Pioneering digital stations Jazz FM, BBC Radio 1Xtra, and talkRADIO were among the Gold winners recognised at last night’s prestigious ARIAS, the Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020, held at the London Palladium.
Jazz FM won a Special Award for 30 years of broadcasting and its contribution to the genre of jazz music.
BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Dotty won the Gold Award for Best Music Breakfast Show, and MistaJam won the Gold ARIA for Best Music Presenter, while the Network also scooped Bronze for National Station or Network of the Year.
The Radio Times moment of the year, voted upon by readers, went to Iain Lee’s show for talkRADIO when an over-dosing man called the show and Iain and the team located him and enabled emergency serves to save his life.
The Chris Evans Breakfast Show won the Silver Award for Best Community Programming for Chris Evans with Reverend Ruth Scott, and Gilles Peterson’s BBC Radio 6 Music Show won Bronze for Best Specialist Music Show.
Podcasts and on demand content were recognised throughout the awards including Goldhawk Productions/Radiotopia’s Passenger List winning Gold for Best Independent Podcast, and Raj & Pilar winning the Gold Award for Best New Presenter for BBC Radio 1’s The Reality Tea podcast by Fresh Air Productions.
In total 26 Gold awards were given out including to BBC Radio 2 for National Station or Network; BBC Radio 3 for Best Specialist Music Show for This Classical Life; Emma Barnett for Best Speech Presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live; and Radio 1 Breakfast with Greg James for Best New Show.
Bauer Media’s Absolute Radio won the Gold award for Best Coverage of an Event for Health Awareness Week and Forth 1’s Boogie in the Morning won Gold for Best Local Radio Show.
talkSPORT won Gold for Best Commercial Promotion for the Samaritans and a Special Award for its commitment to diversity and representation in sport in the last year.
BBC regional station winners included BBC Radio Wales for Best Sports Show, BBC Radio Sheffield for Best Speech Breakfast Show, and BBC WM for Best Factual Single Programme, while BBC Hereford & Worcester won The John Myers Award for Local Station of the Year.
See the full list of winners here.