Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, July twenty nine, twenty twenty six. Fiona Brown,
Speaker 1: the former Liberal chief of staff wrongly accused by Brittany
Speaker 1: Higgins of covering up her rape, has accepted a settlement
Speaker 1: from the Commonwealth to resolve her employment law case. It
Speaker 1: ends a highly charged year's long dispute in which Brown
Speaker 1: accused former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other senior government
Speaker 1: figures of throwing her under the bus. That scoop is
Speaker 1: live now at the Australian dot com dot au. Kyle
Speaker 1: Sandlands is back and spoiler, he's really good. The dumped
Speaker 1: FM radio host is rebuilding with a new app, a
Speaker 1: daily breakfast vodcast launching next month, and for the very Keen,
Speaker 1: a video documentary series giving a taste of what's ahead.
Speaker 1: Jennet Clark and I both coughed up for the app,
Speaker 1: and Jenna's here in just a moment to dish on
Speaker 1: the new look.
Speaker 2: Kyle track it.
Speaker 1: Acts and all.
Speaker 3: Right, are we ready to roll?
Speaker 1: Let's go. Jenna Clark is an associate editor with The
Speaker 1: Australian and just like me, apparently she's a Kyl Sandalanz
Speaker 1: super fan. We both got out our credit cards and
Speaker 1: subscribed to the brand new Carl Sandalans Live app. We're
Speaker 1: among a small group of supernerds Jenna who have subscribed
Speaker 1: before there's really even a show to subscribe to.
Speaker 3: That's true, Claire, I think, look, curiosity definitely killed my
Speaker 3: credit card when it came to looking out the old
Speaker 3: visa to watch episode one of the new Kyle Sandalans Live,
Speaker 3: which is his new era. If we could use the
Speaker 3: Taylor Swift pilance, away from arn, away from the moderators,
Speaker 3: away from the thirty second delay, away from people trying
Speaker 3: to tell him, stop telling him what to say, and
Speaker 3: I have to say it was twenty two minutes of
Speaker 3: refreshing viewing. You used to joke they could never fire you.
Speaker 3: Yeah I did, Yeah, so, and now the joke's on
Speaker 3: me here I am fucking fired.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: I must confess I'm a late in life Carl Sandalans fan.
Speaker 1: I've never really had much of an opinion about him
Speaker 1: over the years, but now I'm finding him to be
Speaker 1: a kind of warm, interesting, relatable person. All the things
Speaker 1: that people have said to me about him over the
Speaker 1: years that now turn out to be true. So this
Speaker 1: is the app that he's created to kind of host
Speaker 1: what he is going to be his podcast when it
Speaker 1: launches on August tenth, but as a kind of teaser,
Speaker 1: he's set up this full part at Home with Kyle
Speaker 1: video series with very high production values, kind of behind
Speaker 1: the scenes of him losing his radio career, losing his
Speaker 1: job at ARN and falling out with his on air
Speaker 1: partner Jackie Oh. He manages to be even though he's
Speaker 1: in a sort of one hundred million dollar house, just
Speaker 1: to be relatable and a bit of an every man,
Speaker 1: doesn't he He does.
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, I am hoping and this
Speaker 3: is probably going to get me a lot of criticism
Speaker 3: that this is the return of I don't want to
Speaker 3: say the Larken, but I think this is the return
Speaker 3: of the adorable buffhead, of which I feel is really
Speaker 3: innate to an Australian culture. Like sure, he has said
Speaker 3: some crazy things over the years, all of which he
Speaker 3: confronts head on in the first twenty minute episode of
Speaker 3: this new documentary, but I just think it goes to
Speaker 3: show he's so savvy, he's so smart, and he has
Speaker 3: a real love for media and the craft of audio,
Speaker 3: and I guess you know what that kind of looks
Speaker 3: like away from the main infrastructure of broadcast and linear broadcast,
Speaker 3: because I mean a lot of people are tuning into
Speaker 3: things nowadays on either podcast, podcast or on social media,
Speaker 3: and he has really taken it to another level by
Speaker 3: you know, making everything paid and everything is content to
Speaker 3: King Kyle, and no one knows that more than him.
Speaker 3: And I think the one thing that sparked my interest
Speaker 3: a few months back, when you know, this was also
Speaker 3: blowing up, was when he would front the media very
Speaker 3: casually out front of like you say, he's one hundred
Speaker 3: and twenty million dollar home, and there was always.
