Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O: KIIS FM hosts under pressure as on-air tensions surface

Australia’s most dominant breakfast radio pairing on KIIS FM is facing mounting questions about its future as new details about Kyle and Jackie O’s dynamic are revealed.

For more than two decades, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson have been inseparable on air, their chemistry fuelling ratings dominance and multimillion-dollar contracts.

But colleagues say the once-solid partnership has been under strain for some time, both professionally and personally.

The most recent conflict came on Friday, February 20 after Sandilands publicly criticised Henderson’s growing interest in astrology, calling her “unfocused” during a live segment and suggested she was distracted by checking readings while on air.

On Monday, Henderson was absent from the program, while Sandilands returned to host solo before taking sick leave from Thursday.

The exchange followed another tense moment just days earlier, when Sandilands mocked Henderson’s time at the Betty Ford Clinic during a discussion about her memoir.

“If I was ever to read a book, I’d read your book,” Sandilands said after Henderson admitted she didn’t watch TV show Australian Idol, on which he serves as a judge.

“Oh yeah, I don’t need to feel bad about it either,” Henderson replied.

“What do you mean?” Sandilands pressed.

“Because you didn’t read my book,” Henderson responded.

Their newsreader Brooklyn Ross interjected: “Aren’t you interested in, like, everything she did in rehab Kyle?”

“No. Is that in (the book)? What’d she do?” Sandilands said, before clapping rhythmically in a singsong voice.

“Clapping and being positive. I’m not into … I’m already happy. I don’t need that. I don’t need some old lady to tell me how to be happy,” Sandilands responded gruffly, later clarifying the “old lady” referred to Betty Ford, not Henderson, and acknowledging it might have sounded “a bit harsh”.

“I’m soft now,” he added.

“Really?” an emotionally sounding Henderson replied, “Are you though? A leopard can’t change it’s spots really, can he?”

Behind the scenes, the program is also navigating significant external pressures, News.com.au reported.

In October, the Australian Communications and Media Authority found the show had breached the commercial radio code on multiple occasions by broadcasting vulgar, sexually explicit and deeply offensive content. Enforcement action, which could include licence suspension or cancellation, remains pending.

Since the start of the year, the show has been more tightly managed. References to sex acts, body parts and expletives are routinely bleeped, marking a clear shift from the duo’s historically unfiltered style.

At the same time, their employer is working to cut $55 million from operations, raising questions about production budgets and bonuses. Expansion plans into Brisbane have reportedly been delayed following a challenging launch in Melbourne in 2024. Several experienced producers have also departed in recent months.

Sandilands, now a father in his 50s, has leaned into a more domestic image, frequently discussing family life and luxury home renovations. Henderson, approaching 50 and single, has embraced a post-rehab reinvention that includes spiritual exploration, new social circles and travel.

For much of their 25-year partnership, Henderson was seen as the steady counterbalance to Sandilands’ shock-jock persona. In recent years, some insiders believe those roles have subtly reversed, according to News Corp.

Eleven days before their reported February 20 blow-up, Sandilands posed a candid question on air.

“Would I have been friends with Jackie if I had not worked with her?” he asked.

“Probably not. You probably wouldn’t have been friends with me either?”

Henderson’s answer was blunt.

“Oh I don’t want to be your friend outside of this.”

The durability of one of Australian radio’s most lucrative partnerships is, for the first time in years, openly being questioned.