This morning, in Sydney, 24 hours after ARN released a statement to the ASX saying it had settled with Kyle Sandilands, The Federal Court heard that Jacqueline Henderson‘s case against her former network will continue to proceed. Jackie was not in attendance. She didn’t have to be. Her manager and best friend Gemma O’Neill was instead.

Next steps are a hearing in August, then the trial, which would begin in October, if Jackie and ARN don’t come to a settlement agreement before then.

The only resolution was for the costs, paid by ARN to Jackie, for the cross claim process they had begun against Kyle, which is now resolved after that settlement but may be reignited on the other side as the radio network starts building its case that it didn’t wrongfully dismiss Jackie when she stated she could no longer work with Kyle on March 3.

Kyle has got what he wants. He stated early on that what mattered most was getting ‘back to work as quick as possible.’ He achieved that, even with some additional advertising support from his previous employers (for a cut of the spoils).

But what does Jackie want?

None of us know that, least of all ARN.

If Jackie wants to return to the airwaves then a settlement is the easiest option. Should the matter goes to trial, and Jackie wins, ARN might appeal and the process then drags on for years.

Should she settle tomorrow for a agreed sum, she, like Karl, will likely still be unable to shop around to other Australian networks for some period of ARN’s discretion.

But what if Australia is no longer what she wants at all?

Last year (listen above), Jackie shared on air that when her ten year contract was up, she’d move to Italy. She’d recently been to Greece, as a speaker at Radiodays Europe, and there she had also said that she would walk away from the contract if it felt inauthentic and was no longer rewarding. You can watch below:

What does she need to make this a reality now, if this was her dream a year ago?

This morning, with the announcement that Virginia Trioli is leaving the ABC after 27 years, Virginia offered up this reflection on working breakfast hours:

“The day I started on News Breakfast, my dreaming stopped completely. And literally the day I finished on News Breakfast it came back again.”

By that Virginia’s dreams of other creative pursuits.

In Jackie’s book The Whole Truth, she spoke to a similar sensation while she attended the Betty Ford Clinic – she wrote copiously and experienced a total shift in mindset once she got sleep and her body recovered. As a former breakfast radio announcer myself, I totally relate to re-discovering external joy and play once my sleep routine was restored.

I don’t believe that Jackie will ever be heard on a local, commercial radio station, in Australia, again.

Jackie’s drive to settle is not Kyle’s. She is also giving herself the grace of time to decide what she wants, what that is potentially worth and, if that is overseas, start the slow ball rolling now without any of us being the wiser.

We, and ARN, shall wait some more.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]. You can subscribe to this publication for just $199 per annum (less for community stations, students and pensioners) and support local media. Celebrate Radioinfo in its 30th year.