Speaker 2: Someone in the background with a camera, and it.
Speaker 3: Should have sparked of course, they're going to turn this
Speaker 3: into his story. So it's a genius way for him
Speaker 3: to get his point across his point of view, across
Speaker 3: his truth, if you will, and also start rebuilding the
Speaker 3: stockpile from that eighty two million dollar contract that is
Speaker 3: no longer running into his pocket. Yeah, he's got this
Speaker 3: self deprecating line of jokes about how he's you know,
Speaker 3: of course, very wealthy, very successful, how he stashed a
Speaker 3: bit of money away, but he's still a bit of
Speaker 3: a shambles.
Speaker 2: That's kind of the stick or the character that he plays.
Speaker 3: So we've just moved in here.
Speaker 1: Watch the dogs come in. They're still furniture everywhere. Some
Speaker 1: photos are going and go in, go in, come in,
Speaker 1: come in, fuck say everywhere. It's a really interesting version
Speaker 1: of what we see a lot which is established dude
Speaker 1: loses his career in mainstream media and then tries to
Speaker 1: segue into something else. Alan Jones, Ray Hadley, Kyl Stefanovic.
Speaker 1: None of them have really been able to step into
Speaker 1: another medium very successfully yet. So if he pulls this off,
Speaker 1: Kyle will be the first person to have actually done
Speaker 1: it successfully in the modern era in Australian media.
Speaker 2: What do you think about the business model?
Speaker 1: So Kyl Sandalan's Live unless you're a super fan like
Speaker 1: you and I, where it's nine to nine dollars for
Speaker 1: a year's subscription, you'll be paying two dollars a week
Speaker 1: to listen to Kyle's three hour radio show every day,
Speaker 1: which will also be video, be a vodcast.
Speaker 2: What do you think about that? Will will his audience
Speaker 2: follow him?
Speaker 1: Look?
Speaker 2: I think they will.
Speaker 3: When you see the response to when the doco dropped
Speaker 3: last night, there was a lot of people on social
Speaker 3: media that were probably just curious, like I was, to
Speaker 3: kind of see how this would sort of go, what
Speaker 3: his demeanor would be like, how he would approach it.
Speaker 3: And I saw a really stark different Kyl Sanderlans to
Speaker 3: the one I think that has been portrayed by people
Speaker 3: that probably didn't listen to his stint on Two DAYFM
Speaker 3: or his stint at Kiss FM. I think a lot
Speaker 3: of people like to paint him is this big ogre
Speaker 3: type bully. But I think when it comes down to it,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people and he reminds the
Speaker 3: viewer he was a kid that slept in a cardboard box.
Speaker 3: He knows what it's like to have you back against
Speaker 3: the wall. And he also talks about sure he's got,
Speaker 3: you know, twenty million dollars worth of mortgages, but he's
Speaker 3: also supporting a lot of friends, a lot of family
Speaker 3: members for their health issues. He's what he's on employees.
Speaker 3: He's got about eight or so to this new Carl
Speaker 3: Sandalans Live project, and a lot of them I think
Speaker 3: it goes to the measure of the man. A lot
Speaker 3: of them have come from you know, his previous life.
Speaker 3: I think seven of the core team members, including his manager,
Speaker 3: have been with him for probably a better part of
Speaker 3: a decade, and that I think that there speaks volumes
Speaker 3: about just the kind of bloke he truly is.
Speaker 1: Between this and an interview he did over the weekend
Speaker 1: with Lisa Mayo from The Daily Telegraph, an interview that
Speaker 1: was published across the news Corp family of Metropolitan papers, we.
Speaker 2: Learned some interesting things.
Speaker 1: One was that Kyle's best friend, John Ibrahim, the colorful
Speaker 1: Sydney nightclub identity, called him and said how are you,
Speaker 1: how's your mental health, which caused Kyle to kind of
Speaker 1: fall around laughing. And also that Russell Crowe rang Kyle
Speaker 1: to say, you know, get it together, make up with Jackie,
Speaker 1: patch it up. Those little nuggets have been very interesting,
Speaker 1: and so have his reflections on Jackie and what she's
Speaker 1: kind of going through. What's your sense of how he's
Speaker 1: handled that. Do you think he's getting the tone right?
