William Anthony Costa (born December 24, 1952) is an American radio and television host in the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

area, best known since 2022 as the host of the ''Billy and Lisa in the Morning'' show on

WXKS-FM WXKS-FM (107.9 MHz), branded ''Kiss 108'', is a commercial contemporary hit radio station licensed to serve Medford, Massachusetts, and covering Greater Boston. Owned by iHeartMedia, the WXKS-FM studios are in Medford and the station transmits f ...

in Boston.

Early life

Costa grew up in

East Cambridge, Massachusetts East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River and the Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on the east, the Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville border on the no ...

, where he graduated from

Cambridge Rindge and Latin School The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, also known as "CRLS" or "Rindge", is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of the Cambridge Public School District. In 1977, two separate schools, Rindge Technical Sc ...

. He attended

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a Private university, private Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. It en ...

in Massachusetts on a hockey scholarship, majoring in English. He and his parents are of Portuguese ancestry. Costa’s parents died before his radio career truly took off, with his father dying at 48 and his mother at 52. After transferring to

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

, he found a job as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

at a local nightclub. He later joined the Emerson

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

WERS WERS (88.9 FM) is one of Emerson College's two radio stations (the other being campus station WECB), located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Programming features over 20 different styles of music and news, including live performances ...

, as a DJ. After graduating from Emerson with a degree in English, Costa worked at a few other radio stations, including

WBOS WBOS (92.9 MHz, "Bloomberg 92.9") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Brookline, Massachusetts, and serving Greater Boston. WBOS is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, with studios and offices in Waltham. WBOS airs a financial news rad ...

, before contacting

"Kiss 108" in 1980 for a lifestyle/entertainment news show he proposed. Costa pays his ex-wife $26,000 monthly in alimony.

Radio and TV

Radio

''Matty In The Morning'' (1980 – May 3, 2022)

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-hosted ''Matty In The Morning'' with Matt Siegel and Lisa Donovan from 2001 until Siegel's retirement on May 3, 2022.

''Billy and Lisa In The Morning'' (August 8, 2022 – present)

On May 3, 2022, Costa was named the new permanent host of Kiss 108's morning radio show ''Matty in the Morning'' following former host Siegel’s announcement of his retirement. Costa hosts ''Billy and Lisa In The Morning'' with Donovan, Justin Augirre, and Winnie Akoury on weekday mornings from 6 to 10 am.

TV (1993 – present)

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 New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal (as part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division, both ultimately owned by Comcast) serving the New England reg ...

(NECN), which was cancelled in September 2013. Costa now hosts ''Dining Playbook'' with Jenny Johnson on

New England Sports Network New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of the Boston ...

(NESN). In 2011, Costa started hosting a

WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS List of PBS member stations, member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Affiliated stations and facilities WGBH-TV is the Flagship (broadcasting), ...

show, ''High School Quiz Show'' and continued through 2023. He was succeeded in 2024 by PBS Digital Studios host Joe Hanson.

Awards

Costa has received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Billy 1951 births American radio personalities American television personalities Cambridge Rindge and Latin School alumni Emerson College alumni Living people Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey players Mass media people from Cambridge, Massachusetts American people of Portuguese descent