PopMaster

Best regarded for building one of the biggest private record collections in the world, Phil "The Collector" Swern has, in his own right, achieved over a dozen entries into The Guinness Book Of Hit Singles as a record producer with acts such as The Pearls, R & J Stone and The Seashells. In the mid-eighties, Phil collaborated as a writer and performer on Capital's You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet and later helped set up the Capital Gold Network. 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. Phil also co-writes Ken Bruce's daily pop quiz PopMaster, for which he has compiled several successful bestselling books. Neil Myners, having studied music to degree and post-grad levels, has, since 1995, produced BBC Radio 2's coverage of Paul McCartney's return to the Cavern, The Brit Awards and the Ivor Novello Awards. He was both music programmer and producer on Richard Allinson's Sony-award winning late night show for the network and has been recognised for his work with Bob Harris and WBBC on the documentaries The Sandy Denny Story and The Day John Met Paul. Ken Bruce was born and raised in Glasgow where he trained and worked as a chartered accountant before he began his broadcasting career in the mid 70's in hospital radio in Scotland. By 1977, he began working for the BBC as a staff announcer for Radio 4 Scotland, then became one of the original presenters of 'Nightbeat'.

In 1985, Bruce left Radio Scotland to replace Terry Wogan on Radio 2's Breakfast Show, followed by a variety of slots on Radio 2 including the mid-morning slot from 1992 until 2023. It was on this show in 1996 that the daily PopMaster quiz was first introduced with an expected run of just a few months, but its immense popularity has made it an iconic feature of British radio, now still going strong on Ken's mid-morning show on Greatest Hits Radio.

PopMaster is a firm fan favourite on radio and has now been turned into a successful TV show broadcast on Channel 4 and More 4.