They’re both top of their game on AM and FM airwaves.
And AM breakfast king Alan Jones, 76, thinks Kyle Sandilands has a bright future on talkback radio, telling Studio 10 in an interview airing on Tuesday: ‘I have no doubt that he would succeed in any format that he applied himself to.’
But Kyle, 46, was less than impressed with the idea of catering to an older audience, telling Jackie ‘O’ Henderson: ‘I’m not doing it!’
‘I have no doubt that he would succeed’: Alan Jones says Kyle Sandilands has a future in AM talkback radio … But the KIIS shock jocks is less than impressed with the idea
On Tuesday KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O Show played a preview snippet of Alan’s interview with Studio 10.
Alan, who beats the KIIS shock jocks with a staggering 14.9 per cent audience share listening to his 26B breakfast show, explained he thinks Kyle would be a perfect fit for talkback.
‘I do, I think Kyle Sandilands has ability – he knows how to handle a microphone and he’s got views, opinions and so on,’ he said.
Not happy: Despite Alan’s glowing praise, Kyle was not thrilled with the thought of moving to an AM station
On top: Alan beat the KIIS shock jocks with a staggering 14.9 per cent audience share listening to his 26B breakfast show in the latest radio survey
‘He’s a genuine radio person Kyle Sandilands, so I think he would succeed in any format.’
However the radio legend did concede Kyle would need to have a wider understanding of current affairs.
‘Obviously you do have to have a greater breadth of issues you can’t be sort of narrow … [but] radio is not talking about the overthrow of Vanuatu for half an hour, you’re not going to get an audience,’ Alan said.
‘You do have to have a greater breadth of issues’: The radio legend did concede Kyle would need to have a wider understanding of current affairs
Despite Alan’s glowing praise, Kyle was not thrilled with the thought of moving to an AM station.
‘I’ve never said I am going to do talkback radio, I’ve never said that – I’m not doing it!’ Kyle said.
To prove his point, Kyle admitted to knowing nothing about the political overthrow in Vanuatu.
‘I saw Vanuatu once on the back of a Qantas flight thing and I thought oh that looks close, I might go there – end of information,’ he said.
Playing dumb? To prove his point, Kyle admitted to knowing nothing about the political overthrow in Vanuatu
Kyle and Alan have had a tumultuous relationship over the years, with Alan publicly berating his younger counterpart for calling a female journalist a ‘fat slag’.
‘I’ve told Kyle … there’s no need for that vulgarity,’ Alan told The Sunday Telegraph in 2015.
‘You don’t need that stuff to get people to listen to you. You’ve got to treat these people with respect – talk to the audience as if you were talking to your mother.’
Meanwhile in 2015 Kyle labelled Alan and his Nova rivals Fitzy and Wippa ‘losers’ after a radio stunt to get them on air was blocked by their producers.
FM favourites: Kyle hosts the popular Kyle and Jackie O Show with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson