While Sandilands had proclaimed it would be the number one show on commercial radio by Christmas, at the last survey, it sat in eighth overall, with a 5.1 per cent share. With very few commercial breakfast radio shows working on a national scale, so far, the show’s audience is down 27 per cent on last year, or 159,000 listeners in the most recent survey.

Melbourne is the most competitive breakfast market and drives the most advertising revenue of any market in Australia. Breakfast radio contributes a major share of ARN’s revenue, particularly in Sydney, where the show dominates audiences.

‘Board-level miscalculation’

Meanwhile, the pair ARN sacked to make way for Kyle and Jackie O, Melbourne-based Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips, have shot the lights out at Nova and were the number one FM show last month.

Despite the show’s lacklustre performance in Melbourne so far, Brisbane is the next launch market for the Kyle and Jackie O Show, with speculation it will be rolled out late next year. KIIS’s current Brisbane breakfast hosts, Robin Bailey and Kip Wightman, are already strong performers, climbing to a 12.1 per cent share in the recent survey. Former Brisbane Broncos player Corey Oates will join the show next year.

While there is still time for the show to hit its straps, a veteran radio industry executive told this masthead that the Kyle and Jackie O deal was a “board-level miscalculation” by ARN.

The business, saddled with the $200 million outlay, is now in a position where it can’t live “with Kyle and Jackie, or without them”, the senior executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

ARN chair Hamish McLennan justified the investment in Kyle and Jackie O earlier this year, comparing it to the large sums other media companies invest to grab sports rights, which are a hit with audiences and commercial sponsors and offer long-term value to shareholders.

Meanwhile, ARN’s protracted bid for Southern Cross has further placed the spotlight on the company. The takeover efforts have so far cost ARN $4.3 million, it told the market in August.

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Last week, Southern Cross shareholders hit the company with a strike against executive pay at its annual shareholder meeting, demanding they cut costs even further than the $40 million in savings already planned. Other media companies, including News Corp, Nine (which owns this masthead) Seven, and others have had to take significant cost-cutting actions already this year.

ARN also operates the Gold FM network, with its executives praised for luring British broadcaster Christian O’Connell to Australia in 2018, providing a rare non-Australian voice on commercial breakfast radio. O’Connell hosts a consistently top-rating breakfast show. He was also awarded a new five-year contract last year.

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