{"id":454471,"date":"2026-05-31T20:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/454471\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T20:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:26:13","slug":"dave-hughes-on-kyle-and-jackies-downfall-getting-sacked-and-the-sad-future-of-the-radio-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/454471\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Hughes on Kyle and Jackie\u2019s downfall, getting sacked and the sad future of the radio industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: There are some Aussie stars<\/a> who come to an interview armed with media training designed to dodge any hint of controversy. Then, there\u2019s Dave Hughes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk me whatever you want,\u201d the beloved comic, 54, says with a grin. \u201cI\u2019ve come to a point in my life where I\u2019ve given up caring. The less you care, the happier you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

Dave Hughes is an open book when it comes to all aspects of his life.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

This mantra means it takes a mere few seconds before he\u2019s off spinning yarns like there\u2019s no tomorrow, recalling the exact moment he had that epiphany \u2013 the day he got sacked.<\/p>\n

It was 2024 when his hit 2DayFM radio<\/a> show Hughesy, Ed & Erin came to an abrupt halt after four years on air. No farewell to the audience, no fanfare, nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought people would think less of me,\u201d Hughes admits. \u201cThen, after about a day, I realised that no one\u2019s thinking about me at all. It was liberating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in those rating surveys for 20, 25 years. Every six weeks you\u2019re worried about what the number is and whether it will ruin your reputation. Then eventually, after all that time, I get sacked. It didn\u2019t ruin my reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I say to everyone \u2013 stop worrying. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was about to bring up another radio duo whose hit breakfast show recently ended abruptly \u2013 albeit, under more legally contentious circumstances \u2013 but he beats me to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt honestly doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re the best or the worst, whether you get a $100 million contract and you look like you\u2019re the bee\u2019s knees, because five minutes later you could be gone,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t feel jealous of other people, because their time\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

His thinly veiled reference, of course, surrounds Kyle Sandilands<\/a> and Jackie \u2018O\u2019 Henderson<\/a>, whose tenure at KIIS FM shattered this year<\/a> amid messy, multi-million-dollar wrongful termination lawsuits and a counter-suit from parent company ARN.<\/p>\n

The Kyle and Jackie O Show\u2019s demise came just two years after the pair signed a landmark $200 million, 10-year contract that was set to last until 2034.<\/p>\n

Hughesy famously branded Sandilands a \u201cmassive d–khead\u201d during a Logies gag years ago, sparking a long-running public feud. When I ask if they\u2019re still enemies, he laughs it off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone laughed [at the joke], except Kyle!\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His tone shifts slightly when speaking about what he thinks was the beginning of the end for the blockbuster breakfast radio show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know them, and they\u2019re fine. I have no issue with them,\u201d he says of Sandilands and Henderson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kyle and Jackie O’s hit radio show came to an abrupt halt earlier this year.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, you know, when you promote how much money you\u2019re making and then half the people around you have been sacked because there\u2019s no money left, it\u2019s clearly going to you … The company is eventually going to go, \u2018Well, we can\u2019t make money.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough environment now. Media is tough. We all know that because of the change in the world and the way that advertisers are spending their money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen the change, and we\u2019ve all seen it. I go to radio stations now, and there used to be about 100 desks, and now there\u2019s about two people. There\u2019s no one in there. It\u2019s a different world. That\u2019s something in many different environments now, and it\u2019s going to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughesy returns to comic mode when I ask what he\u2019d say if ARN phoned to offer him the breakfast radio slot himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really need the money at the moment, to be honest, so it\u2019s probably a no,\u201d he says. \u201cBut, you know, still ask me, we can talk. I want $150 million, though! How\u2019s that going to go down in the company? You got that left after you pay the lawyers? Probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I ask who he\u2019d like to see take over, his response is equally candid. \u201cI don\u2019t care, to be honest,\u201d he says, with a smile. \u201cThe world has changed so much that I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as big of a deal as it used to be. Whoever goes into any job, I hope they do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he jests about the chaos of the industry, Hughes admits staying sane in the modern world comes down to a very deliberate choice in how you process reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a choice between laughing and crying,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cCrying can be fun, don\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019ll cry many internal tears of self-pity, basically most of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can also laugh. I say to my kids every day, \u2018Guys, you only ever really live inside your own head, and you make every decision about your life because life is just perception.\u2019 Nothing else really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hughesy, it\u2019s the live stand-up stage where he feels most alive.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s in the midst of a mammoth Australian tour for his new show, Cooked, playing dates right across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m going everywhere,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you want me, just contact me on any socials, and I\u2019ll probably turn up to where you are.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

Hughesy’s new mantra is not care about what anyone thinks. \u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to be completely honest, stand-up comedy is where I get my real joy, and it always has been. There\u2019s nothing like the thrill of being on stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting better and better, and loving it more and more, and because of my new attitude of not caring, I\u2019m more relaxed on stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo honestly? I would be happy just to do stand-up comedy every night for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Hughes\u2019 new stand-up show, Cooked, is currently touring nationally until the end of August. For tour dates and tickets, visit davehughes.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: There are some Aussie stars who come to an interview armed with media training designed to dodge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-454471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454471","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=454471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}