The Sony Radio Academy Awards ceremony was held on Monday (May 14th) and BBC Radio 6 Music walked away with the ‘UK Station of the Year’ gong.
It marks an impressive return to form for a station that was due to be scrapped by the BBC in 2010. Bbc.co.uk noted that other big winners on the night were Chris Evans as ‘Music Radio Personality of the Year’ and BBC Radio 4’s Mike Thomson as ‘News Journalist of the Year’.
The night was attended by a number of high-profile names in London broadcast jobs, including 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish; with veteran star Sir Tom Jones on hand to present the station with its accolade.
It was only after a campaign was launched to save 6 Music involving listeners, musicians and certain politicians that the BBC reversed its decision to close the station – a move that programmers may now be more than happy about.
The ceremony also saw the record broken for the oldest ever winners of a Sony Award as BBC Radio Humberside’s Betty Smith and Beryl Renwick took home the gold prize for ‘Best Entertainment Programme’. The pair, 90 years old and 86 years old respectively, were labelled a “joyous, entertaining double act” by judges, reported telegraph.co.uk.
Reflecting on the win, Ms Smith said: “It’s absolutely ace, we couldn’t be more happy than we are now.”