ARN confirms no new KIIS Breakfast show until 2027, hints at 'familiar' line-up

Dave Cameron doesn't do panic. Survey 4 lands, Sydney's breakfast ladder reshuffles again, GOLD101.7 is bleeding cume like a punctured tyre, and KIIS1065 still doesn't have a permanent Breakfast host more than a year after Kyle & Jackie O  imploded.

Somewhere in all that, ARN's Director of Content – Metro Radio should be reaching for the smelling salts. Instead, the man known as the ‘silver fox’ is doing what he always does: staying remarkably, almost suspiciously, calm.

READ MORE: Sydney Radio Ratings 2026 Survey 4: smoothfm holds #1 as GOLD sheds share, KIIS breakfast slips

READ MORE: Melbourne Radio Ratings 2026 Survey 4: 3AW stays #1 as ABC Melbourne surges, NOVA 100 overtakes on cume

The numbers weren't kind. GOLD101.7 copped the market's biggest hit, down 1.4 points to 7.6%, shedding 70,000 in cume for good measure - a genuine audience exodus, not a rounding error. 

The networked Christian O'Connell Show slipped too, down 0.6 to 6.6% in Breakfast. Over at KIIS1065, the search for a permanent Breakfast line-up rolls on, with the slot down another 1.1 points to 7.1% - the market's biggest faller, for the second survey running.

Mediaweek sat down with Cameron to talk through the damage, why he's not about to rush out a new KIIS Breakfast announcement just to make the bleeding stop (spoiler: it's coming, just not yet), and how ARN is navigating the ongoing fallout from Karl Stefanovic. 

Restrained celebration on the good days, an appropriate lack of concern on the bumpy ones - the Cameron mantra, as ever.

Mediaweek: Let's go straight to Sydney where GOLD101.7 suffered the biggest slide in Survey 4, down 1.4 points to 7.6% - its cume also dropped 70,000 - while GOLD101.7's Breakfast, the networked Christian O'Connell Show, was also down 0.6 to 6.6%. Let's focus on O'Connell - does that dip worry you?

Dave Cameron: When you make a big change like that (moving the former Breakfast show of Jonesy & Amanda to Drive, and networking the Melbourne-based O'Connell into Sydney Breakfast), figures bounce along for a little bit until things kind of settle down and the audience get into a routine, and a new behaviour, and form a new bond with the new show. But that's not now.

I've been around long enough to have a restrained celebration when we go up, and then have an appropriate lack of concern on slightly bumpier days.

It'll be a bit bumpy for a while, as it was for Christian in Melbourne when he first started, and as it is for every show. But also, the reality is that he's been in the market for less time than most other shows, and he's sitting with results above those of shows that have been in the market longer.

Mediaweek: Staying in Sydney, KIIS1065's Breakfast was the biggest faller overall, down 1.1 to 7.1% - it's been tumbling since the departure of Kyle & Jackie O in Breakfast. You haven't locked in anyone on a permanent basis to fill that slot since. Doesn't a figure like this make you want to just announce a new Breakfast show to stop the bleeding?

Dave Cameron: When you sort of get into the heartland of the audience 25-54, it's actually driving really strong numbers in the market. It doesn't have the appeal outside the 25-54 audience that Kyle and Jack used to have, but it's still really strong numbers for us.

The reality is, when you look at the cume for that show, it's still sitting above half a million in that time slot. I think that's remarkable for a time slot that'd had a seismic change.

Mediaweek: OK, but when are you planning on formally announcing a new show?

Dave Cameron: We're building a strategy for 2027 onwards. Anything that happens earlier will be a bonus, but the strategy is for 2027 onwards, as it takes time to put things in place and will have an element of familiarity. 

Sources have told Mediaweek the announcement will be made at the company's Upfronts, which typically take place near the tail end of the year.

Mediaweek: How does ARN feel about the entire Karl Stefanovic drama? There was so much noise around his show with Eddie McGuire, The Long Weekend — was there an "oh, not another drama" sense internally?

Dave Cameron: What I like about this company is they're prepared to continue to be a little bit bold and do things. And when you're operating in that spot, everything works.

You put a little bit of danger into building new things, and that comes with the risk that not everything's going to work out the way it was intended. But we'll make some decisions about where that show is at in the next short period.