Resurfaced Jackie O interview reveals work behind the scenes before ARN exit. What Jackie was really like off-air has been revealed in an old interview, as well, as the reason she almost left Kyle years ago.
A revealing interview with Jackie “O” Henderson has re-emerged, exposing that she almost bailed on co-host Kyle Sandilands years before she was terminated by ARN.
While focus for the past three weeks has been on the explosive ending to the pair’s 25-year partnership and the legal saga that’s brewing in the wake of ARN’s decision, the 2019 interview reveals a near-miss that almost saw Jackie exit the duo back in the early 2000s.
Jackie sat down with journalist Kate Meade for her podcast The Women of Influence. Meade is also the sister of The Kyle and Jackie O Show senior producer Pete Deppeler “Intern Pete”.
During the in-depth chat, Jackie even revealed that when she was first paired with Kyle back in 2000 at 2DayFM, she actually almost left.
“There was a time early on, and when I did not know Kyle that well, and we probably weren’t as much of a team as we are now in terms of negotiations,” she said.
“I remember going into my boss’s office to negotiate, and they were basically saying, ‘Oh, look, we could take or leave you, and you’re not getting anything else, so be happy with what you’ve got!”
Being dismissed like that ended with Jackie speaking with the rival network Nova. They made her a far better offer and she was going to ditch Kyle and 2DayFM.
“I had a meeting with them, and I was really close to going, but then (2DayFM) found out and they offered me a lot more money, but I look back at that moment, and I’m like, ‘Thank god, I didn’t do that,” she said.
“I didn’t know Kyle, and I were going to be working together for all this time. We’d only just started working together, and we didn’t have that friendship that we developed a year or two after that.”
In the candid chat, Kate pointed out that people don’t realise how involved Jackie is behind the scenes.
“Your fingerprints are all over the show with the ideas and the way that the stories are going to run and where things are going to be placed. How important is it for you to be the driver?” she asked.
“Because when you are listening to the show, I don’t hear you as the driver, but watching you behind-the-scenes, you are the woman of influence.”
Jackie, who before the show was pulled in early March got up Monday to Friday at 4.30am, said she likes to be involved in the day-to-day running of the show because she really cares about the final product.
“I can’t take anything away from the producers because they come up with this really great content, but I want to be involved in the process somehow, and you have got to kind of think, ‘Okay, where is this going to go?’” she said.
In radio, a run sheet is usually called a log and it is basically a daily guide for how the show will be run and which segments and guests will appear.
Jackie explained that she tries to look at the log before every show and really think about the content.
“I try to look at the log each day, and go, ‘How is this going to sound? How is the overall feel of the show? Are we doing something that is interesting to people?” she said.
The 51-year-old radio host admitted she holds herself to an incredibly high standard and said that if something doesn’t sound right on air, she “hates” herself for not catching it beforehand.
“I have always wanted to be involved. I don’t want to just show up in the morning and get given the log,” she admitted.
The seasoned radio star also shared that she was in a WhatsApp group with the producers, where they’re constantly throwing around ideas for the show.
She did, however, say that Kyle was less involved in that kind of stuff because he works best flying blind.
“I do think he is better not knowing sometimes because he is so good off the cuff, and I’m more of a planner,” she said, before adding ultimately the duo had “different roles” on the show, and that was why they made such a great team.
Jackie also explained that she tries to avoid becoming complacent even after spending so long as the number one breakfast show.
“Staying at number one is harder because when you are not number one and you are starting out, you have this drive, and I’ve always had that, and I love that because I find it exciting, but when you get there, complacency can be your enemy,” she warned
In a particularly fascinating moment, Jackie shared the differences in how she and Kyle dealt with change.
When the pair infamously left 2DayFM and jumped ship to KIIS back in 2013, she said she was nervous that they wouldn’t continue to rule the ratings.
“People were speculating and articles were being written by certain journalists that were like, ‘I’m never going to work, and no one is going to follow them,’” she said.
“There was that doubt for me, for sure, but Kyle less so.”
Jackie said during one interview before they debuted on KIIS, Kyle was asked by a journalist, “What do you think you’ll get in the first ratings?” and to her horror, he threw out a “high number”.
“I died because I was like, this is going to come back to bite us, but we reached that figure, I don’t know how he does it!” she said.
The radio star then went on to say that she had loved working at KIIS because she found their negotiations had been so transparent.
“I don’t like playing games in negotiations. Kyle and I hate that sort of gameplay and I think this is what is so great about ARN, they’ve never done that to us, and they’ve been straight up,” she said.
“I want transparency.”
Speaking to news.com.au, Meade said that the interview made it clear that if you wanted to work on The Kyle and Jackie Show, you had to “want to be the best”.
The journalist stressed that she found that incredibly admirable and added that both Jackie and Kyle always really “cared” about their staff.
“I’ll never forget the kindness and care they showed Pete when mum was dying. When I arrived in Sydney to work with Jonesy and Amanda, I hugged them both and said thank you,” she said.
“Jackie said, ‘We will always look after our family, the team.’”