Simon James and Hill are to join Original 106fm, the new regional radio station for Solent. The news comes just days after we brought you news of their exit from the TLRC network evening show.
Triple Sony Award-winning presenters Simon James and Hill are to host the show between 6 and 10am on weekdays. They will be joined by one of the region?s best known and most authoritative journalists, Karen Woods, who will present the news and sport each morning. Karen was a Non-executive Director for rival Solent bid Tide FM.
Simon and Hill have been presenting radio shows together for more than eleven years, starting out on local radio in Essex before a highly successful spell with Emap stations in the north of England where they picked up a Sony Gold award for best drivetime show. A second Sony followed for the pair during their time at North West regional station, Century FM, for best daytime programme. In 2003 Simon and Hill went national with Virgin Radio where their late night show received widespread press acclaim for its quirky competitions, stunts and eclectic music mix.
The pair joined The Local Radio Company at the beginning of 2005 where they hosted an evening show which was syndicated to 27 stations nationwide. This won them their third Sony Award in 2006.
Both have a penchant for movies, minutiae and quality music whilst Simon is a huge cricket fan and Hill cites Elvis as his all-time hero.
?It?s wonderful to be joining Original 106?, says Simon. ?We?ve been longing for a station like this and can?t wait to be a part of what will undoubtedly be an immense breath of fresh air for commercial radio in the south?.
Karen Woods was a member of the launch team at Ocean Sound twenty years ago, later becoming Head of News at regional station Wave 105. In recent times she has been running her own successful PR and media training company.
Original 106fm Programme Director John Evington is delighted with the signings. ?I?ve followed Simon and Hill?s careers with interest for many years and have been very impressed at how they have honed their ?act? over time. They are two extremely bright guys with a very endearing rapport and unmatched passion for music. Karen is unquestionably one of the best newsreaders in the business and, alongside Simon and Hill at Breakfast, I am confident that we will more than live up to our promise of bringing a real alternative listen to the south?.
Original 106fm launches across the Solent region this autumn.