{"id":624706,"date":"2026-04-23T01:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624706\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:16:16","slug":"kiis-fm-breakfast-show-rises-in-melbourne-but-falls-in-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624706\/","title":{"rendered":"KIIS FM breakfast show rises in Melbourne but falls in Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Calum<\/p>\n

Updated April 23, 2026 \u2014 10:20am,first published April 23, 2026 \u2014 9:32am<\/p>\n

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The breakfast show on KIIS FM enjoyed a minor ratings bump in Melbourne after The Kyle & Jackie O Show\u2019s disintegration, while dropping share in Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u2018O\u2019 Henderson\u2019s home market of Sydney.<\/p>\n

The second ratings survey of the year, released on Thursday morning, captured a period spanning February 8 to April 4, meaning the majority of it fell after the pair\u2019s final show in mid-February and Sandilands\u2019 suspension on March 3.<\/p>\n

\"KyleKyle and Jackie O won lucrative contracts on the hope that their show could become a national success, which did not work.<\/p>\n

Sandilands and Henderson received $100 million, 10-year contracts<\/a> each in 2023 on the hopes that their show would become a national success, beginning in Melbourne. But it struggled in the southern city, where the pair\u2019s coarse, sexualised content turned off listeners.<\/p>\n

KIIS\u2019s owner ARN Media terminated Henderson\u2019s contract in March, alleging she had effectively rescinded the agreement by telling the station via her lawyers she could not work with Sandilands after he berated her live on air. The company sacked him a fortnight later on the basis of alleged serious misconduct. Both stars are challenging the moves, with Sandilands alleging he was playing the controversial character expected of him, and Henderson alleging ARN retaliated against her for complaining about Sandilands\u2019 behaviour.<\/p>\n

Since hosted by fill-in presenter Mike E, whose real surname is Etheridge, the KIIS breakfast time slot has dropped share in Sydney, falling from a 12.7 per cent share to 11.7 per cent, but rose in Melbourne from 5.1 per cent to 5.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The show did gain total listeners \u2013 which reflects the total number of listeners who tuned in for at least eight minutes during the period \u2013 in both markets as the media circus around the duo has intensified, with both since sacked by ARN, launching dual unfair dismissal lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Late on Wednesday evening, this masthead revealed that ARN has filed counter claims<\/a> against both presenters and their private companies, citing loss of advertising revenue and profits.<\/p>\n

The ABC<\/a> again delivered its worst share for its local stations in Melbourne and Sydney since modern records began. In Melbourne, it dropped to a 3.9 per cent total share in the second survey, down from 5.4 per cent. There were declines across all shows across the day. The station\u2019s drive show hosted by Ali Moore had a share of just 2.5 per cent, down 2.3 percentage points.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, the station fell to a 4.3 per cent share, down from 5.1 per cent, also with declines across all shows. Its drive show also fell to just 3.3 per cent, down from 3.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"ABC<\/a><\/p>\n

It was another tough survey for ARN\u2019s other station, Gold FM, having launched its Melbourne breakfast program, The Christian O\u2019Connell Show, into Sydney this year, replacing long-time offering Jonesy & Amanda. The Gold breakfast show got a 5.5 per cent share, down from 6.1 per cent. In the final survey of 2025, the station had a 9.7 per cent share in the slot.<\/p>\n

But in Melbourne, O\u2019Connell\u2019s show was again the top-rating commercial breakfast show with a 10.5 per cent share, only bested by 3AW\u2019s perennially top-rating talkback show hosted by Russel Howcroft and Ross Stevenson (18.9 per cent).<\/p>\n

Nine, which owns this masthead, also owns 3AW and its Sydney sister station 2GB. It has agreed to sell those stations to the wealthy publican Laundy family. The $56 million transaction is scheduled to be completed in one week.<\/p>\n

2GB shared top spot in Sydney with Smooth FM, both landing on a 13.3 per cent share, with Ben Fordham topping the breakfast rankings with a 16.8 per cent share.<\/p>\n

Radio National\u2019s share in Melbourne grew from 1.2 per cent to 1.6 per cent, but fell in Sydney from 1.2 to 1.1 per cent overall.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"CalumCalum Jaspan<\/a> is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 23, 2026 \u2014 10:20am,first published April 23, 2026 \u2014 9:32am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-624706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}