Hated a British host on air (8)
I believe the answer is:
abhorred
'hated' is the definition.
(abhorring is a kind of hating)
'a british host on air' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'british' could be 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in 'BBC') and 'b' is located in the answer.
'on' could be 're' ('on' can be mean 'with reference to') and 're' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for abhorred that I've seen before include "Drab hero being loathed" , "Hated" , "very unpopular" , "Detested, loathed" , "Really detested" .)