Updated ,first published
The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s final radio ratings survey ended with a whimper as the program lost listeners in Sydney and the now “terminated” duo finished their two-year stint in Melbourne in eighth place.
The first radio ratings survey result of the year was released on Thursday morning, covering a period of time most of which the duo remained on air together before their blow-up. But Jackie “O” Henderson’s one week off-air at the end of the survey period appears to have affected the show’s total audience.
The share result for the duo that have dominated the Sydney market for two decades was unchanged from the final result of 2025, a 12.7 per cent share, 4 percentage points behind market leader Ben Fordham from Nine-owned 2GB.
But their cumulative audience took a hit as they lost 60,000 listeners and ended on 636,000. Both breakfast shows on Nova and Smooth FM had more cumulative listeners across the period.
In Melbourne, however, The Kyle and Jackie O Show had a very marginal boost of 0.1 of a percentage point, rising to 5.1 per cent, yet it remained in eighth place in the slot. Cumulative listeners across the period were unchanged on 403,000 compared to the previous survey.
Jase & Lauren, the duo they replaced in Melbourne who are now presenting the breakfast show on Nova, returned to the No.1 spot among the commercial networks, only bettered by perennial No.1 duo Russel & Ross on talkback station 3AW.
The Nova show jumped to an 11.1 per cent share, up from 8.8 per cent. The 3AW show had an 18.9 per cent share, down from 19.8 per cent.
The first radio ratings period covered January 18 to February 28. Henderson left the show after she was berated by her co-star on air on February 20, leaving Sandilands to broadcast the show alone the following week, the final one of the survey period.
On Wednesday, Sandilands’ contract was terminated by KIIS owner ARN after a 14-day suspension period set for the radio star to “remedy” his alleged act of serious misconduct and contractual breach.
Henderson’s contract was torn up two weeks prior after her representatives had told the company she could no longer work with Sandilands.
Since launching into Melbourne, the show has lost KIIS more than 220,000 listeners at breakfast time, equivalent to 36 per cent of its audience. Less talked about is their performance in Sydney.
This latest result marks an audience loss of 215,000 listeners, or 25 per cent, compared to the same survey result two years ago.
Even worse for ARN, the launch of Christian O’Connell on Gold (KIIS’ sister station) in Sydney has bombed, dropping from a 9.7 per cent share to a 6.1 per cent share.
O’Connell signed a new five-year contract with ARN at the same time Sandilands and Henderson were handed their 10-year deal in 2023. His deal, which runs until the end of 2029, included a national rollout, beginning in Sydney this year.
Like The Kyle and Jackie O Show in Sydney, O’Connell has been a consistent performer in Melbourne, albeit with less controversial content and a station whose audience skews older. His 10.6 per cent share (down from 11) this survey meant he ceded the No.1 FM spot to Nova’s Jase & Lauren.
It has been yet another tough survey for the ABC’s local radio stations, dropping share in both cities. In Sydney, the station delivered its equal worst ever overall share result, with 5.1 per cent. That matches its result from the second survey of 2024.
In Melbourne, ABC’s overall share of 5.4 per cent constituted the largest drop of any station, down 1.1 percentage points. Its breakfast, afternoon, drive and evening shows all lost share.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.