Paul Coia and his twin Gerard were born in 1955, and he had two younger siblings, Martin and Denise. Coia was educated at Merrylee Convent, John Ogilvie Hall and
St Aloysius' College and then at the
University of Glasgow and Paisley College of Technology (now
University of the West of Scotland) to do a BSc degree course. His ambition was to become a dentist but it remained unrealised as his exam results were not to the level required. Coia instead moved into broadcasting where he started off as a
hospital radio presenter in December 1976 and later gained a job as a
disc jockey at
Radio Clyde in June 1977. He started off presenting the weekend overnight slots,
Friday into Saturday Morning,
Saturday into Sunday Morning and
Sunday into Monday Morning, followed by spells presenting weekend shows, such as the Saturday morning show ''Children's Choice''. Coia returned to Radio Clyde as a relief cover presenter throughout the 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s. In 1979, Coia made his TV debut with a guest appearance on the long-running No. 1 kids programme in Scotland
Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade then became a continuity announcer and newsreader for
Scottish Television. After dropping his script and continuing by ad libbing, Coia was given his own summer series
Hi Summer in 1980 followed his own chat show,
Meet Paul Coia in 1981. In 1982 he joined
Channel 4 on its launch and was the first voice heard on air. Unusually for continuity of the time, Coia could also occasionally be seen in-vision, usually before closedown. Subsequently, he became a presenter of
BBC1's daytime magazine programme,
Pebble Mill at One. He stood in once with his wife
Debbie Greenwood, a former
Miss Great Britain winner, for
Gloria Hunniford's afternoon chat show on
Five. They presented the weekend breakfast show on
LBC together for a year, Coia and Greenwood also sat in for
Derek and Ellen Jameson on the late-night show on
BBC Radio 2, and Coia (broadcasting solo) also deputised for
Ken Bruce,
Ed Stewart and other presenters on that station, and hosted the station's summer roadshows while also presenting on BBC One's The Holiday Show, Coia also sat in for
Jimmy Mack on
Clyde 2's drivetime show for a couple of weeks in September 1992. Coia also did cover work as a part-time presenter on
BBC Radio Scotland throughout the 2000s. In 2002, Coia created a quiz show for the BBC,
The Enemy Within. In 2005, Coia returned to
Radio Clyde where he presented on the weekday lunchtime show from 12 – 3pm on
Clyde 2, He covered for veteran presenter Bill Smith over the Easter period A year later, Coia presented on Saturday afternoons from 2–6pm, covering for Super Scoreboard whilst the football season was off for the summer time. Coia was a continuity announcer and trail voiceover (all pre-recorded) for the now-defunct digital channel
ABC1. He has also been heard on
102.2 Smooth Radio since February 2008. In April 2013 he became a Sunday morning presenter for
BBC Radio Berkshire, discussing religious issues of the day and locality. In 2017, he started to present
BBC Radio London cover shows. On 2 November 2022, forty years to the day after he introduced the first programme to be broadcast on Channel 4, Coia once again provided the continuity announcement for that day's edition of Countdown. Coia also works as a Presentation and Media coach and corporate speaker, hosting events and coaching executives in many countries. He occasionally presents on
Radio Jackie. ==Personal life==