Alan Jones' breakfast show is under review following the controversy that arose from comments the shock jock made about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Multiple Australian media outlets - including The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review - report that the head of radio station 2GB has written to advertisers saying a review has commenced.
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On August 15, Jones blasted Ardern, saying Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison should "shove a sock down her throat" after she called Morrison out over Australia's climate change stance.
His comments were widely criticised and in the days after companies withdrew adverts from his show and the wider 2GB radio station. Despite Jones apologising, he was told if he made similar comments, his contract would be terminated.
The Sydney Morning Herald says that in a letter sent to advertisers on Friday, the chairman of Macquarie Media - which manages 2GB - said Jones' comments "fell below the community standards expected of us".
"This incident has brought into sharp focus the need for all Macquarie Media broadcasters to ensure that the debate they bring to the microphone and the words they use are, at all times, respectful and reflect the standards expected today by our listeners, our clients, and the wider community," said Russell Tate.
Tate said Jones supported a "full review" of the breakfast show's content as well as all programmes on the radio station.
But he said the controversy had also highlighted how "offended groups" amplify their complaints to "disrupt" advertisers "who have done no more than seek to engage with the audience which chooses to listen to us".
The latest Commercial Radio Australia survey results were released in August and revealed that his show had dropped 0.3 percent in the Sydney breakfast market. 2GB - the station Jones is on - also dropped 0.6 percent in the overall Sydney share. Those results were recorded during the period of controversy.
A source of the The Sydney Morning Herald's has previously said advertisers' boycott of the radio station could cost it about $1 million in lost revenue. The advertisers to walk away from the station include Snooze and Sleep City, ME Bank, and Big W.
Ardern didn't want to comment specifically on Jones' comments at the time, saying she didn't "have an opinion on every single person that says something about me".
"I understand he used to be closely linked to the Wallabies, so let's just say that revenge is best served through a Bledisloe Cup."
Jones - a former coach of the Wallabies - acknowledged Ardern's comment as a "clever response, given that we got hammered in the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday."
"I think that's a rather nice comment," he said, adding a small caveat in an attempt to defend his rugby honour.
"Jacinda, we actually did win there in 1986, I have to tell you."
In the days after his initial comments, audio unearthed by ABC Radio also revealed that Jones said he hoped Ardern would get a few "backhanders" from Morrison.
The polarising 78-year-old broadcaster could be heard saying: "Now I hope [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders - hasn't got a clue this woman."
Newshub.
