Former B&T journalist Mary Madigan is set to join Kyle Sandilands Live, the shock jock’s new show.
Madigan, who worked for B&T between June 2021 and December 2022, will join the show as a newsreader and will also chat on air with Sandilands about various topics and hot button issues, according to News.com.au.
During her time at B&T, news hound Madigan covered Australia’s media owners and was noted for her extensive reportage of what was then the Kyle & Jackie O Show.
Since leaving B&T, Madigan worked as a senior culture reporter for News.com.au.
“Mary will present the news and any gossip news and also be a total voice with the rest of us,” Sandilands told News.com.au.
“So I will present the show and Mary will be like the second tier and then there’s also the other ensemble cast as well.
“So there’ll be a lot of different voices which is what we want to do for this program.”
Sandilands’ new show will start on 10 August, broadcasting live from 6am to 10am Monday through to Friday via a standalone app.
Madigan told News.com.au that she has “always really loved Kyle” and that they have a “natural chemistry” that was borne out in her appearances on the Kyle and Jackie O Show.
“I’m really excited to join the show. I’m excited and a little bit nervous, and I think I’m going to learn a lot from Kyle and maybe he’ll even learn the odd thing from me too,” Madigan told News.com.au.
Sandilands also praised Madigan’s ability to “chat and chat and chat”.
This may come in useful, given the show will have no ad breaks. Instead, it will run on a subscription-based model cost $99 per year.
Subscribers will be able to listen to the program live, rewind the show and will even have the option to call in using video calling.
Listeners will also have the option to use their device while the show plays, as it supports background audio and picture-in-picture viewing.
Madigan will continue contributing to news.com.au as well as co-hosting the weekly pop culture podcast Unserious alongside deputy editor Liz Burke and Sky News host Caleb Bond.
Sandilands said the program will have “all the things people loved” about the old show, while ditching the other components.
“The things that you hated, the commercial breaks and the constant beeping that was like you were listening to Morse code, that’ll all be gone,” he said.
“So you’ll hear us free from government interference, free from mental case lunatic groups that are trying to shut down advertisers. We just bypassed all of them.
“So someone will pay $2 a week to never hear an ad again and to never hear a censorship again.”
