Kyle and Jackie O’s greatest mystery solved: Radio stars confirm a longstanding rumour about one of their most popular (and bizarre) guests
For months now, The Kyle and Jackie O Show has aired regular segments involving ‘Colleen from sales’ – a KIIS FM account manager with a thick South African accent who handles clients including Spinaleze pillows.
But it turns out ‘Colleen’ doesn’t actually exist… or at least the on-air version of Colleen doesn’t exist.
While there is a South African-born sales rep for KIIS FM called Colleen Bolton – with a LinkedIn account to prove it – the voice listeners are familiar with isn’t hers.
Mystery solved: For months now, The Kyle and Jackie O Show has aired regular segments involving ‘Colleen from sales’, a KIIS FM account manager with a thick South African accent. But it turns out ‘Colleen’ doesn’t actually exist – or at least the on-air version of her doesn’t exist
The loud, pitchy voice of ‘Colleen from sales’ is actually one of The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s producers putting on an accent.
While many listeners guessed Colleen’s voice was a joke, others were convinced it was real and wondered why she never appeared in videos on The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s Instagram account.
Radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson let the cat out of the bag last month during a wide-ranging interview with the Mediaweek podcast.
Character: While there is a South African-born sales rep for KIIS FM called Colleen, the voice listeners are familiar with isn’t hers. Pictured: Kyle Sandilands
‘She is real. There is a Colleen who’s South African who works here… She may or may not be the same person you hear with us on air!’ Jackie, 46, said.
‘She’s become a character.’
Jackie, who was recording the Mediaweek podcast from KIIS FM’s studios in North Ryde, then asked: ‘Can Colleen come in?’
Secret’s out! Jackie ‘O’ Henderson (left) let the cat out of the bag last month in an interview with the Mediaweek podcast. ‘She is real. There is a Colleen who’s South African who works here… She may or may not be the same person you hear with us on air!’ she said
The male producer who provides Colleen’s voice then entered the studio and said breathlessly: ‘I heard you say Spinaleze and I ran up the stairs!
‘I said, “Jackie’s talking about my pillows, I’ve got to come!”‘ I make the money, so much money for Kyle and Jackie O.’
Jackie later said the marketing gimmick had been a great success, as listeners and Spinaleze bosses ‘love’ hearing Colleen’s segments.
‘Spinaleze really took off when Colleen started making appearances on air talking about the product,’ she said.
Blending advertisements with on-air content is a relatively new technique in commercial radio known as ‘integration’.
Unlike so-called ‘cash for comment’ segments, integration doesn’t involve disguising ads as genuine commentary but instead making ads interesting and funny.