Hilltop Radio

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Hilltop Radio was started in the early 80’s by three people who had been involved in Thameside Radio. Aleks Wright, who ran the Thameside fast food surveys and did the news reports with Sarah, Jim Trent and Phil Graham who were both involved in the background with Thameside.

Hilltop broadcast on Sunday nights almost in direct competition with Thameside on a frequency of 90.0 MHz VHF and normally consisted of two hour long shows. One or both of the shows would be DJ’ed by Aleks, Jim or Phil or a combination of the three. Jim and Phil would regularly do shows together. Other people who were involved did occasional shows such as Chrissie Anderson or Mandy Lifeboats.

There was not a definite strategy to have a “zoo” format approach, the DJ’s just liked involving those around them, and they were going to be involved whether the DJ’s liked it anyway! Jim and Phil also liked doing shows together with the repartee that naturally went with good friends and it came across well.

Between the twin dj’ing and the involvement of the studio members, quite often in a rude and irreverent way, Hilltop led the way for future broadcasting as there is now a common thread in broadcasting to have more than one presenter and to involve others in the studio.

The music was a mixture of classic rock, with the Who and Led Zep being firm favourites to punk and onto “New Wave” with bands such as The Clash, Stranglers, Blondie and Squeeze being regularly played. There was branching out into less common areas as well, with a regular slot on the half hour of Phil Grahams or Jim Trent’s shows being the half hour silly song, where something like the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band or some other comedic song would be played.

The station also encouraged listeners to send in demo tapes to be played. This resulted in Hilltop being the first UK radio station to play Aztec Camera.

They didn’t have the technical resources of Thameside, so the range and scope of things like outside broadcasts weren’t a match, but the choice of music, which certainly wasn’t being played on established stations on a Sunday night combined with the sheer fun and enthusiasm being transmitted from the studio meant that Hilltop had a firm following in London at the time.