Dave Cameron departs SCA
Dave Cameron, the long-serving chief content officer of Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), is leaving the business.
Cameron has been with the audio outfit for decades – at various times being known as ‘Grumpy Dave’ or the behind-the-scenes boss of the top-rating Hamish & Andy drive show, as well as holding various executive positions.
SCA said it will take the opportunity to assess the future requirements of the chief content officer position, and then intends to commence a recruitment process later in the year.
SCA chief content officer Dave Cameron
In the interim, Matthew O’Reilly will take on the expanded role of head of broadcast content, as well as continuing to lead the Triple M Network. A new Triple M content director will be recruited for Adelaide to help free up some of O’Reilly’s time, with CEO John Kelly saying in a note to staff that internal candidates are encouraged to apply.
Cameron will also be available in an advisory capacity for Kelly and the content teams for “at least the next few months”, the note to staff said.
Cameron became chief content officer of SCA in 2019. Previously, he’d had a run as general manager of SCA’s Melbourne operations, overseeing Fox FM and Triple M Melbourne, and time as head of content across the national Hit Network. Earlier in his three-decade career at SCA, he was music director and assistant content director at 2DayFM when the station frequently topped the FM pile, and oversaw the Hamish & Andy show for over a decade, which he describes as “Australia’s most successful radio show ever”.
Despite the various successes, the role was not without its challenges. In recent years, Cameron has had to grapple with what to do with Sydney’s 2DayFM as it rattled through various talent lineups and struggled with low ratings. Recently, the station announced a fresh sound, and a shift towards new music in a bid to attract younger audiences. In addition, during his tenure Cameron brought back legacy radio brands including SAFM in Adelaide and B105 in Brisbane, after the nationwide roll-out of the Hit Network proved unsuccessful.
Thus far though, Melbourne’s Fox FM has managed to stave off any serious challenge from rival Kiis FM’s breakfast show The Kyle & Jackie O Show. The number one FM Sydney breakfast show was syndicated into Melbourne in 2024. Prior to launch, there was industry speculation the show could destabilise Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick program. In the most recent ratings, however, Fox had an 8.9% share in breakfast. This put it behind market-leading AM station 3AW (18.1%), the revitalised Nova (10.2%) and Gold (9.7%), but well ahead of Kiis’ 5.1%.
Kelly said Cameron should be immensely proud of his career to date.
“Dave’s journey with SCA has seen him build an exceptional career that has spanned more seasons, markets and roles than anyone else in the company’s history – from an on-air announcer to senior management and everything in between. No matter his role, Dave has always brought a relentless passion for the medium of radio, a clear brand of strong leadership and an undeniable skill in identifying new and upcoming talent,” he said.
“Dave has had a hand in mentoring and shaping the careers of so many of SCA’s announcers and on air teams, and many of those that his peer set employs today. Our listeners everywhere have benefitted from his powerful ability to create magic content moments for many decades. Dave, you should be immensely proud of your career to date and I know that the future will hold wonderful things for you.”
Cameron added: “I’m immensely proud of the new leaders, new talent, and teams that I’ve built and brought through over many years to keep the broadcast and podcast industry vibrant and new audiences coming in. This deeply personal ambition to keep developing fresh leadership and talent means that the time has rightly come for me to now step away and watch those remarkable people continue the exciting momentum.”
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Congrats on 30 years at SCA Dave.
It’s been a tough last decade or so and even though you’re a real ‘people person’, you’ve had to make a lot of positions redundant.
Hopefully your exit has the same level of respect, dignity and compassion that you’ve shown to all of those staff members.
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