Lauren Joyce took on the most unenviable job in Australian radio – spinning the unspinnable and managing the unmanageable.

When she accepted the newly-created role as ARN’s Chief Audience and Content Officer in January this year, Joyce became the public face of a trainwreck that was not of her making.

Doing the baton change with then-departing Chief Content Officer Duncan Campbell, Joyce, in good faith, picked up a poisoned chalice and began her ill-fated leg of the ARN relay.

You wouldn’t have wanted to be in her shoes for quids come survey day.

And yet, she always showed up – with all the grace and good humour that she could muster – left to shoulder ARN’s eye-watering investment in Kyle & Jackie O and their now-infamous X-rated entry into the Melbourne radio market, which outgoing ARN CEO Ciaran Davis himself described as an ‘unmitigated disaster.’

But that was just the tip of the iceberg this radio Titanic had hit.

Joyce inherited the pushback over cost-cutting, and not just the usual fat trimming. More like hacking – until there’s no fat left, only bone. Wholesale redundancies in every state as part of the sweeping national restructure of ARN’s Gold and KIIS networks, the freefalling share price a constant reminder of the bigger company picture.

Then ACMA suddenly decided to bare its teeth.

Instead of the usual slap on the wrist, it set about imposing a new licence condition preventing Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson from using ‘strong and explicit sexual references’ on their show for five years.

In her recent interview with Serena Ahern for Radioinfo’s Wisdom of Women in Media series, Joyce opened up about the challenge of taking on a different role, despite not having the perfect skillset:

“I don’t claim to know everything, but I’m very aware of where my gaps are. I’m also aware of where my strengths are, so I like to play to my strengths and also trust that I’ve got people around me who can help me in the areas that perhaps I’m not as strong.”

Now – just shy of a year into the job – her position has been made redundant.

Experienced content strategist Irene Hulme feels Joyce has been made a scapegoat.

“They created a brand-new role at the beginning of the year and they put Lauren in it with no content experience or talent management … in THE toughest content role in the history of Australian radio,” says Hulme on the latest episode of the Game Changers Radio podcast.

“They knowingly put her in the toughest role ever, and what I find really frustrating is that clearly, they didn’t provide the support that they needed to.”

“She was managing Kyle Sandilands!” Hulme says, incredulous. “Nobody has had any impact on Kyle. There have been people prior to Lauren who have had absolutely zero impact, who had more time, and who continue to be there.”

Campbell remains with ARN in a consulting and advisory capacity.

When Radio Today spoke to Campbell after the final survey of 2024 – he remained steadfast in his belief that K & J would increase their Melbourne audience in 2025.

“We just have to get Melbourne falling in love with them, that’s all,” he said.

Maybe romance is dead.

One year later, Melburnians love a lot of things: AFL, tennis, trams – even hook turns – but so far, not Kyle and Jackie O.