Southport to Saudi

Review

34 stories of a life in tv, Radio & Online

Author: Philip Hilton

2026 77 pages, illustrated

https://www.southporttosaudi.co.uk/

A decades long career by Philip Hilton takes us in this booklet along several countries and places bringing inside stories of his several jobs. Strange enough the first chapter he tells about his last job in Saudi, where he was manager to a team of media producers. I presume he started with this item as it was his last job and he liked it the most.

His radio adventure started in the eighties of last century leaving England for Ireland. It was at Cavan Community Radio where he started, a station where famous Don Allen was also working. Interesting to learn how this station was run, but also had an enemy, ‘Whammer the jammer’. A person who interrupted the FM signal of the station by putting his own transmitter on at the same frequency.

He worked there for 6 months but after a program policy change he decided to go for a new job on Radio West in Mullingar. There, too, Philip had some hilarious moments as the presenter of the breakfast program. The studio was in the same complex as the residential block, but the residents – apart from the owner, Sean – didn’t have keys. You’d just ring the doorbell and the door would open. But not that morning when he went out to fetch the newspapers, as usual. Ringing the doorbell on his return was pointless, as nobody was at home. The result during the first few hours of that day: ‘the Sound of Silence’.

Third station in the row was in Dublin at Radio Sunshine. Market leader and famous through his Boss Robbie Robinson, aka Robbie Dale. This was a change to get his hands on. Production works first and then a night shift. In the chapter about Sunshine Phil Hilton tells us more about the side activities regarding running the station.

The experiences leading up to and during Christmas were particularly interesting, and I would have liked to read more about Phil’s time at Sunshine, but in the book, he took us to the next stop: BBC Merseyside. Of course a different time than with commercial radio. Interesting are the stories about listeners holidays and exchanging programs with other BBC Local stations.

Philip doesn’t shy away from talking about his failed auditions and recounts his unique encounter with Dusty Springfield. The book features numerous other memories from his career in the media, although I would have liked the content to have been much more detailed. Nevertheless, it’s definitely worth buying.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1066744203

Hans Knot August 2026