When program director Derek Bargwanna walked into the studio room of Kyle & Jackie O with a pale face and told them they’d dropped massively in yesterday’s radio ratings and Rove & Sam of rival brekkie show had beaten them, the radio veterans were stunned.
It was all a ruse however as the duo on the Australian Radio Network’s KIIS1065 remained the number one FM brekkie show in Sydney. Rove & Sam on competitor show 2DayFM however did increase their share by 0.3 to 3.3. Kyle & Jackie O dropped 1.4 to a 9.9 share.
Reminiscing on the prank during this morning’s show, Jackie Henderson said when she believed they’d dropped below Rove & Sam she felt sick and worried about the copping they were going to get from the media.
Bargwanna, affectionately nicknamed DB, brings the news every six to eight weeks to the network.
“He played a bit of a prank on us yesterday,” said Henderson on-air this morning. “He had bad news that we’ve been beaten by Rove & Sam, that we’d gone down dramatically. He was pale as a ghost and he was shaking.” Henderson said she believed him because “he can’t be that good of an actor”.
The duo replayed the moment on-air this morning. Henderson swore and the astonishment was evident in Sandilands’ voice.
“Rove & Sam have beaten us?” questioned Henderson. “It’s fucking crazy. It makes you feel sick.”
And then Sandilands said Henderson started to get very worried about what the media was going to say about it. “They’d have a field day!” she said. “They’re going to crucify us. This is going to be the worst day ever.”
In hindsight, Sandilands said he felt something was amiss, that it couldn’t have been true.
Still, no FM show has yet to beat the radio veteran that is Alan Jones from Macquarie Media Limited, on 2GB. And ABC’s breakfast show also beat out Kyle & Jackie O. See the ratings here.
