A radio expert has issued a stark warning to KIIS FM in the wake of Kyle and Jackie O’s untimely departure from the airwaves this month.
Speaking on the Game Changers Radio podcast, host and former boss of the embattled shock jock duo, Craig Bruce, has referenced a similar set of circumstances – and the resulting ratings crash that could now play out on KIIS FM.
If history should repeat itself, the network’s morning brekkie slot could suffer a massive drop in listeners, as devotees depart along with the outgoing hosts.
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Last year, it was announced Melbourne-based radio personality Christian O’Connell’s breakfast show, which was positioned as Gold Network’s number-one rated program in that timeslot, would be broadcast into Sydney from 2026 onwards.
Watch the video above.
This move pushed longtime duo Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones out of the Breakfast show to Drive at 3-6pm as a result, bringing the pair’s 20-year run in that slot to an end.
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But this move would later spell ratings disaster for Gold.
O’Connell was recently handed a brutal reality check after his newly-broadcast brekkie slot shed an astonishing 3.6 points in ratings, to a total audience share of 6.1 points.
It is the most significant drop of any timeslot across the survey, and contributed to Gold’s overall ratings slide across the day – in all slots save for Drive.
With this scenario in mind, Bruce speculated KIIS FM might see a very similar outcome in the coming months.
“Christian O’Connell is a harbinger for what is to come for KIIS,” he claimed.
“When a new show replaces a heritage show – Amanda and Jonesy had 20 years together – there is carnage. And there will be carnage.”
Guest host and former head of Triple M Mike Fitzpatrick then weighed in, voicing his theory over where audiences would go following Kyle and Jackie O’s sacking.
He said the fate of the morning radio show could go one of several ways.
One outcome, Fitzpatrick speculated, was that habitual listeners of KIIS’s breakfast slot would continue to tune in, not particularly caring about whether it was Kyle and Jackie O on the mic or not.
“There’s going to be some portion of the audience that’s fundamentally a dial position habit listener, not a K and J-specific loyal listener,” he said.
Another option – and perhaps the biggest red flag for KIIS FM – was that their breakfast audience was never loyal to their specific station, but rather to Kyle and Jackie O as presenters.
“Which is why they’ll follow K and J, and if K and J turn up on podcast or a YouTube channel, their devoted listeners will go looking for them.”
These grim predictions come as the year’s first metro radio ratings reveal The Kyle and Jackie O Show retained the top spot on FM breakfast radio in its final survey.
The survey period – covering January 18 to February 28 – ended eight days after Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Kyle Sandilands‘ infamous argument on February 20, which resulted in the show being pulled off-air on March 3.
Jackie O’ Henderson’s career in photos
The former radio duo’s share result, which measures the total radio listening audience during a given time period, did not change from the final result of 2025.
The pair retained their 12.7 per cent rating in this area, but lost 60,000 cumulative listeners in Sydney during this survey period.
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