Phil Swern


Phil "The Collector" Swern is an English radio producer and music collector. He was formerly a record producer and songwriter, and has also written for television. He produced Pick of the Pops for Radio 1 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and has produced the show for Radio 2 since 1997. He also produces Sounds of the 60s for Radio 2 and formerly produced the Saturday night Bob Harris Show for the same station, also producing Harris's Radio 1 shows in the early 1990s. He also devises the questions for the PopMaster quiz on Radio 2's Ken Bruce Show. He co-wrote the quiz show Pop The Question with Jeremy Beadle and co-created fellow quiz show That's Showbusiness with screenwriter Jeremy Pascall.
His first record production work was Horace Faith's recording of "Black Pearl" for Trojan Records in 1970. He went on to produce many other musicians including The Pearls, Polly Brown and R&J Stone whose "We Do It", released in 1976, reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.
Swern has the world's only complete collection of every single UK Top 40 chart hit since records began in 1952. His extensive work within the music industry led to him being awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge Award in October, 2010.