing.
There will be individuals in the media who are influential, but they will play to niche audiences through other means, not to mass, geographically narrow markets on free-to-air radio.
VLOGGER’S VIEW
I was delighted to find this video from Vietnamese YouTube creator Uyen Ninh (pictured above), who was recently in Brisbane. You may have seen what she calls her “goofy” content — funny shorts about her life in Europe with her German boyfriend that attract millions of views — but she also makes thoughtful and engaging longform videos. Her experience of Brisbane (shot mainly around South Bank Parklands with a bit of footage from Australia Zoo) is certainly worth checking out. Spoiler: she really liked it here.
Faecal matter is too good a term for Sandilands. The former breaks down in soil to enrich the earth, the latter is toxic and what he says is toxic waste.