Ugly Phil O’Neil on why he walked away from the Hot30 Countdown

IN THE late 90s Ugly Phil O’Neil hosted the biggest FM radio show in the country alongside his then-wife, Jackie O. But at the height of his fame he walked away.

IN the mid to late 90s, the Hot30 Countdown with Ugly Phil and Jackie O was THE radio show to listen to.

In the days before social media, the nightly national countdown was the best way for young listeners to stay up to date with the freshest hits.

They idolised the show’s hosts whom first met years earlier after an 18-year-old Jackie rang into Ugly Phil O’Neil’s radio show on the Gold Coast.

The pair bonded over the phone, struck up a relationship and were married before Jackie turned 20.

Ugly Phil gave his wife [although they kept their marriage a secret from listeners] her start in radio and before long she was a co-host on the biggest national FM show in the country.

But at the height of the Hot30’s popularity, Ugly Phil quit the show and moved overseas, and now he’s revealed why.

Speaking to Rachel Corbett on her podcast You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere, the 54-year-old said he had no idea how popular the Hot30 was when he was hosting it.

“At the time, no, it didn’t feel like it was that great,” he told Corbett.

“It was fun to do. We had a great interaction with the audience. We had the opportunity because we were a national show to get these great prizes. We got some amazing overseas trips in retrospect looking back at it now, but ... at that particular time you’re not enjoying it because none of us ever live in the moment. And then you look back and go, ‘Wow, that was fantastic, why didn’t I love that more!’”

But after five years of hosting the program alongside Jackie O, Ugly Phil decided enough was enough.

Phil and Jackie’s marriage lasted three years.

“There were the interstate appearances you had to make and I was working non-stop for five years for six to seven days a week,” he said.

“It became all-consuming. I was tired of doing the Hot30. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m 37 years old and I’m mates with the guys from Hanson who are 15. I’m too old for this’.”

After his mum died and his marriage to Jackie O broke down, Ugly Phil asked his radio bosses if he could move to a different show.

“They were happy with how the Hot30 was going they said, ‘We’d rather you stay on this’,” the broadcaster told Corbett.

And then, just as he’d decided “I don’t want to do this anymore,” the radio star was approached “out of nowhere” by an overseas station.

“I got offered a job in London to go and work there and I just needed to get away,” he said.

Ugly Phil was replaced on the Hot30 Countdown by Kyle Sandilands and together he and Jackie O went on to form one of the most formidable on-air partnerships in Australian radio history.

As for Ugly Phil, he returned from the UK in 2001 to help launch Nova 96.9 in Sydney.

But, as he freely admitted to Corbett in the podcast, he had an “attitude problem” that saw him bounce between several radio gigs over the next decade, including a return to the UK, hosting a national nights show on Triple M and a stint in regional radio.

He can currently be heard on Triple M in Sydney and Melbourne from 1pm-4pm each weekday as well as on the national show, My Generation.

Ugly Phil can currently be heard on Triple M.

You can listen to the full You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere podcast here