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As the Kyle & Jackie O Show struggles to gain a foothold in the Melbourne market after a year in the city and significant marketing spend, the radio programme has fallen foul with the industry regulator for breaching decency standards.
The determination relating to a mid-2024 broadcast comes as the regulator also looks into "possible systemic issues in relation to the decency and complaint handling provisions."
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found comments made on the show, which is owned by ARN Media (ASX: A1N), breached decency rules under the Commercial Radio Code of Practice.
Following a listener complaint relating to a 7 June 2024 broadcast of the program, the ACMA opened investigations into KIIS 1065 and KIIS 1011 - the licensees that air the program in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.
Investigations found the two segments referred to in the complaint included explicit sexual content and content that included sustained and vulgar graphic sexualised descriptions.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the segments would be considered offensive to any reasonable person listening to the broadcast and were not in line with broader community standards.
"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."
Double T Radio has also been found to have breached the Code for not responding to a listener complaint within 30 days of receipt.
“Complaints are an essential part of Australia’s co-regulatory broadcasting system as they provide a reliable avenue for the public to put their concerns directly to the broadcaster,” O’Loughlin said.
“Failing to respond to complaints in the required timeframe undermines the effectiveness of the co-regulatory system.”
On 7 February 2025 the ACMA opened two further investigations into concerns around a range of content brought to the ACMA’s attention into the program’s compliance with the code, which will consider whether systemic problems are at play.
The watchdog will consider enforcement action for breaches found in the 7 June broadcast once additional investigations are finalised.
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