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November 7, 2025 — 12.05am

***In this edition of On Background, an update on Kyle Sandilands’ brain surgery, Nick Papps’ Californian dream begins, and Guardian Australia closes the book on its Canberra headache. ***

Medical update

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ’O’Henderson have generated many headlines this year: falling ratings, $10-million-a-year salaries, distasteful comments – it’s been rich pickings from the radio duo.

One of the biggest stories happened nine months ago when Sandilands revealed on February 2 that he needed “immediate” brain surgery after his medical team found a neural aneurysm.

“So, if you just tuned in to us after all these years, lap it up. And if you’re in Melbourne, you’re coming to the party too late. You may get your wish. I may be dead,” he told listeners.

Headline-grabbing Sandilands photographed in Sydney in 2023.Credit: Nic Walker

He didn’t say when he’d be getting the surgery, which would have seen him off work potentially for months. But he hasn’t had it. And as it turns out, he probably never will.

Having been getting scans every three months, the aneurysm hasn’t grown, which is a good sign, sources close to the provocateur tell *On Background. *Ultimately, his doctors decided that due to the “Air Jordan logo” shape of the aneurysm, the dangers of an operation, big or small, are about as high as the chances of it bursting.

“It’s a scary thing to have,” Prince of Wales Hospital neurosurgeon **Dr Erica Jacobson *(who is not Sandilands’ doctor) says, *clarifying some of the misconceptions around brain aneurysms.

“Aneurysms are quite common, but the problem is, we can’t predict when they’re going to burst, but they burst far less frequently than they occur,” Dr Jacobson says.

Three per cent of Australians suffer a brain aneurysm in their lifetimes, but only 1 per cent of those rupture, which is what can prove fatal.

So while Sandilands’ diagnosis was initially worrying for him and his team, there’s no surgery required for now, we’re told. Sandilands’ manager** Bruno Bouchet** said he would provide a comment, but it wasn’t received before publication.

We wish Kyle well with his health.

Step change**

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The other pressing issue for the radio duo is the $180 million left on their contract, and whether parent company ARN are still committed to rolling out the show nationally.

There are signs the unpredictable nature of *The Kyle and Jackie O Show *have prompted a rethink from ARN’s new big cheese, Michael Stephenson, Nine’s former sales chief who spent years selling the company’s brand-safe shows such as *The Block *and the Australian Open to advertisers, as well as some of the more dicey assets such as *Married at First Sight *and Alan Jones, when he was still on 2GB.

Michael Stephenson brought the glamour of TV to ARN’s first upfront.Credit: ARN

Last week, “Stepho” brought the glitz and glamour of television to the radio company, putting on its first “upfront” event, a content showcase to secure as many ad dollars as possible for the year ahead. While Kyle & Jackie O appeared at the top of the show, they featured sparingly, with Gold’s Christian O’Connell pushed to the spotlight – a much safer option for brands and audiences.

Rarely does a week go by without controversy, and this week it was the planned boycott of Brisbane’s premier Comic-Con event Supanova over a scheduled appearance from Sandilands. After Supanova apologised to fans last week, Sandilands gladly thanked his “overweight, ugly and deranged” haters on Wednesday for giving him a reason to not attend, before launching into a game of *Is It Gay? *

During the segment, the hosts were asked to decide whether things such as holding a mug with two hands, using your indicator while driving or taking a mental health day is “gay” or not. (Sandilands voted “gay” on the latter, for the record.)

Taking *The Kyle and Jackie O Show *national meant ARN could pay the duo more and cut staff elsewhere, but it’s proven a difficult task for their sales teams, with ad revenue tanking through the first nine months of the year, as the table below shows. (For those not familiar with their Melbourne record … it’s gone badly)

Last week, ARN announced that instead of rolling out Sandilands and Henderson into Brisbane in 2026, as was widely expected, Craig “Lowie” Low, a man dubbed the “poor man’s Kyle (Sandilands)” in local rag The Courier Mail, was replacing its sacked trio Robin & Kip* with Corey Oates.*

Why would ARN bring in Lafufu Kyle when they’re already paying the cashed-up, authentic Labubu Kyle to do a national show? There’s an industry theory that *Lowie *is a short-term solution, brought in to take the 3-4 per cent share hit expected in Brisbane after ditching the breakfast trio, giving Kyle and Jackie a lower base to improve off on arrival in 12 months.

