Jackie O has wasted no time in setting the record straight—her and Kyle Sandilands’ foray into the Melbourne market is far from over.
Addressing the speculation head-on in a candid fireside chat with best friend and business partner Gemma O’Neill at Commercial Radio & Audio’s (CRA) Heard event, she made it clear that while the transition hasn’t been seamless, it’s a challenge they’re embracing.
Jackie O addressed head-on the questions surrounding her and Kyle Sandilands’ ambitious push into the Melbourne market. The move, a high-stakes expansion for the powerhouse KIIS FM duo, hasn’t delivered overnight success, but Jackie sees this as a learning experience rather than a failure.
“We launched into Melbourne, and it didn’t go gangbusters straight away,” she admitted. “But that’s okay. It’s actually been a good thing for us. It humbled us and made us reassess the show, ensuring we’re staying true to what works.”
Acknowledging initial missteps, she revealed that the team had to recalibrate and focus on what made the Kyle & Jackie O Show resonate with audiences in the first place. “Melbourne tuned in and instantly they heard some really fucked up shit. I cringe when I think about it,” she said.
“It really made us reassess where we’re at what we were doing with the show. Effectively we needed to do a reset.
“The show that we’re doing now is sounding better than it has in a long time. We’ve got our groove back and we are doing the things that made Kyle and I do great radio.
“That smut has really been taken away, and that chemistry is back – that’s where we excel”.
“Melbourne will be a slow burn. We have to rely on the people of Melbourne re-tuning in and give it a second chance, and I think that word of mouth is probably how it will come back around- and that’s totally fine.
“When you’re tested, you get taught something, and I think we did, and I see that as a blessing in disguise”.
Further cementing their commitment to the market, Jackie and Kyle plan to spend more time in Melbourne, integrating themselves into the local culture and ensuring the show doesn’t feel like an afterthought to listeners in Victoria.
A Year of Change and Vulnerability
Reflecting on the past year, Jackie described it as one of the most transformative periods of her life. From signing a groundbreaking $200 million, 10-year contract, to releasing her deeply personal memoir The Whole Truth, to launching her Her Best Life podcast with O’Neill—2023 and 2024 have been years of pushing boundaries.
“If you’d asked me a few years ago if I’d write a book, launch a podcast, or take on Melbourne, I would have said no,” she said. “I decided to push myself”.
The book’s revelation about her past struggles, including rehab for addiction, was a particularly defining moment. She described the anxiety of reading the first few pages live on air, knowing she was about to share something deeply personal with an audience that had grown up with her.
“I wrote the book because I thought it was best to share it properly and give it context and really make people understand how it started, where it began, the whole journey. So a book was going to be the best way to share that story.
“But I also didn’t want to cheat my audience, because they’ve essentially grown up with Kyle and they feel like we’re their family. So I felt I couldn’t just release a book and go here, read it. That would have been really disrespectful to them, and they deserved more than that. So I knew that before releasing the book, I owed it to them to share that story first on radio”.
Her decision to be unapologetically open marked a turning point—not just for her career, but for how audiences connected with her on a deeper, more personal level.
The Evolution of Jackie O: A Trusted Voice for Women
One of the most unexpected shifts in Jackie’s public perception has been her transition into a more trusted and relatable voice for women. Long known for her role in Australia’s most talked-about radio duo, she’s now finding herself increasingly recognised for her authenticity, vulnerability, and depth.
“For so long there has been this perception that I didn’t have much depth to me, and even I had that perception” she laughed. “But it’s because I was hiding so many parts of myself. It’s impossible to have depth when you’re hiding. If you’re not revealing your whole self then you’re showing the surface level.
“When I started sharing a lot more about myself, then I became more confident in myself, and then I realised there was so much more to me and I was not who I thought I was. It was almost like I had to grieve the person I thought I was my whole life”.
“I think trust in number one when it comes to your following, and for who advertisers choose to spend their money with,” she said.
Jackie O understands that that trust is the most valuable currency in media and advertising. In an era where women are constantly targeted with marketing messages, she believes audiences have become more discerning—they don’t just buy from someone because they’re famous; they buy from those they trust.
“Women have advertising thrown at them constantly and they are not necessarily just buying something from someone who they see as beautiful and popular. They need more than that. They need to feel like they’re seen and heard and understood and represented in some way,” she explained.
That trust, she says, is built over time through authenticity and genuine connection. Jackie sees her own career as proof that credibility isn’t something that can be manufactured—it has to be earned.
“When you build that connection through being you with your audience, that is where the trust develops. It develops over time. Obviously, I have that on my side, but I think when they can relate to you, and they connect with you, they’re more inclined to listen,” she said.
“If you’re an advertiser, and you’re aligning yourself with a brand that has an audience where it’s predominantly women who do trust you. I think it goes beyond then the visibility, and it needs to go beyond visibility.
“I take that trust so seriously, because you can lose it very quickly. I think it’s really important to be careful who you align yourself with in that respect,” she said.
Given her emphasis on credibility, Jackie was quick to defend her long-standing professional relationship with Kyle Sandilands, whose often controversial remarks have led to public scrutiny. She acknowledges that, while they’ve built an immensely successful brand together, they are very different people.
“We are two different people, a lot of people don’t know that,” she joked. “In ways we are alike and in ways we are polar opposites and we are two very different people”.
That contrast has also fueled her desire to create spaces where she can engage in the conversations that matter most to her.
“When it’s on track, the show is great and I love being a part of that. But over the years the topics I want to talk about have changed and the podcast has been an outlet foe me to be able to talk about the topics that just wouldn’t sit right on the Kyle and Jackie O Show”.
Her business, Besties, co-founded with Gemma O’Neill, is an extension of this philosophy—building trust with women in a way that goes beyond entertainment. From the Her Best Life podcast to their upcoming negotiation course for women, Jackie is using her platform to empower and support her audience in meaningful ways.
With Melbourne a priority for 2025, Jackie is ready to double down, the goal is to continue refining the show, balancing their signature humour with moments of connection.
