The winners and losers in brutal battle for Sydney radio supremacy

March 19, 2026 — 3:02pm

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The Sydney radio market is an arena where kings and queens are crowned, or decapitated, by their corporate overlords with astonishing speed. The all-important breakfast slot is littered with the bodies of those who have tried and failed to break through – just ask Judith Lucy, Sophie Monk, Erin Molan, Sam Frost, Dave Hughes, Grant Denyer and Gold Logie winner Rove McManus. But never before have its two biggest stars vacated the stage via self-immolation.

The spectacular disintegration of the 25-year broadcast partnership between Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson is a uniquely Sydney drama, with big ramifications for an industry which still attracts plenty of listeners and advertisers but faces growing structural changes and talent headaches.

The calamity which has befallen KIIS FM and its owner, ARN Media, is one of several forces reshaping the brash, loud and influential Sydney radio landscape. Very few can confidently predict what listeners should expect over coming months, let alone years.

Consider the changes: KIIS FM is without its star duo, and bracing for an ugly court battle over whether ARN had the right to tear up Sandilands and Henderson’s record-breaking $200 million, 10-year contract. Over at 2GB, the network is preparing for the billionaire Laundy publican family to take over after they struck a deal with Nine Entertainment in January to buy the station and others in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth for $56 million. Nine is the publisher of this masthead.

Nova’s offering is in a state of transition after its breakfast team of 15 years, Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald and Michael “Wippa” Wipfli – alongside former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie, who joined more recently – pulled up stumps and moved to the afternoon drive slot. Drive’s previous occupants, Ricki-Lee Coulter and Tim Blackwell, switched to breakfast.

At Gold, which is also owned by ARN, Brendan “Jonesy” Jones and Amanda Keller have also given up breakfasts for the drive slot; they were replaced by a national show hosted by........

© The Sydney Morning Herald