Get Kyle
Yesterday Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson topped the Sydney ratings across both AM and FM for the first time. This exclusive extract from Tim Burrowes’s new book Media Unmade, which is published today by Hardie Grant, tells the story of how the duo was poached from 2DayFM to Kiis.
In Sydney there was a big decision to be made by Southern Cross Austereo.
The contracts for Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson in the 2Day FM breakfast slot were up for renewal at the end of 2013. And although The Kyle & Jackie O Show had been number one for the past six years, the management seemed to be half-hearted about re-signing them.
The fallout from the 2012 prank-call scandal was reverberating and the radio network had retreated into its shell. As the lengthy regulatory process dragged on, the station was still facing the possibility of having its broadcasting licence suspended. Producers now had to use a risk-management app as part of their show-planning process. Every creative idea needed to be assessed for risk. Although the prank call had taken place on a different show, the network was now completely risk-averse, and Sandilands was nothing if not edgy.
There was also the problem that, although the show was top rating, its various controversies had turned advertising buyers against it. The on-air incidents – the lie detector, the ‘piece of shit’ attack on Alison Stephenson, and the Magda Szubanski concentration camp gaffe – had all been turnoffs for advertisers. One 2Day FM sales staffer recalls presenting to media agencies, and when Sandilands’s name was mentioned, the body language would change, and staff would fold their arms.
