Phil Hilton

Phil Hilton has certainly had an interesting and eventful career before arriving at BBC 2002 to present the Beeb's Commonwealth Games Radio Station's early afternoon programme "Deep Under Cover." (Launching, Monday, March 4th, 2002)

He started his radio career in a small village near Limerick in Ireland . . . and thereby hangs a tale of poetic radio licence! The owner ran the station from the third floor of his house, which was also a washing machine repair shop at the same time. The highlight of Phil's time in Limerick was when he arrived to present the crack of dawn breakfast show, only to find the house locked up. Apparently, the owner had had a little too much to drink in the town the night before and arrived home later than expected . . . . Phil eventually got on air at 8.15am.

Not surprisingly, Phil soon left to come back to his native North West and worked as a programme assistant at BBC Radio Merseyside, working on a shared programme with BBC Radio Cumbria. During that time, Phil receieved a dubious package in the post. As Phil recalls: "It smelt a bit odd and felt unusual." The authorities were called and a brave police officer opened the parcel, revealing a Cumberland sausage sent in by a listener!

Seven years ago, Phil spearheaded setting up a succesful radio station 'Dune fm' in his home town of Southport before eventually returning to the BBC to concentrate on station branding and on-air promotions for BBC Radio.

Now, he's returning to the role of presenter for "BBC 2002" 97.7FM to entertain listeners each weekday from 1pm until 3pm on "Deep Under Cover," a programme covering local stories and action from the communities of Greater Manchester. Hopefully, he won't get locked out!