Love Song Dedications has left the building and the Sami & Yumi breakfast show is no more as Australian Radio Network makes sweeping changes to its former Mix station.
ARN has released the 2014 on-air line up for its new Sydney station KIIS 1065, with the Mix brand, a breakfast team and the ‘Love God’ all making way for FM breakfast ratings royalty, Kyle & Jackie O.
The rebrand has also had a flow on effect for fellow ARN station, WSFM 101.7, with a number of new shows also announced.
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson will lead KISS 1065 at breakfast (6-9am) and will then have an hour-long syndicated program broadcast across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide at 6pm.
When KIIS 1065 launches on January 20 it will be “energetic, cheeky, fun” and be built for Sydney, according to ARN’s national content director, Duncan Campbell.
Ciaran Davis, ARN’s chief executive, added: “Just as Kyle & Jackie O have made the change to KIIS 1065, we’re confident that the listeners and advertisers of Sydney will make this bold move with them, while the fans of Mix will enjoy this fresh new change.”
“The addition of KIIS 1065 dramatically strengthens the network. It augments the overall scope of our listeners. We’ll still be reaching our same core demographic but also broadening the audience overall”.
Davis said the changes will see ARN “truly dominate” the 25-54 demographic with the KIIS, Mix FM and Classic Hits brands.
Mix’s Sydney breakfast duo, Yumi Stynes and Sami Lukis, is no more but Campbell said Stynes may return to the air waves with the company: “We are no currently exploring the development of new shows for launch next year involving Yumi.”
The breakfast program is just one year old, having only been announced as the 2013 breakfast team on December 5 last year. The change saw the duo take over from another one year old program, Rosso and Claire.
Richard Mercer’s Love Song Dedications has been shifted from the former Mix station to WSFM, with ARN promising a new syndicated Melbourne and Sydney program from the ‘Love God’ in 2014.
WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda, Brendon ‘Jonesy’ Jones and Amanda Keller, will go into their ninth year on-air together in 2014. In addition to their breakfast program they will also now have a syndicated Sydney and Melbourne show at 6pm.
Keller made a tongue-in-cheek dig at KIIS’ celebrity focused programs, Kyle & Jackie O was known as ‘Breakfast with the Stars’ on 2DayFM and KIIS also has Ryan Seacrest covering the latest celeb news.
She said: “We understand our society's fascination with controversy and celebrity, and we frequently have celebrities on the show, but it's also the lives of regular, everyday people that are exciting, funny, heart wrenching or just plain ridiculous.”
Campbell said the changes at WSFM are to give it a “more contemporary feel”.
“Our listeners love a bit of nostalgia but they also know that they are living the best parts of their lives right now,” he said.
“With Jonesy & Amanda as one of the country’s finest on-air teams starring in breakfast, we’re now also moving forward with our listeners and are excited to refresh the new year with them.”
