Ugly Phil

Ugly Phil (born Phillip Surridge on 14 March 1960) is a radio DJ/announcer. He was born in the United Kingdom, and lived the majority of his life in Australia. Before adopting the on-air name of Ugly Phil he was known on-air as Phil O'Neil.

In 1993-94 he hosted a nightly program with his now ex-wife Jackie O (aka, Jackie Last) on Triple M in Adelaide called "Phil O'Neil's Hot 30". FOX FM snapped him up later, where he and his wife moved their popular show onto Melbourne's airwaves where it was renamed the Hot 30 countdown. When the Austereo network decided to syndicate the show nationally, Phil and Jackie O moved to Sydney where the show was broadcast locally on 2Day FM and across the other 4 major Australian Radio Markets owned by Austereo, FOX FM Melbourne, SA FM Adelaide, B105 Brisbane, NX Fm Newcastle, and FM 1047 Canberra.

He was beaten for the title of best music personality in 1998-99 by Paul Campion but won the title a year later.

After leaving Austereo he worked briefly in the United Kingdom for Kiss 100, before moving back to Australia to host drive on the newly launched Nova969 in Sydney. Ugly Phil, had the highest rating shift on Nova in the drive timeslot. Ugly Phil left this position around the end of 2002, citing management difficulties.

In 2003, he signed onto evenings on the Triple M network - ditching the 'Ugly' name and opting for "The Phil O'Neill Show". The program included interviews, prizes and lighthearted talkback - which was a first for the Triple M network. However, the experiment didn't pay off and Ugly Phil's contract was not renewed at the end of 2003 due to falling ratings and another overhaul of the network.

In 2004, it was announced he would front the breakfast shift on the newly licensed Kerrang Radio 105.2, in the United Kingdom with the Ugly put back onto the front of his name. This program was co-hosted by Rachel New. As of September 2007, Ugly Phil's Breakfast program has ceased, replacing his program with "The Morning After" starring Tim Shaw and Kate Lawler, Big Brother (TV series) 3 UK winner, in the Breakfast shift. During the autumn of 2007, Phil could be heard covering at weekends on London's indie station XFM, leading to him fronting the weekday breakfast show over Christmas and New Year, filling in for Alex Zane.

In July 2008 he returned to Australian airwaves hosting a night time show on Triple M Sydney once again. [http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/07/16/Phil_ONeil_hits_Triple_M_with_the_Ugly_stick] . When the show commenced on this date, it was given the 6pm to 10pm timeslot, however, from Monday September 1, 2008, the show has been cut back to 2 hours, running from 6pm to 8pm, with "Odie" (Triple M Spoonman's phone operator) given 8pm to 10pm. The title for this program is "Ugly Phil - It's A Rock Show".

He appeared briefly on the Network Ten produced program "Ground Zero" (1997-1999) co-hosted by Jade Gatt, Penne Dennison and Jackie O. He also appeared on SBS's "Pizza" series.

He made a cameo appearance as a radio DJ in the Australian movie "Occasional Coarse Language" (1998) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177061/] .

He also hosted a National Charts Show across the major and regional markets ("Ugly Phil's Hot Hits") previously known and currently known as "The Hot Hits" before and after his association with presenting the show.

During his shows @ 104.1 Characteristics: The Hot 30 would air between 7-10pm Monday to Friday. But on average the show go onto 10.30pm, frustrating the host of the following shift, which was loved by Phils listeners.During the Hot 30 between 1998-2000 "Ugly Phil" would often call unaware late night shop attendants at petrol stations and convenience stores and random places, with prank calls. The pranks often entailed using an "Asian accent" ["you eat my dog... Why you eat my dog"] or he would call and the first thing he would say was ["Who are you?...Who are you?"]

References

*http://web.archive.org/web/19990208011025/http://www.2dayfm.com.au/
*http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24026838-5006002,00.html

External links

* http://web.archive.org/web/20000301125405/www.ugly.com.au/