Post by JamesB on Nov 9, 2012 23:01:11 GMT
I've just got back from a couple of days in London for the Student Radio Awards. As some of you may know, in my spare time I contribute to RaW (Radio Warwick), in particular the RaW Sport shows. Earlier this year we (a team of about 12 of us in various roles - I was co-commentator) covered the Varsity football matches (Warwick vs Coventry) at the Ricoh Arena. We were fortunate enough to pick up 1 of the 6 nominations for Best Live Event/Outside Broadcast - at RaW we were all very happy as we picked up 4 nominations in total, a big improvement after getting none the previous year
The Student Radio Awards are a very big event which is a testament to the considerable talent that comes through the ranks at university. Despite the fact that the vast majority of student radio stations are run on a voluntary basis (apart from URN, the bastards - their station manager gets £25,000 a year), the standard of the output is exceptional (apart from when I'm hosting)
The event is held at indigO2, the smaller capacity venue within the Dome at the O2 complex (unfortunately we couldn't grab Andy Murray for an impromptu interview for our show). Not only are students from numerous stations there but also some of radio's bigwigs. The event is sponsored by BBC Radio and Global Radio, which meant numerous appearances by the stars of their primary stations - the event was hosted by newly-appointed BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ Nick Grimshaw and Capital FM's Dave Berry; Annie Mac made an appearance at the start as Chair of the SRAs; Scott Mills, Greg James and Steve Lamacq presented awards; John Wilson (son of Arsenal legend Bob) presented one award on behalf of Radio 4; and the award for Best Station was presented by the executive director of Global Radio Richard Park (who you may remember being the head judge on BBC talent show Fame Academy). The after-party consisted of 3 soundclashes (contests between DJs to see who plays the best stuff - if any of you think the art of DJing is dead, you're very much mistaken, because these guys still have to work for their money) between leading BBC Radio 1 and Global Radio DJs
You may know none of these names but take it from me that they're all well-known at the moment, especially amongst us youngsters (although I don't listen to any of them). Also there are plenty of talent-spotters there looking for the next big thing - many up-and-coming DJs have come through student radio and have been recognised after winning SRAs. So it's a big deal. There's nothing quite like this in student media
So anyway, our category was first up, and they listed the top 3 in reverse order. After the top 2 were listed we thought that meant we wouldn't get anything, but to our great surprise, we were announced as the winners. As most of the team (not including me, as I don't drink) was quite drunk by this point thanks to the free bar, we had foolishly agreed to do a Poznan on stage if we won, which duly happened - I don't know if anyone laughed but we found it hilarious. I'd like to think we weren't taking it especially seriously which was in the spirit of the event - some of the other winners were taking it quite seriously, judging by their speeches
(I'm furthest left, at the back)
All in all, a great night. Of the 4 nominations the station got, we picked up 2 wins, a silver and a bronze - we were the only station to get multiple nominations to pick up an award for every nomination, so we're delighted. URN won station of the year again, unsurprisingly - we felt a bit sorry for Spark FM of Sunderland as they'd got more nominations and awards than URN but ended up 3rd overall, behind URY of York as well as URN
My back is just getting back into one piece after sleeping on my mate's living room floor last night. But it was worth it. I was also charged with bringing the trophy back to the studio where it's now taking pride of place in the RaW Trophy Cabinet (well, shelf). Hopefully we can add another one next year - we're planning on bigger and better
The Student Radio Awards are a very big event which is a testament to the considerable talent that comes through the ranks at university. Despite the fact that the vast majority of student radio stations are run on a voluntary basis (apart from URN, the bastards - their station manager gets £25,000 a year), the standard of the output is exceptional (apart from when I'm hosting)
The event is held at indigO2, the smaller capacity venue within the Dome at the O2 complex (unfortunately we couldn't grab Andy Murray for an impromptu interview for our show). Not only are students from numerous stations there but also some of radio's bigwigs. The event is sponsored by BBC Radio and Global Radio, which meant numerous appearances by the stars of their primary stations - the event was hosted by newly-appointed BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ Nick Grimshaw and Capital FM's Dave Berry; Annie Mac made an appearance at the start as Chair of the SRAs; Scott Mills, Greg James and Steve Lamacq presented awards; John Wilson (son of Arsenal legend Bob) presented one award on behalf of Radio 4; and the award for Best Station was presented by the executive director of Global Radio Richard Park (who you may remember being the head judge on BBC talent show Fame Academy). The after-party consisted of 3 soundclashes (contests between DJs to see who plays the best stuff - if any of you think the art of DJing is dead, you're very much mistaken, because these guys still have to work for their money) between leading BBC Radio 1 and Global Radio DJs
You may know none of these names but take it from me that they're all well-known at the moment, especially amongst us youngsters (although I don't listen to any of them). Also there are plenty of talent-spotters there looking for the next big thing - many up-and-coming DJs have come through student radio and have been recognised after winning SRAs. So it's a big deal. There's nothing quite like this in student media
So anyway, our category was first up, and they listed the top 3 in reverse order. After the top 2 were listed we thought that meant we wouldn't get anything, but to our great surprise, we were announced as the winners. As most of the team (not including me, as I don't drink) was quite drunk by this point thanks to the free bar, we had foolishly agreed to do a Poznan on stage if we won, which duly happened - I don't know if anyone laughed but we found it hilarious. I'd like to think we weren't taking it especially seriously which was in the spirit of the event - some of the other winners were taking it quite seriously, judging by their speeches
(I'm furthest left, at the back)
All in all, a great night. Of the 4 nominations the station got, we picked up 2 wins, a silver and a bronze - we were the only station to get multiple nominations to pick up an award for every nomination, so we're delighted. URN won station of the year again, unsurprisingly - we felt a bit sorry for Spark FM of Sunderland as they'd got more nominations and awards than URN but ended up 3rd overall, behind URY of York as well as URN
My back is just getting back into one piece after sleeping on my mate's living room floor last night. But it was worth it. I was also charged with bringing the trophy back to the studio where it's now taking pride of place in the RaW Trophy Cabinet (well, shelf). Hopefully we can add another one next year - we're planning on bigger and better
