Chrissie Swan has emerged as a strong contender to replace Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson on the airwaves in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
There has been rampant speculation about who will succeed the duo on breakfast on KIIS FM since ARN radio bosses tore up Sandilands\u2019 and Henderson\u2019s $100 million 10-year contracts.<\/p>\n
Although the duo have long dominated the ratings in Sydney, it is Melbourne radio bosses are focused on.<\/p>\n
Melburnian Swan, who has found herself holding down the unglamorous 2pm-4pm school-run slot on Nova after being shunted from Nova\u2019s breakfast shift in 2022, is well liked.<\/p>\n
If her former radio partner Sam Pang were to be persuaded to reunite with Swan, ARN execs would sit up and take note.<\/p>\n
Swan recorded an 8.2 (up 0.4) radio ratings share in Melbourne in the latest radio survey results released on Thursday. (She and DJ Mel Tracina split the noon to 4pm slot).<\/p>\n
Swan\u2019s result is 60 per cent better than Sandilands and Henderson\u2019s final Melbourne survey result. That result was 5.1.<\/p>\n
Longtime Sandilands\u2019 critic Dave Hughes <\/a>is also out of contract.<\/p>\n A reunion with former partner Kate Langbroek, with whom he hosted a breakfast show for 12 years on Nova before the duo moved to KIIS FM\u2019s drive program in 2015, could also be well received down south.<\/p>\n Then there is the youthful KIIS FM drive duo of Will and Woody, aka Will McMahon and Woody Whitelaw, also from Melbourne and already on the books.<\/p>\n Sydney will be a more difficult proposition, with Sandilands\u2019 and Henderson\u2019s regular listeners expected to switch off in high numbers.<\/p>\n Claims Carrie Bickmore and her radio partner Tommy Little might be persuaded to jump radio companies and timeslots were scotched by industry vets who claimed the duo are under contract until the end of the year, which should provide their employer Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) with ample time to lock them in again.<\/p>\n There was early speculation ARN might look to plug the gap left by Sandilands and Henderson with long-time Gold101.7\/WSFM breakfast favourites Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones, newly transplanted to Drive.<\/p>\n Keller and Jones was one of few bright spots for ARN in the latest radio survey results and the only nationally networked program to romp home.<\/p>\n They delivered an impressive 12 share in Melbourne in the latest survey while remaining static in Sydney\u2019s drive slot with 8.4.<\/p>\n It seems unlikely bosses will move them yet their program is the most obvious fix.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the prayer; that ARN can persuade Henderson (as it indicated it might in its March 3 statement to the ASX) to remain in the KIIS FM fold and return to Breakfast on greatly reduced salary with a new co-host, preferably a Melbourne-bred male and not Marty Sheargold.<\/p>\n Some believe Henderson might be one of few women who could make a partnership with Sheargold work.<\/p>\n Jackie O agent\u2019s $1m buy before firm collapse<\/p>\n The month before failed celebrity agent Gemma O\u2019Neill called in the liquidators<\/a> to her debt-ridden talent agency, the self-styled entrepreneur spent $1,025,000 on a country cottage she claims to have \u201cmanifested\u201d with BFF Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill\u2019s Gemmie Agency Pty Ltd went into voluntary liquidation with debts totalling $546,848 in November.<\/p>\n A statutory creditors report filed last month by administrators Grant Thornton Australia confirmed liquidators are currently pursuing O\u2019Neill, the business\u2019s founder and sole director, for outstanding monies on behalf of creditors including the Australian Taxation Office.<\/p>\n On a podcast aired on February 4, O\u2019Neill gushed to Henderson of having \u201cmanifested hard\u201d \u2013 despite having little money \u2013 on \u201ca little country style cottage and a vegie garden\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI said something along the lines of \u2018Although I\u2019m broke now so I have no idea how I\u2019m ever going to ever afford this\u2019. And now we have a little country cottage,\u201d one-time radio executive O\u2019Neill told Henderson on the women\u2019s Her Best Life podcast, which O\u2019Neill now hosts solo following Henderson\u2019s withdrawal. <\/p>\n Property records show O\u2019Neill purchased the three-bedroom weatherboard Fitzroy Falls home in the NSW Southern Highlands on October 3, 2025 \u2013 seven weeks before she called in liquidators to wind up Gemmie Agency on November 25.<\/p>\n The Fitzroy Falls house settled three weeks later on December 17, allowing O\u2019Neill and Henderson a chance to celebrate Christmas and New Year at the house with O\u2019Neill\u2019s two sons and her partner Scott.<\/p>\n While the subject of O\u2019Neill\u2019s business collapse and subsequent liquidation didn\u2019t come up during the February 4 chat with Henderson, the topic of manifestation boards and astrology \u2013 the subject that blew up Henderson\u2019s two-decades-long radio partnership <\/a>with KIIS FM radio host Kyle Sandilands on February 20 \u2013 did.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 2018 I\u2019ve been divorced, I\u2019ve moved house, I\u2019ve been through some of the hardest things in my entire life \u2013 (but) everything is good now though,\u201d O\u2019Neill said, blaming the disruptive force of Uranus and provoking Henderson to lament that the planet had also been loitering in her astrological house.<\/p>\n Records show two months after O\u2019Neill moved into the 1950s Fitzroy Falls house on 936 sqm of land, the home was back on the market. That was February 10.<\/p>\n The previous day, liquidators had written to the embattled businesswoman requesting full repayment of $421,783 in loans owed to her insolvent company.<\/p>\n On February 20, O\u2019Neill acknowledged the debt to administrators but informed them she was in no financial position to make any contribution toward repayment as she had no available personal savings, limited income, and previous attempts to refinance or otherwise raise funds had been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n \u201c(O\u2019Neill) has indicated she is willing to co-operate and provide supporting documentation but has confirmed that she cannot offer any meaningful settlement at this time,\u201d the administrator\u2019s report stated, before also noting O\u2019Neill\u2019s firm may have been insolvent since December 2024. <\/p>\n As O\u2019Neill would explain to Henderson on February 4, her poor financial position was partly due to the recent expansive renovation of her Sydney home.<\/p>\n Records show O\u2019Neill\u2019s primary home to be a four-bedroom waterfront apartment in Clovelly overlooking the ocean.<\/p>\n