Kim Hill

Background

Hill was born in 1955 in Shropshire, England. Her father was a veterinarian and her mother was a physiotherapist and nurse

Education

She then studied journalism at the University of Canterbury"s Postgraduate School of Journalism.

Career

She was named International Radio Personality of the Year in 2012. When Hill was 15, her family emigrated to New Zealand. Hill gained a Bachelor in French and German at Massey University and the University of Otago.

Her early career included stints working for radio and newspapers in Nelson, Greymouth and Gisborne, before moving to Radio New Zealand in Wellington and starting on the programme Checkpoint.

From 1993 to 2002 she was the host of the daily morning Nine to Noon programme. Notable interviews from this time included the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Jeffrey Archer, and Monica Lewinsky.

In April 2002 Hill began hosting Saturday Morning. Since the 1990s she has also worked in television (on the consumer affairs show Fair Go and news programme Counterpoint, both with Television New Zealand"s television ONE) and in 2003 she began hosting the interview programme Face to Face With Kim Hill.

In 2003 Hill interviewed journalist John Pilger who complained that Hill had not researched properly, saying "You waste my time because you have not prepared for this interview, as any journalist does, and I"ve done many interviews.

The one thing is to prepare for them and this interview, frankly, is a disgrace." Referring to the Australian journalist in 2012 she said "The thing is, if Pilger wasn’t an egomaniac, he wouldn’t have done the work he’s done. I was keen to talk to him, but he turns out to be a prick. So it goes."

In 2006, Hill hosted Are Angels Oklahoma, a series of programmes where artists, writers, and physicists discussed the intersection between physics and the arts

Her monthly radio conversations between 2004 and 2007 with physicist Sir Paul Callaghan were published as As Far As We Know.

Achievements

• In 2012 Hill was awarded "International Radio Personality of the Year" by the Association for International Broadcasting. The judges described her as "an experienced and warm broadcaster exercising full control of her content, whilst coaxing her guests to reveal more of themselves. Really enjoyable live and sparky content that demonstrates what is great about radio, and illustrates how important lightness of touch is in speech content.".