ARN hands Dave Cameron the keys to Melbourne

ARN has appointed Dave Cameron as General Manager, ARN Melbourne, and Director of Content, Metro Radio, a newly created role. He will lead the network’s Melbourne operation seven months after joining the company.

In an internal memo seen by Mediaweek, ARN CEO Michael Stephenson said the role “will accelerate our growth in Australia’s largest radio market”.

“This appointment marks a strategic investment in ARN Melbourne,” Stephenson wrote.

He said Cameron will keep his content responsibilities while delivering ARN’s strategy in Melbourne, “with a clear focus on creating even more content, increasing market engagement, driving business performance” and leading the local leadership team.

Cameron will report directly to Stephenson as general manager. For content, he will continue to report to Chief Content Officer Kerri Elstub.

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Running Melbourne and the national strategy

Cameron told Mediaweek the role will cover the running of the whole Melbourne business, as well as delivering ARN’s national strategy at a local level.

He linked the timing to the launch of KIIS’s new local breakfast program, which went to air last week.

“Stepho has a clear direction of making sure all of our local markets are integrated and engaging with their communities at the highest level, and with a brand new local KIIS breaky show in Ash, Issie and Elliot beginning their impact and march into the biggest commercial radio market in Melbourne, it was a good time for the business to support that with a new local management drive,” Cameron said.

His national content responsibilities stay the same.

“My national metro content role stays the same looking after the strategy and direction of all our metro stations and new shows (some still coming!) so I’m pretty lucky to have a foot in both national and local camps, and work alongside legends like Kerri and Stepho,” he said.

In the memo, Stephenson said that since Cameron joined ARN, he “has been the architect of completely reinventing our metro radio content slate, attracting world-class stars to ARN and introducing fresh new talent to our audience”.

ARN’s general manager rollout

The Melbourne role is the second of its kind at ARN. Todd Dickinson joined the network last month as General Manager, ARN Brisbane, and Director of Sales.

According to the memo, ARN is now looking for a General Manager – ARN Adelaide and Perth. “More updates to come,” Stephenson wrote.

“This new role demonstrates how important Melbourne is to our business, strengthens our presence in the market and provides local leadership for our Melbourne team,” he said.

Who is Dave Cameron?

Cameron has spent decades in Australian radio. He started on air and moved into senior programming and strategy roles in several markets, finishing as Chief Content Officer at SCA.

ARN named him Director of Content, Metro Radio in December 2025, at the same time as it appointed Elstub as Chief Content Officer. The two hires were part of a restructure under Stephenson that separated content creation from support functions.

At the time, Stephenson called Cameron “one of Australia’s most senior radio and audio content executives”.

What comes next

KIIS Breakfast with Chris, Amy and Jack launches in Sydney next week, and ARN’s Upfronts are coming up.

“It’s the beginning of a new era at ARN,” Stephenson wrote in the memo.