Looks like Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O are back in hot water, with their radio show The Kyle And Jackie O Show copping nearly half of all the decency complaints on Aussie radio last financial year. Yep, you heard that right.
The Guardian spilled the tea, revealing that out of 321 complaints about dodgy content on radio, a whopping 146 were about The Kyle & Jackie O Show. That’s 45 per cent of all the gripes!
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young isn’t happy about it. She’s been giving the media watchdog Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) a hard time for not cracking down on what she calls “revolting” stuff, including “sexist, racist [and] misogynistic” content.
Hanson-Young reckons this kind of talk “doesn’t belong on commercial radio or in our homes, workplaces or communities”, per The Guardian.
The show’s been a bit of a flop in Melbourne since launching there in April 2024. They’ve lost a massive 130,000 listeners and dropped to eighth place in the breakfast slot.
Radio guru Craig Bruce thinks it’s because they’ve been way too explicit. He told The Guardian, “They have been far too explicit with their content – it’s been unlistenable for anyone who shares a car ride with their children.”
But Kyle’s not backing down. He’s said on air, “Contrary to popular belief, everything on this show is Australian legal broadcast standard-worthy”.
The show’s trying to win over Melbourne with cheeky ads saying “Listen Now. We’re Behaving”, complete with a winking emoji. But their recent “100k tennis ball drop” stunt in Brighton just pissed off the locals even more.
It’s exactly what it sounds like — Kyle and Jackie O plan to host a competition where a helicopter will be dropping 200 tennis balls on a court. The 100 participants involved will then be expected to run and grab them and the balls will be labelled with a winning amount valued up to $100,000.
The Herald Sun reports that locals are concerned for the safety ramifications of this stunt.
ACMA’s got three investigations going on the show right now.
However, even with all this drama, Kyle and Jackie O are still killing it in Sydney. But with so many complaints and Melbourne giving them the cold shoulder, they might need to change things up a bit in 2025 or maybe this is a sign to retire.
Image: Instagram