Speaker 3: I think he is. He's very respectful of obviously their
Speaker 3: long working relationship and they have clearly a very deep friendship,
Speaker 3: and he kind of paints it in the way of
Speaker 3: you know, mum and Dad have been married for twenty
Speaker 3: five odd years, and of course what used to be
Speaker 3: cute and funny is no longer cute and funny, and
Speaker 3: it's all sort of blown up.
Speaker 2: I sort of have had to emotionally, in my mind
Speaker 2: close that chapter.
Speaker 1: You know, this isn't a taking sides thing like like,
Speaker 1: I'll always love her like a sister to me. I
Speaker 1: wish her the best.
Speaker 3: I still think, I mean, given I think we're watching
Speaker 3: footage from probably a few weeks or months ago, it's
Speaker 3: still very raw. So he sort of feels like he's
Speaker 3: in a bit of shock because he can't really understand, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, he says, this wasn't even our biggest fight.
Speaker 3: We've normally just patched things up and it'll be fine,
Speaker 3: And he goes on to say, you know, he's reached
Speaker 3: out to her to say that I love.
Speaker 2: You when I have your back.
Speaker 3: But then it is interesting because then you see on
Speaker 3: the flip side to that, when all of this, you know,
Speaker 3: deal went through a very own A Meetia section with
Speaker 3: Steve Jackson and James Madden broke the story that now
Speaker 3: they've submitted affidavits which will go to help arn versus
Speaker 3: Jackie Henderson in her fur work claim.
Speaker 1: Former radio host Jackie Oh has made explosive allegations against
Speaker 1: her longtime co host Kyl Sandalan's So for unfair dismissal,
Speaker 1: and just like Carl Sandlan's, Jackie O is now demanding
Speaker 1: to be paid the rest of their two hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar megadeal.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot more to tease out of this.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's either genius marketing and pr of which
Speaker 3: of course it is. And it's going to be even
Speaker 3: more delicious content.
Speaker 2: Coming up.
Speaker 1: Could the Kylon Jackie O Show rise from the dead.
Speaker 1: It'll be really interesting to see what she does, how
Speaker 1: she handles it. How would you play this if you
Speaker 1: were Jackie. Bearing in mind that she from her perspective,
Speaker 1: you know, started talking on the radio show about the
Speaker 1: thing that she's really interested in astrology, the world of
Speaker 1: wo that she's kind of got herself into now and
Speaker 1: that she's genuinely interested in like a lot of women are,
Speaker 1: and she got absolutely pasted about that by Kyle. She's
Speaker 1: been through some serious health problems and an addiction issue
Speaker 1: that she's talked about. She's been through a divorce, she's
Speaker 1: a single mom. She's now going through her own court
Speaker 1: battle to try and recoup some of that one hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar contract from our n What do you think
Speaker 1: she should do or how would you play it for
Speaker 1: you with JACKIEO?
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is another thing I think the JACKIEO is
Speaker 3: probably one of our most successful and talented broadcasters in
Speaker 3: this country. She's always just sort of been there. She's
Speaker 3: done everything every type of medium, going back to the
Speaker 3: pop stars days, and that's how she struck up such
Speaker 3: a great friendship with people like Sophie Monk. And again,
Speaker 3: I think she's an incredible talent. I think she has
Speaker 3: a lot to offer. It will be interesting to see
Speaker 3: whether she goes down the same rutus Kyle and decides
Speaker 3: to launch her own media company or she does something
Speaker 3: completely different and we see, you know, in six months time,
Speaker 3: JACKIEO offering her life coach services.
Speaker 2: Who knows.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she kind of tried her own media company, didn't she.
Speaker 1: With her friend Jemma O'Neil, they had a podcast called
Speaker 1: Her Best Life. They had a business called Besties, which
Speaker 1: was about facilitating women's connections. They brought Megan Markele to
Speaker 1: Australia to give a talk and it's kind of in
Speaker 1: hiatus or it's fizzled out there.
Speaker 2: Why do you think that is? Is it that you know,
Speaker 2: Kyle was always the star and she was always the sidekick.
Speaker 3: I think that's also the interesting thing because this could
Speaker 3: be what also undoes Kyle, right, because I think it's
Speaker 3: all well and good to jump on this train now
Speaker 3: in the early days of the new Kyle Sandalans live
Speaker 3: and again, as he says, three hours of him every
Speaker 3: day could be a lot without the appropriate foil. And
Speaker 3: that's why I think that those two were just like
Speaker 3: such a successful combination. They were like the Sultan Vinegar
Speaker 3: of media because they just balanced each other so well.
