What's New
BY RadioToday Network July 10, 2026
What's New March 5, 2026
What the Kyle & Jackie O Show collapse says about workplace culture
Reporter
A culture that normalises confrontation. If you wouldn’t accept it in a corporate workplace, why would you accept it anywhere else?
As the Kyle & Jackie O Show collapse continues to flood our news feeds, workplace law expert Antonia Tahan says the fallout is more than just celebrity gossip – it’s a case study in workplace law playing out in real time.
As everyone from psychologists to astrologists weigh in on the saga, Tahan said on LinkedIn:
“Reports suggest that Jackie O felt unsafe at work, raised concerns, and said she could no longer continue in that environment … followed by the termination of her contract. If that sequence is accurate, it raises serious legal issues.”
Tahan (pictured above) says the reality is, a ‘culture’ of banter doesn’t override legal obligations. Saying ‘It’s just radio’ doesn’t excuse harmful conduct.
“What might be dismissed as entertainment externally can, internally, meet the legal threshold for bullying, harassment or an unsafe workplace.”
“And perhaps the most important takeaway: When conduct is tolerated long enough, it becomes culture.”
“But culture is not a defence.”
Strategic advisor Jarrod McKenzie (pictured above) says that while most people are talking about the Kyle & Jackie O fallout as entertainment news, from a workplace safety perspective, it’s also a powerful case study:
The on-air blow-up was the visible moment, according to McKenzie, who, on LinkedIn, said the warning signs were likely there long before:
“What happened live on air did not appear out of nowhere. Psychosocial incidents rarely do. They are usually the result of unmanaged risk building over time.”
McKenzie says when these types of risks go unmanaged, they rarely stay contained. Sometimes they explode.
“In this case, it happened live on-air to millions of listeners.”
Images: LinkedIn, Chamberlains Law Firm website and supplied.
It is a known fact in radio that bullying is allowed on air (and off) under the guise of comedy and “oh hhh we’re just joking.” comedians in radio regularly use this tactic to bully underlings who often have no choice but to accept it, because standing up to them is impossible. there is a very, very delicate line between just joking and bullying and many cross it knowing it’s almost impossible to prove
It’s taken this website years to finally realise this.
After giving them a platform day in and day out
Had the penny finally dropped or is it damage control?
I am excited about the change, and advertisers will be too!
This change will mean a big shift in what is acceptable to the audience and how women are treated.
Woman have been spoken down to for decades, the bully mentality and ego driven rights of some men is unacceptable!
I take my hat off to Jackie for standing up and speaking up….go girl!
It’s about time that all people regardless of race,religion or gender be treated equally, we are all human.
Too familiar, apart from Kyle, pray tell what other radio presenters “bully underlings” in 2026?
I think it’s transparently obvious there was a rather toxic culture behind the scenes at Kyle & Jackie O which permeated itself into the on-air product. The number of key personnel K&JO lost in the lead-up to the split/implosion, was also a cause for concern.
Having said that, I still feel for those BTS people who stuck with Kyle & Jackie O until its very bitter end along with Alec Feldman, who had not long joined the team as a new producer and studio operator for the program! They’re the type of people who very well could end up being collateral damage, while the now-split duo is almost certainly likely to retain some level of career/profile in the media as individuals.
@Mel: I don’t think Radio Today/RadioInfo were any worse with their coverage of Kyle & Jackie O than the mainstream Sydney media, who basically had the duo and their show as their main “radio go-to” in the years since Alan Jones’ departure from the airwaves.
I mean, obviously AJ’s downfall along with other Sydney radio stories like Ray Hadley’s retirement + John Laws’ retirement and subsequent death have been covered by TV news, etc. But Jonesy & Amanda (who let’s not forget, have been an on-air partnership for a similar amount of time to K&JO) didn’t even receive brief 30 Second report on Sydney commercial TV news bulletins after presenting their final brekky show on December 12 last year!
I think the standard you see and do nothing about, is the standard you accept.
as the dust settles – Ciaran Davis and Ange Ewers ??? what say you