The second radio ratings of 2026 have revealed KIIS FM’s breakfast radio slot suffered slightly in their Sydney home market, falling from a 12.7 per cent share to 11.7 per cent.
The survey period – covering February 8 to April 4 – began 12 days before The Kyle and Jackie O Show was pulled from air after a fiery on-air clash on February 20.
Sandilands continued until March 3, before the show was yanked off air for good and both of their contracts were terminated shortly after, with Mike E joining as guest host.
However, in Melbourne – where The Kyle and Jackie O Show infamously did not rate well – there was a minor bump in shares from 5.1 per cent to 5.4 per cent.
Despite Sandilands and Henderson’s exit, the audience haven’t left just yet with KIIS still remaining Sydney’s number one FM Breakfast show ahead of Smooth FM’s Bogart Torelli.
It certainly wasn’t the plummet some predicted, with KIIS FM dropping just 1.0 per cent this book to an 11.7, whilst picking up a cumulative audience of 37,000.
2GB’s Ben Fordham is Sydney’s number one breakfast show overall, rising +0.2 per cent to a 16.8 share.
The ratings, out just one day before Sandilands, 54, and Henderson, 51, face court as they sue their former employer for unfair dismissal, highlight that KIIS FM’s listeners have remained largely unchanged by the show’s dramatic on-air removal.
The show gained cumulative listeners, which includes the total number of listeners who tuned in for at least eight minutes, in both markets.
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Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small initially replaced the duo immediately after the show was taken off air.
In the weeks after, Mike Etheridge ‘Mike E’, Brooklyn Ross and The Project co-host Georgia Tunny have been covering the breakfast slot.
Henderson and Sandilands are both suing their former employer ARN for wrongful termination in two blockbuster legal claims worth a combined $167 million.
The pair’s respective hearings are set to be heard before a judge in Sydney on Friday in the Federal Court.
Sandilands is suing for $85 million, with his legal team arguing that ARN had no right to fire him over his on-air conduct, given the network has spent decades profiting from his outrageous brand.
Henderson, meanwhile, has filed her own $82.25 million lawsuit alleging workplace bullying from Sandilands and a failure to provide a safe environment.
ARN is flipping the script on Sandilands and O’Henderson and is also suing the pair, demanding they pay for advertising that KIIS lost after they allegedly breached their $200 million, 10-year deals and the radio network terminated their contracts.
The on-air clash that derailed Kyle and Jackie’s $200 million deal
The on-air fight began after Jackie O read from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s astrology birth chart and Sandilands complained about her interest in astrology charts.
“Your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable,” Sandilands told her.
“You are off with the fairies with this s—, it’s mental.”
He claimed her fixation on astrology charts made her sound like a “drug addict”.
Henderson has previously opened up on air about addiction issues that led to her going to rehabilitation in the US in 2022.
Henderson said Sandilands’ accusations were “so unfair” and that he was attacking her on air.
“I would never say things like that about you,” she said.
“It’s a total attack, it really is. Kyle, to say ‘you don’t know what the F is going on, you’re not doing your job,’ that’s an attack and I wouldn’t do that.”
Sandilands and Henderson have been in an on-air partnership for 27 years.
They moved to breakfast in 2005 and then to KIIS in 2014.
They have been under contract in a lucrative $200 million, 10-year deal that was set to run until December 2034.
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