ARN has issued an extraordinary 700-word apology over comments made on-air by Kiis FM breakfast co-host Kyle Sandilands last month.
ARN said it wanted to correct the statements made by Sandilands and ensure the public record is clear, but also asked media not to quote the apology.
The broadcast company said it wanted to be abundantly clear that it did not endorse or condone the comments made by Sandilands.
Sandilands’ spray occurred on Sept. 29 in relation to the company’s internal and external comms and PR functions.
He blasted the company’s PR operatives for not doing more to highlight his show’s recent win in the Sydney FM breakfast battle.
“I am sick and tired of working here,” he added.
“Everyone is a loser, except for everyone on this show. Everyone else outside of this show is a massive loser. I am not joking.”
In ARN’s correction and apology today, it addressed the company’s former long-term communications partner The Comms Department, as well as its new partner Mango.
It was particularly praising of TCD, noting ARN’s successes today are in large part thanks to TCD’s work and that of its founder, Bec Brown. It reiterated that it was disappointed its long-running relationship with TCD came to an end.
The apology also addressed the in-house team, lead by the Brooke Cashell, and said ARN’s chief connections officer Lauren Joyce is extremely proud of their ongoing work.
Officially, ARN also released a compressed statement, which said: “ARN does not endorse or condone the comments made by Kyle Sandilands, nor the language that was used or the context with which it was spoken during a segment broadcast on Thursday, 29th September.
“It was not an expression of the views of ARN, which prides itself on [being] an inclusive workplace. However, we accept responsibility and unreservedly apologise to everyone impacted by the segment, both at ARN and the broader community.
“We also acknowledge and support Kyle’s apology on-air this morning. We are taking this matter very seriously and undertaking a full review to further reinforce the current process.”
This is hardly the first controversy or headline for Sandilands, who last year hit out at the “gutless worms” and “naughty liar[s]” at News Corp, branding a story it ran on him “fake news”.
He also defended disgraced former Sony boss Denis Handlin and told people to “get over it”.
He did, however, gain praise for decreasing vaccine hesitancy with his “Get Vaxxed Baby” campaign.
In the most recent radio ratings, “The Kyle and Jackie O Show”, Kiis had a 12.8% share in breakfast, ahead of all its FM counterparts in Sydney, but behind Ben Fordham’s share of 16.9% on AM’s 2GB. The show’s cumulative audience, however, was the highest, boasting 738,000 to Fordham’s 492,000.
Last year, however, Sandilands said he didn’t celebrate being No. 1 because it was “normal, normal, normal”, and is simply what he requires of his team.
