To wrap up 2023, Mediaweek is looking at the biggest trends, events, platforms, and brands of the year.
Welcome to Mediaweek’s A to Z of 2023 … and beyond.
Kyle and Jackie O launching their breakfast show into Melbourne in 2024 has dominated chatter about radio at the end of 2023. Although it may not be the biggest story in radio next year. That honour might go to the ARN and Anchorage Capital takeover offer for SCA and how it plays out.
The other ambitious play from ARN, to network Kyle and Jackie O into Melbourne on KIIS 101.1, will be right up there though.
Last time Kyle and Jackie O turned up on a new metro station (KIIS 106.5) there were ads on air at their new home the day they vacated their old station (2Day FM). The airwaves at KIIS Melbourne are still silent about the next breakfast show.
Kyle and Jackie celebrate recent ARN contract extension
Kyle and Jackie O: When will they launch down south?
This time ARN are carefully planning how they will introduce the show to the Melbourne market. KIIS 101.1 summer breakfast is in the very capable hands of Byron Cooke. In the meantime, the former KIIS 101.1 breakfast show, Jase and Lauren, has been wiped from the KIIS website.
The only presence of Kyle and Jackie O on the website at present is for the daily 6pm Hour of Power and a plug for their podcast. Those two products give only a taste for what the new program will offer. Melbourne listeners who start tuning in at 6am daily next year just might be in for a very wild ride.
The only thing yet confirmed by ARN about the arrival of the new show in Melbourne is that the company has set aside an additional $2m for each of the next 2-3 years to promote the show in the Victorian capital.
Jackie at the Mediaweek 100 where K&J again topped the Star Power rankings
Kyle and Jackie O: Stateless
The mantra for a successful breakfast radio show has been that it needs to be ultra-local. K&J broke those rules and built a Sydney show that hardly mentions or exploits the delights of their city. In other words, it’s tailor-made for syndication. (Where to see the best Christmas lights in Sydney was a recent rare exception!)
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a guaranteed hit format in Melbourne. ARN has the data though that indicates there is a receptive audience waiting for them. Those numbers come from the daily Hour of Power, the live streaming via iHeartRadio and other radio apps plus the K&J podcast audience.
The bonus is that Jase and Lauren have gifted K&J a cume audience over 1m when the show starts in Melbourne, presumably in January. Just maybe when Australian Idol launches on Seven with K. Sandilands one of the judges.
The whole K&J team feeling good about their 2024 challenge
Will K&J change their formula?
Not likely. Winding back their in-your-face (or in some cases on-your-face!) content might make sense. That could be a double-edged sword – they would disenfranchise their loyal Sydney audience and it may be a product that wouldn’t fly in Melbourne either.
Keeping it simple
The one thing that listeners can bank on is that the show starts bang on 6am daily. It’s a simple, but clever tactic. Kyle and Jackie and newsreader Brooklyn Ross are deep into their first discussion while all other FM breakfast shows are running news bulletins that are often followed by the first song.
Kyle and Jackie O can run as long as 30 minutes for their opening without any music, and ads, but plenty of entertaining, often filth-ridden, chatter.
Working overtime
At the other end of every Kyle and Jackie O breakfast show is the variable finish time. On the last show of 2023 on KIIS 106.5 the duo was still on air at 11am before they wrapped up for the summer break.
While all other FM shows are off-air at 9am, the KIIS 106.5 breakfast show is still in full flight, usually winding up at 10am or later daily. During this extra airtime KIIS is presumably charging breakfast show rates for spots during what is elsewhere a music morning shift.
Show me the money
There’s been much hype about the reported doubling of the breakfast salaries with Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson in line for $10m each annually. There is a pot of money at the end of the radio rainbow, but there are hurdles before the hosts get to dip in.
Contract length: The new contract doesn’t kick in until the start of 2025 and then runs for a decade until the end of 2034.
Dollars: The base salary for both hosts has increased. However, because of no Jase and Lauren show, the net total increase in ARN costs is around $2-3m annually. ARN said the new fees are not subject to CPI or any further fixed increases over the term of the contracts.
Managers: Jackie with Gemma Fordham and Kyle with Bruno Bouchet
Bonuses: Many radio hosts get a bonus when they hit performance targets set out in their contracts. The new K&J deal means they lose those bonus payments. In return, they get a revenue share linked to any rise in ad revenue. This explains the Why too. The hosts and ARN are hoping for increased KIIS 101.1 ad revenue, the revenue halo effect that comes with being #1 FM, or, and watch out 3AW, being #1 overall.
Show me the shares: As part of the signing-on deal, K&J plus Christian O’Connell have been given a total $7m shares in ARN that are not able to be sold until the end of the contract period.
Moving cities: Radio case studies
Christian O’Connell
Our first case study shows how one announcer moved not just cities, but countries half a world away. In 2018, British broadcaster Christian O’Connell signed off from his award-winning high-rating breakfast show on Absolute Radio after 12 years. He packed up the family, sorted visas for Australia, and arrived at Gold 104.3.
Many wondered if it would work, including O’Connell. At the time he told Mediaweek: “The audience is trying to get used to me, getting used to the accent. Is it too much hearing a Pommy on the radio? That is challenging but at the same time really, really exciting.”
It didn’t take long for the Melbourne audience to engage with O’Connell. Did they love him? Did they ever. The show has been a solid gold ratings winner. The program has been Melbourne’s #1 FM breakfast show for 27 of the last 28 radio ratings surveys.
Christian O’Connell
Ben, Liam and Belle
The Nova trio remains a work in progress after Ben and Liam moved from Adelaide to Melbourne, joined on air by their Adelaide producer Belle. The duo originally moved from a national Triple J program to Adelaide Nova with great success.
The move to Melbourne has been more challenging, but it’s still relatively early days.
The hosts recently shared some revealing market research which shows the job ahead of them. Listeners were asked who they thought woke them up on Nova 100 each morning.
The answers included: “I don’t know!”, “Chrissie, Sam & Brownie”, “Liam, Yom & Belle”, “I can’t remember their names sorry”, “Ben, Liam & Bella” (close), “Tim, Liam & Belle”, “Chrissie, Ben, Liam, Belle, Ricki, Tim & Joel” and “Chrissie, Bronwyn & Sammy”.
The final year of the Chrissie, Sam and Browny show on Nova 100 had an average share of 8.5%. So far in 2023, Ben, Liam and Belle are averaging 6.7%.
See also: New city, new show – Ben, Liam & Belle on making the move to Melbourne
Ben, Liam, and Belle