2 weeks Ago By Calum Jaspan
Australia’s highest-paid media stars, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson, have been found to have breached decency standards for radio by the media watchdog as it continues to investigate systemic issues with the program. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) published the findings of two investigations into the duo, who host a breakfast show on the radio network KIIS FM in Sydney and Melbourne, on Friday morning. The investigations related to two segments that aired in June.
The segments were deliberately offensive, would be considered offensive so by any reasonable person listening, and weren’t in line with broader community standards, ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a media statement. “This content went beyond the bounds of decency expected by the community and was done so deliberately and provocatively,” O’Loughlin said. “Even having two program censors employed by the broadcaster in place following previous ACMA enforcement action, this has not stopped occurrences of unsuitable content going to air.
While it ruled the show was in breach of Code 2.2, which relates to decency standards, ACMA said it will consider its enforcement options after two additional investigations it launched in February into system issues relating to decency and complaints handling by the show and network conclude. Friday’s decision relates to two segments aired on June 7 last year, the first of which heard the show’s hosts, as well as their producer “Pedro”, discuss a rumour about Henderson having a sexual encounter with a woman, ACMA said.
The second related to a competition the show ran, “Tradie vs Lady”, while the complainant also alleged there had been no response to the complaint she made to the Melbourne licensee, KIIS 101.1. The complainant made the report after hearing the show mention a number of sexually explicit terms while she was listening in her car just after 6am when the program began.
In its response to ACMA, KIIS said it believed it did not breach decency standards, with its core audience being made up of a “broad-minded adult demographic”, used to robust, uninhibited, real life comedic discussions, which include “sexual references and descriptions of sexual activities”. Sandilands and Henderson’s content has been under a spotlight for the better part of a year, following the show’s launch into Melbourne in April last year, part of a landmark 10-year contract with KIIS owner ARN, which nets the pair $10 million each annually. Yet their content has not resonated with Melburnians, who have tuned out of the station, They continue to perform well in their native Sydney.
The show rated last against their key commercial rivals in the most recent ratings survey published on Thursday, with a 5.1 per cent share, despite a major marketing campaign based around the pair now “behaving” after a directive from the station’s management to remove smut from the show. During the “Tradie vs Lady” segment, two contestants were introduced, and information was provided to the audience about them by the hosts, including their name, age, weight, favourite sexual position and an anecdote about their past sexual experience.
Some of these discussions were of a “graphic sexual nature”, ACMA said. “The ACMA acknowledges that each of the segments was presented in a light-hearted manner, and the overall tone was mild. However, the ACMA does not consider that the tone of the segments sufficiently diminished the impact of the language and explicit sexual themes that were broadcast.
” KIIS already employs a censor on the show to monitor the content it puts on air and ensure it complies with broadcasting codes. It agreed to do this in 2023 after it was deemed to have breached decency standards again over comments made in a segment about the Paralympics, in which Sandilands referred to it as the “Special Olympics”, among other comments made by the pair. Staff on the show also agreed to undertake sensitivity training, yet not ACMA said it does not appear that the active censors “have proactively considered the potential risks of discussing matters of a sexual nature with the contestants”.
ACMA found the show had not breached a separate Code, 2.4, which rules against having explicit sexual themes as the “core component” of the program. It said there were numerous other segments non-sexual in nature across the four-hour show.
Under ACMA’s powers, it can agree to response measures for a breach of the code before taking some enforceable actions.ACMA can impose additional licence conditions for code breaches; however, its powers are limited, and under its legislation, it does not have the power to issue civil penalties or fines for breaches of the broadcasting codes..
