Kyle and Jackie O\u2019s longtime radio offsider has dropped a bombshell.<\/p>\n
Peter Deppeler, known on KIIS FM as \u2018Intern Pete\u2019, announced on Monday morning that he will be joining Christian O\u2019Connell\u2019s Gold FM breakfast show from May 25.<\/p>\n
Pete will be a roving reporter for the show covering events from around the country, and will also serve as a senior producer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known Christian for years,\u201d Pete told news.com.au. \u201cThe last couple of months (at KIIS FM) have been a bit crazy, and he (Christian) touched base and said \u2018g\u2019day\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started chatting and maybe a month or so ago he broached the idea of \u2018would you be interested in perhaps joining the show?\u2019\u201d Pete said.<\/p>\n
The offer was a dream come true for Pete, who was unsure of his next move following the demise of The Kyle and Jackie O Show, of which he\u2019d been a huge part for 12.5 years.<\/p>\n
Apart from newsreader Brooklyn Ross, Pete was arguably the most well known person from the KIIS FM breakfast show\u2019s supporting cast.<\/p>\n
What did Kyle have to say<\/p>\n
When asked if he\u2019d received Kyle\u2019s blessing to jump ship to Gold FM, Pete told news.com.au, \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to Kyle and Jackie since they have been away from ARN, so no is the short answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s fairly certain though that Kyle would approve.<\/p>\n
\u201cKyle\u2019s always wanted happiness for me. I hope he\u2019s happy for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What the new boss had to say<\/p>\n
Christian O\u2019Connell already has a pretty full team for his Gold FM breakfast show.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s Riordan \u201cRio\u201d Lee, a producer who is heard on air each day, there\u2019s newsreader Patrina Jones, and ex-Today personality Alex Cullen who serves as the show\u2019s sports guru.<\/p>\n
But Christian was more than happy to add Pete to the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cPete is one of the most genuinely loved voices in Australian breakfast radio, and he\u2019s chosen this as his next chapter,\u201d the Gold FM star said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an extraordinary talent who\u2019s ready to evolve, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder that he\u2019s chosen the Bright Side of the Dial to do it on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete\u2019s biggest fan<\/p>\n
Kyle and Jackie O listeners would be well aware how close Pete was to his mum, Helen, who sadly passed away five years ago from cancer.<\/p>\n
Helen was a fan favourite who frequently called into the radio show, and once even auditioned to be a producer on the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday was Mother\u2019s Day and the first phone call I wanted to make when I agreed to do this was to my mum,\u201d Pete told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would have been on a plane straight away, and she never drank but I just know that she would have gone, \u2018we\u2019re having a champagne today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018Sydney Play\u2019: Can Pete help Christian\u2019s ratings<\/p>\n
The Christian O\u2019Connell Show entered the Sydney market earlier this year, after broadcasting in Melbourne only since 2018.<\/p>\n
He replaced Jonesy and Amanda on air, who had been hosting the breakfast show on Sydney\u2019s Gold FM for 20 years.<\/p>\n
In the latest round of radio ratings, released in April, The Christian O\u2019Connell Show came equal fourth in the Sydney FM breakfast ratings with a 5.5 per cent audience share.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s well behind market leaders KIIS FM (11.7), Smooth FM (10.9) and Nova (9.0).<\/p>\n
There will be some who will think that hiring Pete, a much loved Sydney personality, is a ratings play by Christian as he tries to win over the harbour city and convince some of Kyle and Jackie O\u2019s old listeners to give him a go.<\/p>\n
But Pete doesn\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I think he got me for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Christian and ARN are putting me there because that\u2019s where I belong, as part of a strong, solid show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete will farewell the KIIS FM listeners on May 22 before making his Gold FM debut on May 25.<\/p>\n
You can listen to The Christian O\u2019Connell Show from 6-9am weekdays on GOLD101.7 in Sydney, GOLD104.3 in Melbourne, and on GOLD DAB+ in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyle and Jackie O\u2019s longtime radio offsider has dropped a bombshell. Peter Deppeler, known on KIIS FM as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[175609,244549,244539,2840,18614,244538,244554,244552,49,48,244547,75,192058,244541,244548,244543,34533,244542,244546,244544,244540,13586,341,22751,18600,175614,14404,244550,113498,244545,244551,244553,1856,18581,16420],"class_list":["post-661480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-alex-cullen","tag-andrew-bucklow","tag-audience-share","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-breakfast-radio","tag-breakfast-ratings","tag-breakfast-show","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-christian-oconnell","tag-entertainment","tag-fan-favourite","tag-gday","tag-harbour-city","tag-help-christian","tag-jake-nowakowski","tag-jonesy","tag-longtime-offsider","tag-longtime-radio-offsider","tag-market-leaders","tag-melbourne","tag-music","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-patrina-jones","tag-perth","tag-peter-deppeler","tag-radio-star","tag-sports-guru","tag-stuart-mcevoy","tag-surprise-move","tag-sydney","tag-victoria","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}