Taking on the Australian media icons Kyle Sandiland and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson coincided with becoming KIIS 106.5 (previously Mix 106.5) and the station made sure everybody knew. You could see their faces everywhere and the marketing cost 7 million Australian dollars.
The pair have proved their popularity and new audience figures show they’ve boosted KIIS to the number one position. For the pair, the transition was a secretive affair. Their old station 2Day FM thought they were retiring from the industry. Fifteen minutes after their last show, the news broke. Kyle Sandilands explained how he got out just before colleagues learned about them jumping ship. ‘I excused myself and just got into my car.’
Not much has changed. The show is pretty much the same and they were able to bring a lot of staff with them. The big task was to encourage the audience to move stations and continue listening to their favourite show. ‘Being able to do this in one survey surprised even us,’ said Jackie O. Duncan Campbell said the Big Move was a great leap of faith. His new talent didn’t sign their contracts until the very last day of their last show on 2Day FM. ‘We had to put trust in a gentleman’s agreement and make all the changes and invest.’ A bold move that definitely paid off!
