Comedy duo Merrick and Rosso slam former breakfast show rival Kyle Sandilands

They were once breakfast show rivals battling for listeners on the radio airwaves back in 2005.

And on Monday, former Nova stars Merrick and Rosso hit out at Kyle Sandilands for his string of ‘disappointing ‘ on-air attacks.  

‘I was always disappointed, personally,’ Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross admitted on the Game Changer podcast. 

‘He was always chucking grenades!’ Former radio duo Merrick (right) and Rosso (left) slammed one-time breakfast show rival Kyle Sandilands (pictured far right) branding his on-air attacks ‘disappointing’ and revealing Nova FM bosses banned them from hitting back

‘[He was] chucking grenades around for whatever reason, that kind of stuff’s not cool.’

Building up a cult following on Triple J, the iconic duo were the Kings of Breakfast Radio after moving to Nova Sydney in 2001.

But that changed when Kyle started hosting 2Day FM breakfast show with Jackie O in 2005, and started launching a series of sledges at the funnymen.

One-time reigning monarchs: Building up a cult following on Triple J, the iconic duo were the Kings of Breakfast Radio after moving to Nova Sydney in 2001. The pair are pictured at the Fantastic Four premiere at Fox Studios in 2007

Claiming in an interview with Fairfax shortly after their debut, Kyle declared: ‘We’ll beat them (Merrick and Rosso) in the next few months and once we beat them they’ll never be No. 1 again’.

The stoush deepened when Kyle read out Austereo market research about the Nova breakfast pair, revealing respondents found Merrick and Rosso ‘boring’.

But Merrick confessed they were initially banned from responding by Nova bosses.

Challengers for the throne: That changed when Kyle started hosting 2Day FM breakfast show with Jackie O in 2005 and started launching a series of sledges at the funnymen. The stars are pictured at the 2005 Australian Commerical Awards

‘We were instructed to be non-combative and it was particularly difficult for me because I am combative,’ he said.

‘For me personally, I’ve always said if you attack me, I’m going to have a crack … I told the station that but we were suppressed.’

However, Sandilands strategy was successful and after just 12 months on air, Kyle and Jackie O had dethroned Merrick and Rosso to become the number one FM breakfast show in Sydney.

Gagged: Merrick (left) confessed they were initially banned from responding by Nova bosses. The duo are pictured at the premiere of Crackerjack in 2002 in Sydney

In an attempt to win back listeners, the duo recruited former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie, but the move proved futile as Kyle and Jackie continued to dominate.

Rosso announced his departure from the slot a year later with the pair going their separate ways.

The pair have briefly reunited, joining forces again in the Triple M studio in 2017.

And fans of the duo took to Twitter to urge the station to ‘please make it permanent’.

Bringing in the big guns: In an attempt to win back listeners, the duo recruited former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie (pictured) but the move proved futile as Kyle and Jackie continued to dominate

 

  

 

 

 

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