Radio Today has revealed its always controversial Top 20 list of radio programmers.
Nova’s Paul Jackson lost top spot this year as ARN’s Duncan Campbell ranked #1.
There are seven brand new entries in this year’s Top 20, while it should come as no surprise that most entries come from the two biggest markets.
What is a surprise perhaps is that Triple M Melbourne connections have three of the top five spots.
This year, 11 of the Top 20 are Sydney-based while another seven call Melbourne home.
There eight entries from Southern Cross Austereo, six from Australian Radio Network and three from Nova Entertainment. Grant Broadcasters and Nine Radio are also represented.
Radio Today said the list reflects the overall influence of stations, talent management and direction, music influence, experience, market size, competitive landscape and the scale of the position.
Below are Radio Today’s summaries of the top five.
1. Duncan Campbell
Australian Radio Network’s national content director Duncan Campbell has overseen ARN as it became the #1 network. Campbell’s storied history in the industry saw him launch the first FM radio station on the central coast, before stints with Austereo at B105 and Triple M Melbourne as program director. Campbell oversaw the launch of KIIS 1065 in Sydney, poaching the Kyle and Jackie O Breakfast show from SCA. More recently he gave 96FM in Perth a content reboot and facelift that has seen the station become competitive again after years in the wilderness.
2. Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson is of the most influential people in radio, having served as the group program director at NOVA Entertainment since 2010, with his title recently changing to chief programming and marketing officer. He has also held such roles as chief executive and program director of Virgin Radio, and program director at Global Radio. Paul was responsible for the highly successful launch of smoothfm and oversees the direction of the Nova and smooth networks day-to-day.
3. Dave Cameron
Southern Cross Austereo’s new chief content officer Dave Cameron has been with the network for more than 25 years. He is responsible for the strategic leadership content across its 78 FM radio stations, 10 DAB+ stations, digital and on-demand content, and is also a member of SCA’s executive team. Previously the GM for SCA Melbourne, Cameron spent 11 years as a programmer in that city and six as a music director in Sydney. He is often credited for the launch of Hamish & Andy, one of the most successful Drive shows in Australian history.
4. Mike Fitzpatrick
Triple M’s head of content Mike Fitzpatrick leads the content teams for the Triple M Network across Australia’s metro markets. He is responsible for talent recruitment, development and coaching, music and listener research, as well as overseeing the overall sound of the network. He’s previously served as content director for Triple M at Southern Cross Austereo and got his start as a presenter and music director at B-Rock FM in Bathurst.
5. Dan Bradley
Dan Bradley moved to Melbourne to become the content director at SCA after years of service at the hugely successful Gold Coast station 102.9 Hot Tomato. Bradley got his start at 7HO in Tassie, and had roles as music director at SCA’s FM104.7, Fox FM, and Triple M, before being snapped up by DMG Radio as their regional group PD. He was the founding programmer for Nova 100 Melbourne, taking the station to #1 within just 12 weeks. He is also the director and founder of Kaizen Media, record label Laneway Music, Active Instore and Purple Wax.