If Kyle and Jackie O's $200m masterplan succeeds, it could have dire consequences

In the last eight months, there have been approximately 100 job losses from the Australian radio industry, with an “unprecedented” amount of other roles expected to be cut in the coming months. And it could have dire consequences for the average Aussie radio listener.

It comes after Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson signed a $200m deal that allowed The Kyle and Jackie O Show to broadcast in Sydney and Melbourne from April this year. The change meant KIIS Melbourne breakfast hosts Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips were out of a job until being picked up by Nova 100.

Wade Kingsley, a Creative Coach and Radio Consultant, predicted the grim number of job losses in a recent episode of Melbourne Radio Wars podcast while discussing the latest round of redundancies from the Nova Network and Southern Cross Austereo in the last week.

Yahoo Lifestyle understands the endless job losses are a direct result of all networks experiencing a gradual decline in advertising revenue, and this will soon start to impact all Aussies radio fans, especially those in regional areas.

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Radio insider reveals 'all localism will be lost'

A radio source explains that some stations are considering recouping costs by re-structuring to make their workday shifts – the announcers you hear throughout the day between the breakfast show and drive time show – national and done by one person, rather than having a separate announcer in each major city.

"The drawback to this means all localism will be lost, there’ll be no updates specific to your area or region and what you’ll be hearing is generic updates across the whole country," the radio staffer explained. "Older people and those living in remote areas who rely on getting their news and updates from the radio will be impacted by this the most."

The Kyle and Jackie O Show is a huge test for all radio stations

Yahoo Lifestyle understands that the major networks are closely monitoring how The Kyle & Jackie O Show goes in Melbourne. If KIIS can make a Sydney-based show work in another market, then others could follow their lead in the next few years.

"Essentially this means that in five year’s time, for example, rather than each network having a different breakfast show and an identical team of producers, audio engineers, promotions and marketing executives for each of those shows in each major state, they’ll axe most of them and just keep their strongest one and have them broadcast nationally.

"This would save each network millions a year, but again would mean any localism would be lost as content would become evergreen and not tailored to people in one specific place."

Kyle Sandilands has already hinted this is the current strategy at KIIS, with the shock jock revealing as the show launched in Melbourne in April: "It's the day of the revolution. The beginning of the 20-year dream of going national, one city at a time."

Kyle and Jackie O fans slam major change

While Kyle is loving the change to airing in Melbourne, longtime fans have one major gripe with the show now – it's shorter.

Many fans have slammed the fact that the show now finishes at 10am, as it used to regularly go over time (sometimes by almost two hours!), something listeners loved as the hosts would talk about whatever they wanted in a less structured way, but now that the show is networked, this doesn't work.

"The whole show feels too rushed now, it’s not the same anymore 😢 10a.m finish is not a vibe sorry guys," one fan wrote on Instagram. "Melbourne is ruining it for us here in Sydney. Just finish at 10 for them but keep going for us please."

"I miss the old way where you guys would just talk crap till 10:30 everyday... Bloody Melbourne has had to ruin it lol," another agreed.

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"100% have to scrap the 10am sharp finish," a third said.

"Some of the best convos happen just before they wrap up and now we are all robbed of that freedom they had to just chat sh*t with no more ads or song left to play," someone else complained. "Make Kyle and Jackie O great again... go back to the old studio and talk sh*t till 11:30am."

"10am hard finish ruins the show," another said. "The banter at the end made you different to everyone else, now you’re just the same as 2GB. Also the vibe seems a little off since moving to the new studio. Brooklyn doesn’t seem to contribute as much. Bring back the old show! (Speaking from a fan of 20 years)."

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