On Tuesday 7th May it was the ARIAS Awards, that’s the Audio Radio Industry Awards, held at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and Peter Rush from Bishop FM & Aycliffe Radio attended the event. He was in the Grass Roots category for the work that The Community Radio Environment Network, a collection of many community radio stations from around the UK, did in ‘Our Earth Week’ last November. Joining him on the night were Penny Southgate from BCFM in Bristol who is CREN’s organiser and Xan Phillips who is station manager at Voice FM in Southampton.
They faced stiff opposition from Podcasts and other great audio content and lost out to the eventual worthy winner ‘Three Ways to Save a Life’ from BBC Radio Manchester, with coverage on how lessons have been learned from the response to the Manchester Arena bombings.
There was, however, great news that one of our partners in the Community Radio Environment Network, Radio Platform in Cardiff, won a Silver Award in their category, Community Station of the Year.
Peter said “It was a great honour to meet Agathe and all the Radio Platform volunteers at the Theatre Royal and all good wishes and congratulations to them for the achievement. I look forward to working with all the stations within the newly formed Community Radio Environment Network going forward.”
Peter also commented “The highlight, however, for me, being at the awards, was an unexpected handshake for the legendary Ken Bruce – I did catch him by surprise, but it was great to have a brief word with him – I thought he was robbed coming second in the Rado Times Moment of the Year, with his move from BBC Radio 2 to Greatest Hits Radio! Again, a worthy winner in this category was Luton Town Promoted to the Premier League BBC Three Counties.”
“I said hi to Romash Ranganathan who co hosted the evening with Alice Levine and got a ‘how you doing’ back, but he was on his way to the stage at the time and he had to practice his autocue!”
“Angelica Bell (TV Presenter and 2017 Celebrity MasterChef winner) and Marvin Humes (JLS Fame) drifted by also, they were at the awards to read nominations, so did not have time to chat! There were emotional tributes to Annie Nightingale, she was posthumously given the Pioneer Award for her ground breaking work as the first female DJ on Radio 1. The award was received by her daughter who gave an emotional speech saying that the Annie Nightingale Scholarship would continue it’s work. Annie sadly passed away in January this year after a short illness.”
Peter also commented “There was also a tribute to my hero Steve Wright, who passed away earlier this year, there was a pre-recorded tribute to him from Greg James, Chris Moyles, Sara Cox and Chris Evans amongst others. It was a fantastic experience for me going to the ARIAS Awards in London. Yes, disappointed that we did not win, but, as I said on the night, everyone there were winners just for being nominated. For me, community stations around the country do an important job in informing their audiences of community matters. It was good to meet other broadcasters and, on the night, CREN (Community Radio Environment Network) launched the new website, just search Community Radio Environment Network and lookout for new community radio collaborations later in the year, not least, ‘Our Earth Week’ in November.
“Also if you want to keep up with community matters listen to my new Podcast ‘Pete’s Community Slice’ it’s available by searching Pete’s Community Slice or visiting the Bishop FM Website, Bishopfm.com – the latest slice is a conversation with Cllr. Sam Zair, Mayor of Bishop Auckland, covering many community subjects including a fascinating insight into his family’s past. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, including Bishop FM & Aycliffe Radio, keep listening!”
Photo, left to right: Xan Phillips, Penny Southgate and Peter Rush.