Karl Stefanovic's next move is already taking shape, and it could pair him with one of the biggest names in Australian radio. Days after resigning from Channel Nine and stepping back from his ARN radio show, the former Today host looks set to join forces with Kyle Sandilands on a new independent venture, and the signs are everywhere.
Sandilands has registered the domains kyleandkarl.com.au through his company King Kyle Group in the past 24 hours, having earlier locked in morningmen.com.au and themorningmen.com.au back in 2024.
A source close to the pair told the Daily Telegraph it was "something they've been talking about for a while." Sandilands, who left ARN with a $12 million settlement, has stayed in close contact with Stefanovic since his exit from Nine.
Two of the biggest names in the business
Between them, Stefanovic and Sandilands command two of the largest and most loyal audiences in the country. A joint project would put both outside the traditional networks and fully in control of their own content, free to talk to whoever they want and say what they think. For Stefanovic, who told his audience this week that he's "free" and "truly independent," it would be the perfect landing spot.
Neither man has confirmed a venture, and Stefanovic, on leave in Europe, is yet to comment. But the registered domains and the timing point the same way: the Morning Men may be on their way.
Karl Stefanovic did not register the domains
In the days after this story was published, sources close to Karl Stefanovic said he had no hand in registering the Kyle and Karl addresses, and that the paperwork was Kyle Sandilands' doing alone. That does not kill the idea of a joint venture, but it does change who is driving it. On the record, one man has bought the domains and the other has said nothing.
What is not in question is that Karl Stefanovic no longer needs a network. His first podcast episode after leaving Nine, a sit down with British broadcaster Piers Morgan, passed 320,000 views while Today drew 268,000 viewers on the same day. His YouTube channel has built to about 172,000 subscribers. Sunrise averaged 449,000 viewers that week against Today's 252,000, a gap of almost 200,000 every morning at the desk Stefanovic used to sit behind.
Kyle Sandilands is building a subscription show of his own
Kyle Sandilands has plans running in parallel. He settled his legal fight with ARN for $12 million, well short of the $85 million he had sought, and has since said he is working on a subscription based breakfast show that could launch as early as August. In the same interview he revealed he had spent part of his time off the air working with Pauline Hanson on One Nation's messaging, and called the One Nation leader one of his favourite people.
That is the part worth watching for anyone waiting on a Kyle and Karl launch. Both men now have the audience, the money and the reason to build outside the networks that let them go, and neither is waiting for permission to do it. For readers the practical question is where to find them, and the answer is increasingly not television or commercial radio.
