Production staff associated with KIIS FM’s Kyle & Jackie O breakfast radio show have been departing at an unprecedented rate, according to network insiders.
While hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson continue to enjoy the benefits of their $100 million, 10-year radio contracts, insiders claim the turnover behind the scenes has contributed to a challenging work environment.
The exits have reportedly left a younger and less experienced team tasked with supporting the duo’s ambitious goal of expanding their Sydney-based show to a national audience.
Over the past year, the Kyle & Jackie O program has lost up to a dozen key staff members, radio insiders told news.com.au.
The wave of exits began following the show’s Melbourne debut in April 2024, which was met with a muted response.
Five months earlier, in November 2023, executives at KIIS FM’s parent company ARN had re-signed the pair to the record-breaking deal, making The Kyle & Jackie O Show the most expensive radio program in Australia.
By August 2024, while ratings in Sydney remained strong, the Melbourne rollout was already showing signs of struggle.
That same month, the program’s executive producer, Pedro Vitola, resigned after seven years with KIIS – two of them as executive producer.
Three months later, digital content producer Joshua Fox also departed.
Although the show has long been known for its rotating staff, Vitola attributed the Melbourne launch issues to KIIS management, claiming they had failed to hire enough “experienced, innovative program producers to match the workload.”
The subsequent exits of audio producer Thomas Martin and content adviser and censor Nikita McGoram went largely unnoticed, but the industry took note when ARN chief content officer Duncan Campbell – credited with poaching Sandilands and Henderson from rival network SCA in 2013 – announced his own departure.
Campbell’s exit was attributed to a wider restructure of ARN’s executive ranks. He formally left in June, two months after CEO Ciaran Davis announced redundancies across finance, sales support and tech, as the company outsourced services to global IT firm TCS, based in Mumbai, India.
Radio sources claim ARN’s outgoing technical staff were tasked with training the incoming TCS team before taking redundancy packages themselves.
In May, KIIS FM program director Tony Aldridge also departed.
Aldridge was reportedly one of the key executives who backed the decision to network The Kyle & Jackie O Show to Melbourne – a strategy that has yet to deliver the desired results.
The departures of top-tier executives – including Davis, who announced his own resignation last week – appear to have echoed through the organisation, extending to the Kyle & Jackie O production ranks.
In June, Melbourne studio producer Lachlan Mansell left after 15 months in the role.
He was followed in July by KIIS promotions coordinator Mel Maltby.
Others to depart include promotions team member Megan Hui, guest booker Kirsten Ploog, and most recently, digital producer Ella Kanna.
While to fans it may appear business as usual for Sandilands and Henderson – who continue to post images from luxury holidays – insiders say the mounting staff turnover could threaten the pair’s vision of taking their Sydney show to a national audience.
That may become clearer when the results of the sixth radio ratings survey are released on October 14.
Images: Instagram
