Not long into Kyle and Jackie O's radio partnership, Jackie O tried to leave.

Back in the early days, before Kyle and Jackie O were the radio juggernauts they are today, Jackie nearly jumped ship to a rival station.

Speaking to The Women Of Influence podcast, Jackie O explained that she and her co-host weren’t all that close when they first started working together on the Hot30 in 2000.

“There was a time early on when I didn’t know Kyle that well and we probably weren’t as much of a team as we are now in terms of negotiations,” she told the podcast.

Kyle and Jackie O have been on radio together for two decades. Here they are talking to Schapelle Corby. Post continues after video.

“We’d only just really started working together, so we didn’t have the friendship that we developed a year or two later after that,” she added.

“I remember going into the (Southern Cross Austereo) boss’s office to negotiate and they were just basically saying, ‘We could take you or leave you. You’re not getting anything else, so be happy with what you’ve got’,” Jackie continued.

Furious, Jackie recalls approaching Nova and having a meeting, revealing that she was “close to going,” when Austereo found out and quickly offered her more money to stay.

“I’ve never faked an offer from a different radio station if there hasn’t actually been genuine interest,” she added. “I don’t like playing games in negotiations. That’s my big, big pet hate.”

It's not the first time Jackie O has been left fuming. Late last year she opened up about the time she found out that Kyle Sandilands had quit their job at 2DayFM for them both.

Speaking to Osher Gunsberg's Better Than Yesterday, Jackie explained that it had all started with a conversation a month prior, when Kyle rang her up and said: "I've got an idea. What if we go to Mix and rebrand it as KIIS?"

She'd humoured him, he was just in one of his 'moods' she thought as she nodded along and told him "yeah yeah, great idea" without thinking too much into it.

 

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Had so much fun talking to @osher_gunsberg on his latest podcast #betterthanyesterday Check out it out. Link in Osher’s bio. Love ya Osh ❤️ don’t forget @themaskedsingerau starts tonight too!!! ????????

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The pair had heard whispers from their current management that they were "on their way out" and with no proper contract negotiations underway, Kyle was taking that seriously.

But when he called his radio partner up again and said, "I've just gone in and told them I am resigning, we're going to Mix babe," she was blind-sighted.

"I was furious and I broke down in tears telling him 'I've just signed a mortgage, and I have not spoken to one person at Mix?! I don't know what's going on!' I was petrified but he'd given me no choice, I had to resign as well," she told Osher.

When their content director at the time came into the studio and said, "I'm only going to ask you this once, are you going to Mix?" Jackie recalls Kyle's very clear, cleverly worded answer.

"He said 'I swear on so and so's life (who ever the content director had asked him to swear on) that we will not ever be on air at Mix,'" she told Osher. "It was so psychopathic slash genius."

By this point, Jackie had also handed in her notice and management thought the pair were leaving radio for good.

Little did they know Kyle and Jackie O had met the CEO and decision makers at Mix at Sir Stamford, a swanky hotel in the city, where they'd shaken on a contract and a whole new rebrand of the company.

 

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You'd think after 25 years in radio, Jackie would know what the buttons do. ???????? #KJShow

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On their last day on air at 2DayFM, everyone made a big deal of it.

"Everyone was there with a big farewell party for us, they thought this was our last day in radio so they wanted to give us a massive party. Everyone from every floor at SCA had come up to watch our last show," Jackie explained.

But the pair knew the whole time that Mix was planning to announce the news, just 10 minutes after they finished up at 2DayFM.

As they walked out of the studio to applause, Kyle made his move "I just have to go to the loo, I'll be back in two seconds" he told the crowd, before slipping out of the building never to be seen in the halls of SCA again.

Back in the office, Jackie O was left to face the music.

"I felt like I should stand around and thank people and then suddenly I look around and everyone has their headphones on listening to something..."

They were listening to the announcement on Mix.

Suddenly all eyes were on Jackie who was forced to confirm the move as they all digested news.

"They were furious," she said. "Our EP at the time said 'Jac you need to get out of here,' and as I was walking out of the building they were ripping down our posters," she told Osher.

At the time Jackie said she felt horrible, telling the podcast, "I just remember the look on their faces".

"I still don't think I'm welcome back, Osher," she added.

But looking back at the 2013 move in hindsight, Jackie says, "Anyone in our position would have done the same thing.

"Thank God for Kyle, because he makes these big moves."

Ever since their defection, 2DayFM has tried and failed to bring their breakfast show back on top - but they recently dropped the Grant, Ed and Ash show which was their sixth attempt at replacing the once favourite time slot.

Kyle and Jackie O remain on top of the radio ratings, taking their number one breakfast show straight over to their rival - where they remain top of the pack in 2019.

Despite her initial anger at Kyle's decision on their future all of those years ago, Jackie says there's a reason they're such a solid team.

"We have the exact same opinion about what makes good radio and what doesn't. We think exactly the same when it comes to content, and I think that's what makes us work," she told Osher.

"I've always trusted him," she added, of her shock jock partner Kyle - who is currently in the middle of yet another scandal over comments about the Virgin Mary. So if you think this scandal will break the unstoppable duo think again.

"I have developed a thick skin [against criticism]," Jackie told Osher.

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