Kyle and Jackie O’s plan to build a big audience in Melbourne via KIIS 101.1 has gone down the toilet…literally. Especially last week during a pissing quiz! Some have been wondering if there is something wrong with their strategy.
While their Sydney radio ratings continue to be strong, the duo has yet to see a jump in the ratings at their new Melbourne home. Many industry observers believe the hit Sydney show will work in Melbourne, it’s just maybe going to take a little longer.
The next radio survey results are only eight days away. The survey will cover the period from May 19, 2024 through to August 10, with a two-week survey break in the middle for a winter holiday.
Look at the scoreboard, Sydney OK, Melbourne early days?
The Survey 5 GfK results will only be the second survey that covers a period where the hosts have been on air for the whole survey period. Their show started in Melbourne on April 29.
Notes: Commercial FM stations in Sydney and Melbourne. Breakfast shares and cumes last two surveys.
Ranked in order of highest to lowest share in Survey 4, 2024. Source: GfK.
It’s worth noting too that the ratings tell part of the story. The KIIS network duo have a big audience via the daily podcast. The Kyle and Jackie O podcast was ranked #1 breakfast (and Top 10 overall) in the most recent Podcast Ranker Survey. Their daily podcast recorded 353,297 monthly listeners in July. (The data doesn’t break down podcast listening in individual markets.) The next best FM breakfast podcast is way down the Ranker and belongs to Nova’s Jase and Lauren with 31, 808 monthly listeners.
Another import date coming up is the release of the ARN half-year results this week. The board of the broadcaster fielded some questions about the breakfast show at the AGM in May. The message from the board will probably be this week that it’s still too early to judge the performance of the show in Melbourne. Chairman Hamish McLennan and CEO Ciaran Davis will probably say reactions from the audience and advertisers will need to be reviewed over the back half of 2024 at least.
Fiona Byrne wants less crass content and more breakfast with the stars
It’s always been a bit dirty
Regular K&J listeners will tell you that, um, explicit sexual content has always been part of the show. What they will also tell you is that it has now become a daily staple in the opening hour, instead of a hot topic that was discussed every now and then.
Herald Sun columnist Fiona Byrne is the most-read entertainment reporter in Melbourne. She has long been a supporter of the radio industry. She is a must-visit for any radio show wanting to make a mark in that city.
In her columns for the biggest-selling daily newspaper in Australia, Byrne has been all over the Melbourne radio wars. As part of that coverage, she had helped educate listeners about the arrival of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson to her city.
Fiona Byrne admitted this week to finding some of the content boring. In a column headlined ‘Melbourne deserves better than Kyle’s vulgar new KIIS FM segment’, Byrne wrote:
Could Kyle Sandilands finally have hit the bottom of the barrel with the crappy content offered up as entertainment on his KIIS FM Kyle & Jackie O Show?
Midway through this past week, the breakfast show was in the toilet – literally and figuratively.
On Wednesday listeners to the show, which launched into the Melbourne market in April claiming to be the end of boring radio, were treated to a new game “Whose d*** is pissing?”.
The segment went on for 12 ridiculous minutes.
Incredibly the dunny dump continued on Thursday with the female staff members getting in on the act.
Melbourne deserves better than this.
Dunny dumps not needed
Byrne continued that it’s a show that doesn’t need to continually be X-rated. Not that many people discuss it, but Sandilands and Henderson are actually underrated interviewers when they host a “straight” segment. Byrne knows this:
The confounding thing about the Kyle & Jackie O Show is that it can be hugely entertaining when not being gratuitously crass and vulgar or resorting to grubby toilet humour.
Its best show of the past week was Friday which was a Logies party episode and featured Sam Pang, Andy Lee, Larry Emdur, LeAnn Rimes, Ally Langdon, Peter Overton and Sonia Kruger. It was fun and Sandilands was in great form.
Byrne also highlighted an interview with Jim Jeffries last week she enjoyed. There was also an appearance from Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins last week that was entertaining. There wasn’t much talk about cricket. But Cummins seemed to have a great time. He connected with Sandilands in that both have drinks brands they are promoting.
Nova marketing its disruptive Melbourne breakfast show
Kyle and Jackie vs the best in the business
One thing though that broadcasters can’t control is the opposition. K&J have long battled some good Sydney radio – in particular the long-running shows hosted by Fitzy and Wippa at Nova, and Jonesy and Amanda at WSFM.
They now face some formidable local teams in Melbourne, from ARN colleague Christian O’Connell through to Fox’s Fifi, Fev and Nick. And let’s not forget Kyle’s former 2Day FM team member, Jason Hawkins, now rating up a storm at Nova. “Who knew?” says the clever advertising campaign promoting Jase & Lauren. We did, say the people who followed Jase’s career post-Kyle and Jackie O – from his Sydney drive show to his work in Brisbane and his move to New Zealand.
Best radio ratings coverage is in Mediaweek: Every station, every metro market, every survey.