KIIS FM radio bosses will trial Abbie Chatfield next week as they push on with unofficial auditions for the new king and queen of Sydney breakfast radio.
The podcaster and TV presenter follows Network 10 personality Georgie Tunny, who had a stint behind the breakfast mic this week.
Though radio executives are unwilling to comment on plans to replace Jackie “O” Henderson and her longtime breakfast partner Kyle Sandilands on the KIIS airwaves while the duo’s separate unfair dismissal lawsuits are in front of the Federal Court, sources say talks are well underway with prospective talent who may take over from them – albeit on greatly reduced salaries.
KIIS FM execs are said to have been hugely encouraged by the results of the first radio rating results released on Thursday.
MORE: Kyle’s secret $14m move amid court battle
Despite expectations the KIIS FM audience would plummet – in line with staff morale and parent company ARN’s share price, which has halved to 29c during the past 12 months – the breakfast show in fact reached 37,000 more listeners in both Sydney and Melbourne in the second GfK radio survey of the year than it did in the previous survey.
Cumulative ratings figures show that in Sydney, 673,000 listeners tuned into the KIIS breakfast program between February 8 and April 4.
That figure compares favourably with the 636,000 who tuned in during January/February for the year’s opening survey, more than half of which was helmed by Sandilands and Henderson.
In Melbourne too, the KIIS breakfast audience lifted by 37,000 listeners from 403,000 to 440,000 from survey one to two.
MORE:Jackie secured $30m exit plan before quitting
The ratings results, down only a nominal 23,000 in Sydney on figures recorded for the final two surveys of 2025, are being treated internally at ARN as the final nail in the coffin for Sandilands’ reported hopes of reconciling with Henderson and returning to the broadcaster’s airwaves, say sources.
This is despite his co-host telling her ARN bosses in February she could no longer work with her long-time radio partner.
As the duo’s lawyers head back to the Federal Court on Friday for their separate $80 million-plus unfair dismissal cases, KIIS FM’s new director of content metro radio Dave Cameron is pushing on with restoration plans.
At the heart of the radio executive’s vision is to create a sense of stability on the airwaves by retaining some of Sandilands’ and Henderson’s popular on-air support players – namely newsreader Brooklyn Ross and producer/reporter Intern Pete Deppeler.
The program’s executive producer of 18 months, Natalie “Croat Nat” Penfold, is also still currently at the wheel of the show.
While Kent “Smallzy” Small initially took the reins in the first two weeks after Sandilands’ March 3 departure, Mike “E” Etheridge has been holding the fort for the past five weeks.
A radio veteran of two decades, Etheridge was previously host of 2DAYFM’s weekend breakfast show with his long-time radio partner Emma Chow.
The pair moved to the SCA-owned station in 2022 after a decade together on ARN’s Edge 96.1.
However, their networked program, Mike E and Emma, was cancelled in late 2024 after Chow was tapped by bosses to join 2DAYFM’s weekday breakfast show alongside Nathan Roye and Jimmy Smith. This came after the cancellation of the Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan show in August 2024.
Smith later left the breakfast show citing mental health issues.
While Chow was promoted to the coveted slot by Cameron, Etheridge was soon searching for new opportunities. In February, after leaving SCA, he launched independent podcast Behind the Mic.
Cameron’s decision not to reunite Chow and Etheridge on 2DAY breakfast is helping to drive claims Dubai-based Kris Fade is Sandilands’ heir apparent.
Adding further fuel to those claims are reports Fade has been busy relocating his family home to Australia from the UAE in recent weeks.
Sources claim there may yet be one sticking point with Fade – his asking price.
With Sandilands’ and Henderson’s lawsuits still dominating media, ARN execs are yet to comment on speculation they are now auditioning talent to replace the duo.
ARN’s recently appointed chief content officer Kerri Elstub meanwhile seemed at pains yesterday to convey to one industry newsletter just how much in synch she and Cameron are regarding the breakfast show rebuild.
“I talk to Dave more than I talk to my husband,” she told Radio Today.
In recent weeks, there have been rumours the former Nine executive has found herself out of her depth at ARN due to her limited radio experience.
Elstub, Nine’s former news website boss, was made redundant by Nine in September after 35 years with that company.
After 31 years at SCA, ARN’s new content boss Cameron meanwhile is under no illusions about the onerous task ahead of him.
