The feminist group that campaigned against Kyle Sandilands is celebrating the radio star settling for $12million – a fraction of his $85million contract – as the ‘humiliation of the century’.
Meanwhile, a radio insider claims the parent company of KIIS FM, ARN Radio, is quietly ‘over the moon’ about the settlement with the shock jock, and that it hopes to strike a similar deal ending Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s lawsuit by the end of the financial year.
The Daily Mail has learned that Kyle’s settlement was brokered by Ciaran Davis, the same ex-CEO of ARN who originally paid $200m to Kyle and Jackie ‘O‘ to front the KIIS FM breakfast show until 2034.
Although ‘neither party was entirely happy’ with the deal, ARN is said to be ‘cock-a-hoop’ with the result and is now keen to secure ‘a one-off payment to Jackie O before June 30’, an insider told the Mail.
Sandilands is also said to be relieved to shake off a further $1.5m of legal costs over two more years which would have delayed the radio star returning to the airwaves.
But as Sandilands plots a return to broadcasting with a show tentatively titled Kyle Sandilands Live – partially supported by ARN – he is hoping to cement a revenue stream for his future broadcast initiative so it is not reliant on advertising.
The Mad F***ing Witches feminist group targeted Sandilands’ corporate sponsors for years, accusing his show of ‘violent misogyny’, crude remarks and offensive on-air content.
They claim their campaign prompted 1,900 advertisers to agree not to fund the show and led media regulators to take an interest in ARN.
Kyle Sandilands has accepted $12m in a deal which has his former radio bosses ‘over the moon’. The shock jock is apparently itching to get back on air with a podcast version of his radio show
Radio pundits have predicted that Sandilands’ settlement could prompt Jackie Henderson to finalise her own deal, maybe by June 30 ending the saga which has been festering since February
Craig Bruce, from the Game Changers podcast, said of Kyle’s next initiative: ‘It will sound like radio, it will have music in it.
‘I think he wants to make something that doesn’t rely on advertising. He will have sponsors but he doesn’t want a MFW thing happening again.’
The format is expected to be a podcast that sounds like his radio show. Bruce – a fellow broadcaster and Sandilands’ former boss – said Sandilands ‘just wants to get moving’ and get back ‘talking to his audience’.
Sandilands is said to have surrounded himself with a ‘gun team’ and will hit the airwaves in the next few months.
The Kyle and Jackie O show’s abrupt end four months ago occurred after Sandilands accused Henderson of ‘being off with the fairies’ and that her fixation with horoscopes made her ‘almost unworkable’.
Both stars had their contracts terminated and commenced legal action in the Federal Court of Australia.
Meanwhile, ARN hopes dual end of financial year payouts would mark the end of the costly saga for the network, which was ‘being flown into the ground’ in terms of ratings and revenue since Sandilands and his co-host’s February 20 on-air stoush sparked their show’s cancellation.
The Mad F—ing Witches group has celebrated Kyle’s settlement. Above, Jennie Hill, the group’s founder
Hired for $200m the hugely successful Kyle and Jackie O Show broke apart in February and the two stars’ contracts were cancelled. Now Sandilands has brokered a $12m settlement, Henderson is expected to follow suit
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In February, Sandilands was suspended for 14 days to remedy ‘an act of serious misconduct’ in breach of his contract, and was later sacked.
Jackie Henderson’s lawyers previously said she was left ‘psychologically unwell’ from the ‘ongoing bullying’ and that she ‘cannot continue to work with Mr Sandilands’.
Henderson is reportedly pursuing an $82.25 million to $90 million wrongful termination lawsuit against ARN.
However, one media commentator said now that she had ‘a ballpark figure’ with Sandilands’ settlement, she might go for something more like $15m.
As far as replacements go, current ARN boss Michael ‘Stevo’ Stevenson – internally considered heroic for ending the paralysis gripping KIIS FM post-Kyle and Jackie O – is said to be eyeing off Dubai talent Kris Fade.
Fade, an Australian-Lebanese radio presenter, host, and musician who has built a massive following in Dubai, is considered a Sandilands-style broadcaster, minus the smutty jokes.
Insiders say that any consideration by Stevo of TV talent would be courting failure.
‘Like Rove McManus on 2DayFM, a disaster,’ one told the Mail. ‘Radio and TV people aren’t the same. Like the Karl & Eddie show, it’s not going to rate’.
The latter referred to Karl Stefanovic and Eddie Maguire’s new program, The Long Weekend with Karl & Eddie on the GOLD network.
