The unspoken question hovering over ARN’s executive floor like the sword of Damocles: was it worth it?

I’ve just hung up the phone after speaking with the Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) Chief Content Officer Lauren Joyce about Survey 7, and the déjà vu is impossible to ignore.

Yes, we were talking fresh numbers, but the conversation felt eerily similar to Survey 6… and Survey 5… and even their recent Upfronts.

Different book. Different moment. Same gravitational pull.

Because every discussion – no matter how neatly we walk through the network’s slate – seems to orbit one figure: $200 million. No one says it out loud. They don’t have to. It lingers in the language, the framing, the pauses. The unspoken question hovering over ARN’s executive floor like the sword of Damocles: was it worth it?

Nearly two years after signing the most expensive talent deal in Australian radio, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson still haven’t delivered the sweeping national dominance their price tag implied. The kind of towering results that would make the spend look like genius, not bravado.

Instead, it’s the kind of talent that sees ACMA propose new licence conditions.

Unless challenged, the ruling will mean that for the next five years, any program involving the duo sits under stricter compliance rules. The condition, attached to Commercial Radio Licence No. 4103, requires adherence to clause 2.2 of the Commercial Radio Code, mandating respectful treatment of callers and on-air participants – a push for safer, more responsible audience interaction.

Joyce said the proposed conditions has seen the show have an intentional recalibration. “We have pared back some of that more extreme content,” she told Mediaweek, framing it as part of a broader tightening under intense scrutiny.

When the conversation turns to the ongoing investigation, she stays firmly on script.

“We respect the regulator and the Commercial Radio Code of Practise and our responsibilities as a licence holder, and we will provide a formal response in due course as part of the process.”

And she won’t be drawn further.

“It’s not appropriate for us to discuss those details at this stage. We will continue to engage with ACMA on this and formalise a statement when appropriate.”

Case closed, for now.

Melbourne’s soft landing… again

The ACMA headache isn’t the only thorn. In Melbourne, the show delivered another soft book: breakfast slipping from 6% to 5.5%, cume easing from 427,000 to 402,000.

But Joyce stresses  that context is important: “The station as a whole, and that breakfast lot, is still very much within the historical range of that station.”

She acknowledges the dip – “You’re right, the show went down slightly, but the station went up slightly” – but insists the foundations are solid.

“We do know that we’re delivering a solid product down there and absolutely we have a job to do to attract more listeners to breakfast and then translate that across the day.”

And the long-haul commitment remains: “We will continue to support the show to deliver the best content that they can and, of course, the combination of both on-air and off-air marketing to attract new audiences to the station.”

It’s a position ARN has maintained since signing the deal, the same rhetoric delivered during every interview and during their Upfronts – where the ‘when will they go national?’ question loomed even louder after it was announced the pair would be heading to a new city – with Perth launching a new KIIS DAB+ station.

Mediaweek spoke with Wade Kingsley – founder of The Ideas Business, seasoned radio strategist and host of The Game Changers podcast – after the event to get his take on the situation: “It wasn’t just about Melbourne; they wanted bigger.”

“The idea was a national takeover and instead we’ve got a DAB+ side hustle,” he added.

Lauren Joyce

Jonesy and Amanda find momentum

Meanwhile, another long-running Sydney breakfast institution is easing into its next act.

After more than 20 years on air, Jonesy and Amanda are preparing to shift to drive as part of ARN’s rebrand of WSFM to Gold 101.7 – aligning Sydney with Melbourne’s Gold104.3 and introducing Christian O’Connell to the market.

Listeners haven’t flinched. Survey 7 shows the pair sitting steady at 8.9%. Joyce said the end-of-year jump reflects the show’s historical data: “Their ratings always ramp up at this time of the year.”

Meanwhile, their 20-year milestone hasn’t hurt either. “You are seeing a reflection of the noise that has been around them. They’ve been super engaged in talking about their 20 years together and the evolution of the show.”

ARN’s next big gamble: Christian O’Connell

With Jonesy and Amanda moving to drive – and the Kyle and Jackie O Melbourne experiment failing to fire – ARN needs its next networking swing to stick.

Enter O’Connell.

Joyce is openly proud of the shift the team in Melbourne has engineered, and Survey 7 delivered the goods with his Breakfast show clocking a strong 11.2%.

“This is off the back of us stopping down maybe six weeks,” she explained.

“We stopped down and really built out what the show is all about, why people show up and listen, and what the strength is in its differentiation from other content products out there,” she said.

For ARN, one creative pillar stands above all: “Our clear anchor point for that show is around storytelling. Christian is an incredible storyteller, but also incredible at getting stories out of other people.”

And that focus has only sharpened. “We’ve doubled down on that. He [Christian] has been super focused on the core principles of the show and just executing with precision.”

ARN COO Michael Stephenson

From radio to entertainment

At ARN’s Upfronts, Chief Operating Officer Michael Stephenson spelled out the network’s ambition to shift “from a radio business to an entertainment company.” That strategy is becoming clearer: shows rebuilt as multi-platform entertainment brands, moments crafted to travel, talent treated as scalable IP.

Joyce once again echoes that vision: ‘We’ve really drawn a line in the sand – it’s about making sure that the best moments that we create on air don’t just live in that moment. We want to make sure that they extend beyond, wherever audiences are choosing to engage with the content.”

It’s a future where ARN behaves less like a traditional radio network and more like a full-spectrum entertainment studio – the kind of transformation that demands big swings and even bigger confidence.

And with $200 million already tied up in Kyle and Jackie O, there’s no escaping the stakes. Let’s just hope those swings start connecting.