There’s already a car-crash precedent for that challenge; Sandilands’ and Henderson’s sensational 2013 walkout from SCA. By survey one of 2014, they were back on top of the radio ratings race and 2DAY had shed more than half its audience.
The duo’s move to ARN was the catalyst for a decade of soul-searching at SCA and coincided with the departures of a host of big name executives.
Among them were CEOs Rhys Holleran and Grant Blackley, chief content officer Guy Dobson, group content director Craig Bruce, music director Mickey Maher and Hit Network content boss Gemma O’Neill, Henderson’s agent and friend, who has managed to score a mention in ARN’s counter lawsuit.
Somehow, Cameron managed to survive at SCA until 2025.
While giving little of his repair plans away to Radio Today yesterday, Cameron expects the next six months to be turbulent for ARN.
“I think there’ll be an audience wash over the next six months, and that is natural, and we will rebuild a relationship with what I believe will be a high level of audience that we’ll be able to sustain in that market with a new approach and some fresh voices, a new strategy … and highly commercial,” he said.
ABC radio wipes out
Meanwhile, ABC Local radio has continued to haemorrhage listeners in its latest radio survey, with the national broadcaster in deep trouble in Sydney and Melbourne.
In Sydney, the problems start with the morning show hosted by Hamish Macdonald, a man revered by a succession of media bosses, though not necessarily by Australian audiences.
In the latest radio survey, Macdonald’s audience share plunged to just 3.9 – his lowest result to date and down from a previous 5.5 per cent market share.
The problem, say radio veterans speaking to this column on Thursday, is that Macdonald remains largely unknown to his audience; too private to regale his audience with detailed stories about his family, his dog or his bad weekend renovations and too aloof to make callers feel like they can drop their guard.
“He’s also not a ‘personality’ in the traditional sense,” said one ABC Sydney loyalist.
“He shares little of himself and lacks star quality. He’s a journalist first and that’s not what we want from ABC702 presenters. We want to hear from people much like ourselves. Warm, witty, fierce and deeply flawed though pretty fabulous.”
A year earlier, in his first radio ratings survey following his move to ABC Sydney, Macdonald managed to capture 6.4 per cent of Sydney’s listening audience in March 2025.
The figure was down on his predecessor Sarah McDonald, who reached an audience share of 7.5 in her final complete survey of 2024 before being sacked to make way for the one-time Q&A host.
Despite this, it was a share to build on.
By survey four of 2025, however, Macdonald’s audience had slumped to 4.6.
It rallied slightly in subsequent surveys that year, although never topped his once-off all-time highest peak of 7.1, acquired in survey six of 2025.
Chris Bath’s replacement in the drive slot, Thomas Oriti, recorded an even worse result in the survey.
Oriti was down to a 3.3 share from his previous 3.9.
In Melbourne, Oriti’s share looked pretty good compared to his stablemates.
The national broadcaster’s local station fell across the board in that city.
It was down to a 5 share at breakfast with Bob Murphy and Richelle Hunt (sitting in for an on maternity leave Sharnelle Vella), a 4.3 share in mornings with Raf Epstein, a 2.8 share in afternoons with Brigitte Duclos and a 2.5 share in drive with Ali Moore.
Wilkinson’s new book hot ticket
Lisa Wilkinson appears to have a hit on her hands with her latest book, The Titanic Struggle of Evelyn.
The book, which details the life of Australian nurse and keen rower Evelyn Marsden, survivor of the Titanic disaster, was confirmed as the number one top-selling nonfiction title in the country in its first week out.
The book also topped Amazon book sales locally and is third overall bestseller on retail sales tracker Bookscan.
A second reprint is now said to be underway.
While this columnist’s invitation to the book’s glittering launch was apparently lost in the mail, the event, held at Sydney’s Maritime Museum last week, was attended by an impressive guest list.
Along with the PM’s wife Jodie Haydon and NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, Midnight Oil lead singer Peter Garrett made an appearance as did Andrew Denton, TV journo Jennifer Byrne, Wilkinson’s former barrister Sue Chrysanthou and heiress Gretel Packer.
But it was former PM Julia Gillard who broke up the room when she noted wryly that she must be the only person in the world to have hated the James Cameron film Titanic.
“I kept looking at my watch thinking ‘I wish this bloody thing would sink’,” she said to laughs before musing “ … I’ve had a hard life in politics.”
