After more than four decades in the radio industry and 15 years at the helm of the Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) content strategy, Duncan Campbell is stepping into a new chapter, but he’s not switching off the mic entirely.
In the latest episode of Mediaweek’s Newsmaker’s podcast, ARN’s outgoing Chief Content Officer speaks candidly about how he got his start, the real story behind signing Kyle & Jackie O, and how he deals with commentary from the sidelines when a major content play doesn’t go to plan.
From rural radio beginnings to the top of the metro leaderboard, Campbell’s journey offers trade and advertiser audiences a rare glimpse into how strategic content leadership has shaped commercial radio’s biggest shifts.
Falling in love with radio and making the leap
Campbell’s career wasn’t born in a studio. Instead, it started the way many passions begin: with a teenage obsession.
“I really fell in love with radio when I was a teenager, and like all teenagers back then we listened to music on radio,” he says. “But I was a big fan of The John Laws Show actually… and whenever I had sick days from school I’d always listen to his show. And I sort of just fell in love with the medium, really.”
After dabbling in economics and psychology at university, Campbell realised his passion lay elsewhere, so he swapped lectures for a radio course, then sent out 20 demo tapes. Only one station replied: 2PK in Parkes.
“I packed up my gear and moved to Parkes for what was the beginning of a now 41-year career,” he says.
From announcing to programming: why content strategy stuck
Though he began on air, Campbell quickly realised his calling wasn’t behind the mic.
“I realised very quickly that I wasn’t going to be the great announcer I thought I was going to be,” he admits. A meeting with Shari Romaro, then-program director at 2DayFM, confirmed the instinct, and nudged him toward programming.
On what makes great talent work, especially in teams, Campbell is measured but firm: “The great radio people are those that really understand the medium and can make it work for you.”
He adds that while some of it can be learned, an instinct for audience connection remains critical.
“Someone like Kyle Sandilands has a really intrinsic understanding of the medium and understands the strengths and really uses the medium.
“If you haven’t had experience in the industry and you just come in and begin and do announcing or become part of a show, you don’t necessarily have that. You can certainly pick it up if it’s explained to you and you understand it. But the great radio people are those that really understand the medium,” he said.
Duncan Campbell with ARN CEO Ciaran Davis when he first joined the network.
The call that changed everything
Campbell doesn’t claim the idea to poach Kyle & Jackie O from Southern Cross Austereo’s 2DayFM back in 2014 as his own. In fact, it started with a somewhat cryptic phone message.
“I remember coming back from lunch one day, and the receptionist said, ‘Duncan, there was a call for you. I’ve sent you an email,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Oh, okay, cool. Who was it?’ And she said, ‘Oh, a guy called Kyle.’ And I thought, well, I only know one Kyle.”
When he called back, Sandilands pitched a meeting in a way that Campbell now recounts with a smile. “He said, ‘Oh, look, I’ve got some bands that I’m looking after, and would you meet my manager and discuss those and talk about the bands?’ And I’m thinking, oh, look, it’s, you know, we’re at our contemporary station, and we’re not sort of hit-based, really… but it was Kyle, so I said yes.”
Campbell agreed to meet with Sandiland’s manager at the time, Andrew Hawkins, at a nearby cafe.
“I said to Andrew, ‘Tell me about these bands.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m not here to talk about the bands.’ And I said, ‘Well, what are you here to talk about?’ And he said, ‘We’d like to talk to you about joining ARN.'”
It was an unexpected proposition, but it came at a time when ARN needed to rethink its strategy for Mix 106.5, a station that had been struggling to cut through.
“We didn’t really know what to do with Mix 106.5,” Campbell explains. “We’d had two stations which were struggling, which were Mix 101.1 in Melbourne and Mix 106.5 in Sydney.”
That conversation ultimately sparked one of the most pivotal shifts in recent Australian radio history, one that would see ARN rebrand its Sydney station as KIIS and establish a ratings powerhouse.
The decision, Campbell says, wasn’t just about star power, but about long-term strategy: “It wasn’t just bringing talent across, it was reimagining the entire station and brand. We had to completely rethink who we were talking to and how we were doing it.”
The gamble paid off big time.
“The chemistry between those two is… fantastic,” he says. “When they”re on form and on fire, it”s one of the best shows in the world, I think.”
Melbourne’s bumps and backlash
Since expanding the KIIS brand into Melbourne with Kyle & Jackie O, Campbell acknowledges it hasn’t all gone to plan.
“The launch into Melbourne has not been the success we’d hoped it would be,” he says. “But I think Kyle and Jackie O – they’re world-class broadcasters. The show maybe, you know, lost its way a little bit, but it’s certainly back on track now.”
As a creative and strategist, watching public criticism hasn’t always been easy: “Not everything goes according to plan,” he says, “but once you understand the show and get involved in it, it becomes quite addictive and becomes a must listen.”
(L-R) ARN CEO Ciaran Davis, Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, Kyle Sandilands, and Duncan Campbell.
What comes next
While Campbell is stepping away from the day-to-day grind of the CCO role, he’s not exiting the industry.
“I’ll step into a consultancy role… still working very closely with Lauren Joyce and the content teams,” he says. “I want to continue that success and contribute to that success as well.”
He’s also keen to explore life beyond radio: “I want to, you know, write a book at some point and I want to do a bit more travel and just have a bit more downtime.”
At 62, Campbell isn’t talking about retirement, but about curiosity: “Part of the excitement for me is what is the unknown? I don’t know what’s around the corner.”
Hear the full conversation with Duncan Campbell on Mediaweek’s Newsmaker’s, in which he dives even deeper into the strategies, missteps, and career-defining moments behind ARN’s transformation, plus what Campbell really thinks about content leadership in 2025.