Host of KIIS FM’s breakfast show Jacqueline Last (better known as Jackie O), has revealed how she and co-host, Kyle Sandilands, pulled one of the most shocking moves in Australian radio history.
The duo had a decade of unprecedented success on the 2Day FM breakfast show (owned by Southern Cross Austereo), being the number one breakfast show at the time and had been for six years. So it’s no surprise that their fellow colleagues were blindsided when they decided to jump ship in 2013 to 2Day FM’s rival, Mix 106.5 (who would be rebranded to KIIS FM).
Jackie O explained to Osher Günsberg on his Better Than Yesterday podcast of how Sandilands orchestrated the bold move and described how her 2Day FM co-workers were “furious” when the news broke.
“In radio you don’t leave negotiations until November when your contract is expiring in December,” said Jackie O.
“The fact that no-one (at 2Day) had come to us with a contract by October spoke volumes to us.
“They came with a contract but by then there was a lot of things we had heard that had been said behind the scenes about us, that we were on our way out.
“They were still wanting to sign us, but when you hear things from people that suggest we’re on our last legs, you then start to think, ‘What do we do from here?’
“Kyle called me one night and said, ‘I’ve got an idea. What about we go to Mix FM and we rebrand it as KIIS?'”
At the time, Jackie assumed that Sandilands was “in one of his moods” and went along with his idea, with the belief that he’d forget the next day.
A month later, she received another call from her radio offsider.
“Kyle said, ‘I’ve just gone in and I’ve told them I’m resigning from 2Day’. He goes ‘We’re going to Mix, babe.'”
“I was furious. I broke down in tears. I said, ‘Kyle, I’ve just signed a mortgage and I have not spoken to one person at Mix. I don’t know what’s going on. Do they even want us or is that a figment of your imagination? Do they even want to rebrand to KIIS? That’s a big deal. A station rebrand is a very expensive thing!’
“I was petrified. It gave me no choice, I had to resign as well. I’m not going to stay and do a show without Kyle.”
A week after the call, Sandilands arranged a secret meeting with the CEO of the Australian Radio Network (who owns Mix FM), Ciaran Davis and national content director Duncan Campbell at a hotel boardroom in Sydney.
“They gave us their word about how much the contract was going to be and we shook on it. I was s**ting myself, I really was. It was too much for me, I don’t like this kind of drama.”
Sandilands and Jackie O’s decision to host KIIS FM’s breakfast show from 2014 onwards was very secretive and they managed to convince their co-workers at 2Day that they were leaving radio entirely, as opposed to jumping to their main rival.
Executives at 2Day were confused as to why the duo were leaving radio when they loved radio so much. One executive heard a rumour that they were moving to Mix and asked them point blank if they were.
She recalled to Günsberg that Sandilands replied, “I swear on so and so’s life that we will not ever be on air at Mix. He’s not telling a lie. He knew it was going to be changed to KIIS.
“This content director went around and told everyone, ‘I know for sure they’re not going anywhere’. They were all very pleased.”
Jacqueline Last and Sandilands farewelled their 2Day FM listeners for the last time in late November 2013. Their co-workers were under the assumption that they were leaving radio, however, 10 minutes after they aired their final show, ARN announced that they had signed on the pair.
“Oh god, it was just horrible. Everyone from every floor at Southern Cross Austereo had come up to watch our last show… Everyone was there with a big farewell party for us.
“As Kyle came out of the studio to hundreds of people clapping, Kyle said, ‘I’m just going to the loo, I’ll be back in two seconds’. Well, he just exited and was out of there.”
Last felt bad and decided to stay around and thank her co-workers. It was then that news broke on ARN. According to Last, she looked around and saw everyone with headphones on and word spread like wildfire.
“Simon Greally, our executive producer at the time, said, ‘Jackie, you need to get out of here!’ As I was walking out of the building, they were ripping down our posters. They were furious.”
In 2014, the pair moved to the now rebranded KIIS FM, but they were uncertain if their listeners would follow them to their new station, but they did.
When the first round of radio ratings were released in 2014, the Kyle and Jackie O show were still the top FM breakfast show in Sydney.
As for 2Day FM, the breakfast slot has never recovered since Last and Sandilands’ departure. It has since been dubbed “the poisoned chalice” of radio, having six breakfast shows axed in six years due to poor ratings. The most recent being Grant Denyer, Ed Kavalee and Ash London who were sacked last month.
What do you think of Kyle and Jackie O’s defection from 2Day FM? Let us know in the comment section below.
Written by Jayson Gardner
