Kyle and Jackie O were back with a bang this morning on KIIS 1065 Sydney and KIIS 101.1 Melbourne breakfast with a lengthy and entertaining chat with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Before that though, right at the start of the program, Cooper Johns announced today was his last as the show’s sports reporter after two years in the role.
The departure of Cooper is not especially surprising. Kyle, after Cooper made the announcement, said he had likely ‘got other opportunities that pay more’.
Cooper, a former NRL player himself, is the son of Matty Johns and nephew of Andrew, both of whom are icons of the game. Last February Matty moved all his podcasts, which include a family one and Backstage which he does with Cooper (pictured above) over to Nova Entertainment. Matty also does a regular Friday show on SEN (Sports Entertainment Network). Cooper is great radio talent – self deprecating, sports savvy and funny. With those links to NOVA and SEN already he’s likely to pop up on air again in the not to distant future.
But, back to the PM. You might recall that he was invited, and attended Kyle Sandilands‘ wedding to Tegan Kynaston in 2023. With almost all the metro radio talent returning to air this morning, and after a summer break that has included the awful Bondi shootings, fire, floods and then overseas Donald Trump laying claim to Greenland and Venezuela, there were an array of options for where Albanese could have utilised his time on air. That he chose ARN, KIIS and Kyle and Jackie O is a significant win for the network to start 2026. He was also on ABC Sydney and Melbourne. Those conversations were quite different.
The conversation covered all these topics too, plus Pauline Hanson, gun laws, Donald Trump inviting Albo to be on the Board of Peace for Gaza as well as the views from Kirribilli House and, my favourite part, Kyle putting himself forward to replace Kevin Rudd as the Ambassador to the US, to which Albanese said:
“When I think diplomacy, I think Kyle Sandilands.”
The whole interview is a cracker. You can read the entire transcript here or listen below.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]