That theory might be a bit unfair; Low has plenty of years in radio under his belt. But in Adelaide, ARN’s Mix is rebranding to KIIS in 2026, and they’ve hired former Nova trio *Ben, Liam & **Belle ***to host breakfast. That isn’t a short-term move.

Forget the biggest stars on radio, *Kyle & Jackie O *are “Australia’s biggest stars full stop”, Stephenson said, touting a bigger presence on social media and everywhere else but local radio.

It’s a convenient side-step to justify the price tag. But pausing the national rollout could prove a smart step from fresh eyes.

**The McKenna question **

A week on, speculation is still running hot over Siobhan McKenna’s exit from News Corp, breaking off a 20-year relationship with Lachlan Murdoch and his private investment company Illyria.

Sources with knowledge of the family patriarch Rupert Murdoch’s thinking say there was lingering bad blood over the embarrassing family feud which played out in Reno, Nevada (via the pages of *The New York Times). *It was the brain-child of McKenna’s, but was avoidable and created unnecessary angst.

Maybe that’s why Murdoch’s bestie (and News Corp global CEO) Robert Thomson sprung the news out of nowhere in an internal email last Thursday, catching News Corp and Nova staff off caught locally.

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Relations are fine with Lachlan, however, and there are suggestions he may eventually want McKenna as the next REA Group chair, with Hamish McLennan now in his 13th year running the digital real estate listings firm.

REA has some challenges on the horizon, namely a refreshed Domain, now owned by US firm CoStar, and an ACCC probe into price-gouging. McKenna’s connections in the capital could come in handy, but that idea has been privately dismissed, with sources close to McKenna insisting it’s a full split, and she simply wants to move onto different things after two decades working for Lachlan.

In the meantime, Lachlan won’t be immediately replacing McKenna as Nova chair, with company boss** Peter Charlton** to report directly to the big man himself while he’s in the country two weeks of every month.

Breit start

Nick Papps, the Herald Sun’s weekend editor, was the surprise captain’s pick when appointed editor-in-chief of The California Post, News Corp’s New York Post offshoot, pipping a list of other internal editors to the gig.

The paper will go to print in early 2026, with hopes of bringing a conservative voice to the state’s upcoming gubernatorial race, and more generally in the lefty home state of Trump-troller-in-chief Gavin Newsom. Papps, the protege of News Corp Australia giant Peter Blunden, announced his first hire this week, the same day Americans went to the polls for “off-year elections” handing big wins for Democrats both in the Post’s native New York, and for Newsom in California.

Papps [right] is getting his crack team together to launch the California Post. He appeared with New York Post CEO Sean Giancola at an advertisers event last month.Credit: LinkedIn

Joel Pollack, a 48-year-old South African-American Harvard graduate, joins the paper as opinion editor, fresh off 15 years at far-right news outlet Breitbart News, famous for its penchant for climate change denialism and conspiracy theorising among other things. He comes with some serious chops, and is excellent at giving his opinions on X.

A self-described “pro-Israel writer”, Pollack has spent his time at Breitbart as senior editor-at-large, in-house counsel (what?) and host of radio show Breitbart News Sunday. He penned his first piece this week, counting a list of Newsom’s failures and why the governor’s electorate redistribution plan underscores the need for The Post’s arrival in the Golden State. Expect more of the same.

**Slow and steadier **

We’ve spent a lot of time reporting on Guardian Australia’s Canberra bureau in 2025. That’s because there’s been plenty to write about as high-profile staff left and workplace disputes were managed by HR executives.

Veteran Karen Middleton went on leave in December as political editor and never returned, while chief political correspondent Paul Karp left in January.

Now the Australian outpost of the British publisher has finally filled its senior roles, promoting federal reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy to chief political correspondent. He filled the gap left by Tom McIlroy when he was promoted to political editor in September.

The process of replacing the political editor and the chief political correspondent took nearly a year to resolve and ended with two internal promotions. Luckily, there wasn’t too much going on politically in 2025 … er, election, anyone?