Aussie Radio: CCM+E's KISS-FM Brand To Debut In Sydney

Kyle and Jackie O

Clear Channel looks to be expanding its KIIS-FM radio brand to Sydney, Australia with plans to launch in early 2014 with top rated FM breakfast duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson, according to THR.

Clear Channel has a joint venture in Australia and New Zealand with APN News and Media, operating the Australian Radio Network, which owns Mix 106.5 in Sydney, the fourth ranked FM station in the country’s top radio market, among other stations.

ARN confirmed Friday that the Kyle and Jackie O show will shift from Southern Cross Austereo’s 2DayFM station, where they signed off after a decade, to host the breakfast show on Mix106.5.  No mention was made by the company of the KIIS-FM brand.

However, ARN CEO Ciaran Davis said Sandilands and Henderson would spearhead the birth of a new station in Sydney.

That supports speculation that easy listening station Mix 106.5 will flip to the KIIS brand with its celebrity focused pop format. That fits nicely with Kyle and Jackie O's style and will put the station in direct competition with their long time employer 2Day FM and DMG Radio’s Nova stations, majority owned by Lachlan Murdoch’s company Illyria Ltd.

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Kyle and JackieO get an on-air performance critique.