The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) plan to hit ARN with tougher licence conditions over repeated breaches on The Kyle & Jackie O Show has set off fresh debate about whether the move will rein in behaviour or quietly escalate a long-running culture war between shock radio and Canberra.
And according to senior industry advisor Wade Kingsley, founder of The Ideas Business, long-time radio strategist, and host of The Game Changers Radio podcast, ACMA’s proposed controls risk missing the point entirely.
The new five-year conditions would force ARN to comply with stricter audience-interaction standards under clause 2.2 of the Commercial Radio Code.
It’s a sweeping step that directly targets any program hosted by Kyle Sandilands or Jackie ‘O’ Henderson – and comes after a series of rulings around explicit content, degrading on-air games, and segments involving graphic sexual speculation.
ARN now has 21 days to respond before ACMA decides whether to formally impose the conditions.
But Kingsley says the regulator is aiming at the wrong target.
‘This isn’t regulation. It’s censorship dressed up as compliance.’
Kingsley argues the remedies cut dangerously close to restricting artistic and editorial expression, warning that ACMA risks stepping into “censorship” rather than enforcing clear-cut standards.
“I doubt Kyle & Jackie O or ARN will challenge this,” he says.
“They won’t want the headlines to continue for any longer than they need to. They could mount an argument around suppression and, for the record, I don’t agree with what ACMA are proposing because to me it amounts to a form of censorship.”
He believes the market – not the regulator – is already sending the strongest signal.
“The way the system should work is unless the speech is hateful, discriminatory or libellous then let them be them. If they want to sink their own ship by continuing with sexually explicit content then it’s poor discipline, which in a free society they should be allowed to do.”
And his warning for ARN is blunt: “The audience outside of Sydney have rejected this kind of stuff emphatically. It’s not ACMA they should be worried about, it’s the audience.”
ARN faces steep revenue decline as pressure mounts
The ACMA action arrives at a time when ARN is already under significant commercial strain, with the broadcaster warning of a major downturn in earnings heading into the end of the year.
Newly appointed COO Michael Stephenson had promised a “reimagined” company at the broadcaster’s recent Upfronts, but ASX disclosures show October revenue dropped around 10% year-on-year, while full-year EBITDA is now forecast to fall 25–27% below FY2024.
The company cites “significant softness” in the national ad market and cautious client behaviour, though industry observers say the timing is notable.
Radio futurist James Cridland told Mediaweek the update “raises eyebrows,” especially given ARN’s heavy investment in digital audio despite linear radio still generating about 90% of its revenue.
He also pointed to ongoing advertiser hesitancy driven by the Mad F*ing Witches boycott campaign, which continues to shadow The Kyle & Jackie O Show.
“Clearly the group are having quite an impact,” he said.
Wade Kingsley
‘ACMA is irrelevant’
Kingsley says The Kyle & Jackie O Show is fully capable of strong, compelling radio – but its repeated drift into graphic sexual territory is a failure of editorial control, not a regulatory gap.
“Kyle & Jackie O can definitely broadcast a great show without sexually explicit content and they often do,” he says. “Some of their best content is about relationships and sex but isn’t graphically sexual or explicit.”
But he says the deeper structural problem lies in who decides what makes it to air.
“Their issue is they seem to be consistently beholden to what Kyle and his manager Bruno [Bouchet] who is also the director of the show – thinks is what the audience want to hear. If Kyle can’t tell the difference between ‘radio gone rogue’ and simply being sexually explicit then that’s the real issue here. ACMA is irrelevant.”
He points to this week’s segment that saw Sandilands ask Bouchet what objects he had used for sexual acts. Answers included “a banana and a jar of oatmeal.”
“If they think this is content that is going to win over listeners then ARN are free to defend it to their shareholders and advertisers without the protection of additional licence conditions,” he says.
Stakes rise for ARN
The proposed conditions stem from breaches involving explicit sexual commentary, staff urination games, graphic descriptions of sex acts and lewd references to pornography – material ACMA says violates audience-interaction standards.
If imposed, the conditions will stand until at least 2030.
But Kingsley says the next move is on ARN, not the regulator.
“ARN likes to say their content is borderless,” he says. “Well, this stuff is tasteless, but they shouldn’t be banned from doing it.”
And the message for the industry is clear: regulation won’t fix a content discipline problem. The audience will. Then again, anyone offended always has the option to simply switch stations, or turn the volume down.
Mediaweek has reached out to ARN for comment.