Billy Costa


Billy Costa is an American radio and television host in the Boston area.

Early life

Costa grew up in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He attended Merrimack College in Massachusetts on a hockey scholarship, majoring in English.
After transferring to Emerson College in Boston, he found a job as a disc jockey at a local nightclub. He later joined the Emerson radio station, WERS, as a DJ.
After graduating from Emerson with a degree in English, Costa worked at a few other radio stations, including WBOS, before contacting WXKS-FM "Kiss 108" in 1980 for a lifestyle/entertainment news show he proposed.

Radio and TV

Costa told Kiss 108 about a lifestyle/entertainment segment he could host. This evolved into his Top 30 Countdown which is broadcast every Saturday morning and Sunday evening. Costa co-hosts Matty in the Morning on weekday mornings.
Costa was the host of The Phantom Gourmet, a restaurant review show, which broadcast its first episode on June 26, 1993. In 2003, Costa moved to a new show, TV Diner on New England Cable News, which was cancelled in September 2013. Costa now hosts Dining Playbook with Jenny Johnson on New England Sports Network.
In 2011, Costa started hosting a WGBH-TV show, High School Quiz Show.

Awards

Costa has received an Emmy Award nomination for his work on Evening Magazine and has received a Children's Television Award for Rap Around, his kids' talk show.