{"id":338477,"date":"2026-03-20T03:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T03:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/338477\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T03:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T03:07:10","slug":"sydney-radio-shock-jock-sacking-show-leads-ratings-one-last-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/338477\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney radio shock-jock sacking: Show leads ratings one last time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyle Sandilands released a blistering statement this week<\/a> after ARN announced it had terminated his contract.<\/p>\n

The shock jock made it clear that he wants to be allowed back behind the microphone, saying: \u201cI\u2019ve got a contract until 2034. I\u2019ve got rights under that contract. And ARN hasn\u2019t honoured the contract. So, it\u2019s over to my lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WillWill Kyle return to radio?<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cTo the people who tune in every morning \u2013 you lot are the reason I\u2019ve done this for 25 years. You didn\u2019t get a say in this. Neither did I. But my lawyers will. I\u2019m not done. Not by a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

What will Kyle and Jackie O\u2019s listeners do now?<\/p>\n

There are genuine fears within the industry that Kyle and Jackie O fans will now turn their back on radio altogether, rather than find a new breakfast show to listen to.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the audience feedback that I\u2019m seeing, this is certainly a likely fallout,\u201d Craig Bruce, host of the Game Changers Radio podcast, told news.com.au recently. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been no other radio show like Kyle and Jackie O,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have been the benchmark, and if you\u2019ve been listening to them for 20 years, the alternatives are weak sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n

If hundreds of thousands of people were to give up on radio in favour of podcasts, streaming or audiobooks, it could have a devastating impact on the industry\u2019s ad rates and revenue. <\/p>\n

\"JackieJackie O. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Talent would have to take pay cuts, some would be let go, the numbers of producers and back-end staff could shrink, and more shows could be networked rather than having local shows in each city. <\/p>\n

What are the alternatives?<\/p>\n

After years of stability, the Sydney FM breakfast market has seen a massive shake-up in recent months.<\/p>\n

Gold FM\u2019s Jonesy and Amanda wrapped up their breakfast show after 20 years, with Nova\u2019s Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie also saying goodbye to the 6-9am slot.<\/p>\n

Who will win?<\/p>\n

The sudden collapse of the Kyle and Jackie O Show means the Sydney FM breakfast throne is vacant for the first time in 20 years.<\/p>\n

So who will rise to seize their crowns?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have a much better idea on April 23 when the second round of radio ratings are set to be released.<\/p>\n

Until then, you can bet each station will be doing all they can to lure over Kyle and Jackie\u2019s loyal listeners, assuming of course those people are willing to give radio a second chance.<\/p>\n

Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyle Sandilands released a blistering statement this week after ARN announced it had terminated his contract. The shock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[27245,34088,156,5904,71,28163,81548,44012,685,22055,157,111,139,69,5270,4965,10465,162431,181166,179549,1305,1734,2044,197],"class_list":["post-338477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-beyond","tag-delivered","tag-entertainment","tag-final","tag-from","tag-grave","tag-jackie","tag-kyle","tag-last","tag-leads","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-one","tag-radio","tag-ratings","tag-sacking","tag-screw","tag-shockjock","tag-show","tag-sydney","tag-time","tag-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}