![\"Calum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ed13c528ff29429d0a4267821595c52ca2cdc4cc.png\")
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August 4, 2026 \u2014 4:00pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Kyle Sandilands claims to have beaten former Today host Karl Stefanovic to securing an interview with alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith<\/a> as one of the first guests on his new show Kyle Sandilands Live, betting listeners will pay $99 a year to listen to guests including the disgraced soldier.<\/p>\n The sacked radio host will launch his new show on his subscription platform next week, which will be more political than his KIIS FM broadcasts as he spends time with One Nation politicians after his legal battle with his former employer.<\/p>\n Sandilands told this masthead he had gloated to Stefanovic<\/a> about securing the interview with Roberts-Smith, who the pair were both chasing, as the former SAS soldier defends five charges of war crimes and faces a potential life prison sentence.<\/p>\n He said he had asked Stefanovic whether he had arranged to interview Roberts-Smith. \u201cHe went \u2018ah\u2026\u2019,\u201d Sandilands said, before the former KIIS FM broadcaster boasted: \u201cI\u2019ve got him locked.\u201d<\/p>\n Sources close to the former soldier disputed that Sandilands had locked in a conversation with Roberts-Smith, or even had direct discussions about the prospect.<\/p>\n The potential interview with the soldier, who was found by a civil court to have ordered the execution of a captive in cold blood, and is fighting related criminal allegations, shows how Sandilands could follow Stefanovic\u2019s playbook of courting the political Right after departing from mainstream media.<\/p>\n Roberts-Smith, who lost a major defamation case against this masthead<\/a> over its extensive reporting on his actions in Afghanistan<\/a>, has become a totem of groups on the right, including One Nation<\/a>, who paint him as a victim or scapegoat.<\/p>\n But Sandilands has denied that going down the path of conservative politics is about money, claiming that Stefanovic\u2019s show is not proving lucrative, and dismissing comedian Dave Hughes\u2019 recent political awakening<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the f—\u2019s going on with Hughesy, but I\u2019d love to have him on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sandilands was sacked by ARN<\/a> in March after an on-air blow-up<\/a> with his former co-host Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson, who he is accused of bullying. The pair both sued the company. Sandilands settled his case in June<\/a>, securing around $12 million and the ability to get back on air.<\/p>\n After a campaign by activist group the Mad F—ing Witches plagued his last two years on commercial radio and cost Sandilands\u2019 employers more than $30 million, he has designed his new show to avoid advertising, offering a direct-to-consumer product for $99 a year, or $1.90 a week.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to dodge those left lunatic Witch people. They\u2019re f—ing a nightmare, those old trolls,\u201d Sandilands said.<\/p>\n Witches founder Jenny Hill said the group would wait to see Sandilands\u2019 new broadcasts before deciding whether to target his independent project, but had heard similar insults before. \u201cIf wanting equality and safety for women is a \u2018lefty\u2019 position then so be it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Sandilands has no regrets over his conduct toward Henderson, instead shifting much of the blame onto his former co-host.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t regret saying the comments to Jackie because it needed to be said. If it brought on an early exit from the show and the implosion of that show, then that\u2019s unfortunate. But what are we supposed to do? Just pretend here for the rest of the nine years that everything\u2019s fine?\u201d Sandilands said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, really in my heart, and I could be completely wrong… think that she only has this legal position to be in, or she\u2019s f—ed,\u201d Sandilands said.<\/p>\n He said he did not blame ARN for backing away from its decade-long contract with him and had even urged his friend, TV host and entertainer Sophie Monk, to accept an offer from ARN<\/a> as the network desperately tries to recover advertisers.<\/p>\n \u201cSophie rang me yesterday again from Fiji,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been chasing her like three or four times. I said look, just f—ing take the job. Someone\u2019s gonna get the money.\u201d<\/p>\n But he also claimed that ARN was a \u201chouse of cards\u201d. Since it announced a $200 million contract with Sandilands and Henderson in 2023, ARN\u2019s share price had cratered, chief executive Ciaran Davis departed, and hundreds of staff had been made redundant.<\/p>\n Sandilands said he hoped not to testify against Henderson by ARN, whose picture he still has on his office wall, after the company was given leave to use one of his legal filings against her, but would not \u201cgo to prison for her\u201d by refusing to show up if asked.<\/p>\n ARN, which operates the Gold and KIIS networks, declined to comment.<\/p>\n Sandilands said his court battle with ARN had changed his view of the legal system. \u201cI really was under the stupid impression, like quite foolishly, that the justice system looks after everyone, whether you\u2019re cashed up or not, and I was quite surprised that if you don\u2019t have the cash, you\u2019re screwed.\u201d<\/p>\n Self-described as \u201cright of centre,\u201d Sandilands plans to push further into politics with his new show, backed by a developing relationship with Hanson, who he recently dropped at Sydney Airport in his Rolls-Royce, and her star recruit, Barnaby Joyce.<\/p>\n Related Article However, he has told Joyce that One Nation had a \u201cmessaging issue\u201d after spending a night chatting on a boat, arguing it should focus on issues such as crime rather than an outlandish scheme to divert Queensland\u2019s rainfall to the south.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you actually look into what their policies are, they\u2019re not as bad as what you think,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n Putting his own show to air without Henderson isn\u2019t the only major change Sandilands has had to make. He said he used to \u201clove a couple of lines back in the day\u201d, but had given the habit up after a well-documented brain aneurysm last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to stay alive for my child. So, the thrill of having a line versus dying, it was a no-brainer contest. I decided to hang the nostrils up and just be a nice dad.\u201d <\/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 Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3a4c0658d66719c84d2020b5a9a6f015900e5770.jpeg\")
Kyle Sandilands has designed his new online radio show to give him a megaphone that cannot be silenced by pressure on advertisers. Steven Siewert<\/p>\n![\"Sandilands](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/75f99dc83b089d7c94d6b505f3779f230ce32001.jpeg\")
Sandilands speaks to the SMH and The Age with a framed picture of he and Henderson behind his desk.Steven Siewert<\/p>\n![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dc63225d8bb80457ddd4fd149a09ddc66cb05bb8.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Calum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768870210_233_ed13c528ff29429d0a4267821595c52ca2cdc4cc.png\")
Calum 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":"August 4, 2026 \u2014 4:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-843036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843036","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=843036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}