Analysis

Radio Survivor: Jackie blindsided Kyle, and ARN blindsided both of them

Last week, ARN Media issued a bombshell notice on the ASX that the Kyle and Jackie O Show was over, with Jackie Henderson’s contract torn up, and Kyle Sandilands shoved onto a 14-day slip’n’slide towards the exit.

It seemed from the wording of ARN’s filing that Henderson pulled the plug on the show, after a seven-day absence that followed an on-air fight. However, on Friday night she issued a statement that suggests she was as blindsided as the rest of Australia by the demise of the program. Tim Burrowes unpacks radio’s messiest debacle.

Tim Burrowes

March 9, 2026 9:39

Radio Survivor: Jackie blindsided Kyle, and ARN blindsided both of them

Kyle and Jackie O vs ARN? The plot thickens!

For the best part of two decades, The Kyle and Jackie O Show was not just Australia’s most successful FM breakfast show, but set a global standard.

You could like or hate (and many did) Kyle Sandilands but you’d have to recognise his mastery of the craft of radio. It was such a sad way for the show to end, without a proper goodbye to its many listeners.

Then there’s the business side of it. The Kyle and Jackie O Show brought about the downfall of 2Day FM and the rise of Kiis FM.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.