Speaker 3: So I think that's going to be the ultimate test
Speaker 3: for Kyle, whether he can actually sustain the success without
Speaker 3: the appropriate foil which Jackie delivered him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she was always the buffer against the claim
Speaker 1: that he was a misogynist. You know, you mentioned his
Speaker 1: kind of bad moments, and he's had plenty, and he's
Speaker 1: been an idiot at various times over his career, but
Speaker 1: he does own that and he has always had her
Speaker 1: to kind of soften it has need to call him
Speaker 1: out in the moment. That was the dynamic I have
Speaker 1: to prove doing something.
Speaker 2: Should she be feeling a little bit used?
Speaker 3: I don't know if I think that's just how chemistry
Speaker 3: when a coupling in a professional context, specifically a forward,
Speaker 3: a front facing, very public partnership like that. I think
Speaker 3: they both compliment each other very well. So I think
Speaker 3: potentially Rusty Crow could be prophetic and sort of say
Speaker 3: that they will eventually get back together. I mean, this
Speaker 3: could also all blow up in all of our faces,
Speaker 3: thinking that they've broken up for good, and then all
Speaker 3: of a sudden we see sort of Jackie slide back in.
Speaker 2: Who knows.
Speaker 3: I don't think she would feel used, because I think
Speaker 3: they were both incredibly successful together. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: it's folklore in the industry that they always went into
Speaker 3: contract negotiations with their radio bosses together and it was
Speaker 3: very much whatever I get, she gets, whatever he gets,
Speaker 3: she gets. So it will be interesting to see how
Speaker 3: this sort of plays out and see how Kyle's trajectory continues,
Speaker 3: because it will because he's you know, he's such a talent,
Speaker 3: but also to see what Jackie does next and whether
Speaker 3: their pards will cross.
Speaker 1: He has said that there's always a spot for her
Speaker 1: on the app on Kyle Sandelad's life.
Speaker 2: She wants to join him.
Speaker 1: Imagine if she did, we would go back to thinking
Speaker 1: that the bosses at Aarn of royally stuffed this up.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't we.
Speaker 1: Initially it looked like a catastrophe for them because it
Speaker 1: looked like they were going to have to pay out
Speaker 1: the contract anyway. Then Kyle settled for a relatively small
Speaker 1: amount of money, I think twelve million dollars, and suddenly
Speaker 1: they look like geniuses again. If Kyle makes this work,
Speaker 1: takes their advertisers, maybe gets Jackie O, takes all the attention,
Speaker 1: we can go back to thinking that they're idiots.
Speaker 2: Right, I've always been in that camp.
Speaker 3: I just think that the suits at ARN have been outplayed, outwitted,
Speaker 3: and they will be outlasted by the lord in stretching pants.
Speaker 1: Well, he's lost a teen kilos. Apparently his tracked acts
Speaker 1: are the only thing that fit him. Now he's KISSFM
Speaker 1: TRACKI acts.
Speaker 3: Of course they were. And the slide, the ug boot slides.
Speaker 3: I just think I just love it. And then the house,
Speaker 3: you know he was talking about, Look at this new house.
Speaker 3: I'm getting some work done. It's great for New Year's
Speaker 3: Eve because that this incredible view and then he turns
Speaker 3: and says, you're not coming out on anyone here. And
Speaker 3: as I've written for The Australian, it says, in the
Speaker 3: world now where we are inundated with AI slop and
Speaker 3: losers trying to line up to go on reality television
Speaker 3: for linear projects, having someone that is so genuinely and
Speaker 3: authentically themselves and just you know, a bit of a bull,
Speaker 3: fair bit of a slob.
Speaker 2: I'm here for it. I'm really enjoying it. Well.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the ug boots and the stretchy trackies will be
Speaker 1: the new range of Kyle merch that we can buy
Speaker 1: along with our subscriptions.
Speaker 3: Don't my kids need to eat? And I'm probably gonna
Speaker 3: buy them.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jenna, Thanks Claire.
Speaker 1: Jenny Clarke is an associate editor with The Australian. You
Speaker 1: can read her review right now at The Australian dot
Speaker 1: com dot au