Hire of Peter Upton

Gawk Outdoor appoints former ARN Executive, Peter Upton as their first General Manager.

Gawk Outdoor has announced the hire of radio veteran, Peter Upton. Peter has joined Gawk in their newly created role of General Manager. This addition to the Gawk team follows Pete’s redundancy at ARN after their purchase of the majority of the Grant Broadcasters’ network.

Peter has 40 years of experience within the radio industry. Starting as an announcer in 1982, moving into General Manager roles in the late 90s. In his media career, he has managed predominantly radio stations, but has also run regional television, and overseen a tourism magazine and a digital billboard.

Peter started in his long-term Regional General Manager (RGM) role at Grant Broadcasters in 2009. This time saw Pete assist with the growth of their stations across Victoria and South Australia. For over 12 years, Pete personally oversaw several markets including Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Murray Bridge, Spencer Gulf, The Riverland and Port Lincoln.

In January 2022, Grant Broadcasters was acquired by ARN. After assisting ARN to integrate the regional team into the existing ARN structure it was decided that they no longer needed RGMs. 

Peter began his new role at Gawk Outdoor on February 1^st, 2023. Peter comments “I am stoked to be part of this committed, rapidly growing team helping clients get great results”.

Director, Luke Course notes “We could not be more excited about having someone of the calibre of Pete join our team. His experience in media in Regional Victoria is almost unparalleled and shows our commitment to being one of the major players in Regional Victorian Media.” 

Course reveals “Pete is going to be an integral part to our continued growth. We expect our team to grow by 75% in 2023 and have a development pipeline of more than 20 new sites that will further cement our market leadership in OOH in Regional Victoria.”

Gawk Outdoor hold over 80 billboard locations throughout Regional VIC, SA, and NSW, including 9 digital locations in prominent town centres within Victoria. Gawk now hold >40% of the OOH market share in regional Victoria, reaching over 13.9 million people each month and providing overage of every single highway in the state. In December of 2022, Gawk Outdoor was named in Financial Review’s fast starters list, as one of the 100 fastest-growing businesses in Australia.