Yay!!! Last night, at the PPI Awards, Phantom 105.2 took home the PPI Award for Local Station of the Year (Music Driven). Didn’t make it to the ceremony myself sadly, but judging by the state of the presenters around the place today, a good time was had by all. Once again: yay!!! (After the jump is the official press release with all the details.)
7th Annual PPI Radio Awards
Winners Announced
This evening Friday 19th October the cream of Irish radio descended on Dublin’s Burlington Hotel for the seventh annual PPI Radio Awards. Over 850 people were in attendance including 2FM’s Gerry Ryan, breakfast show hosts Colm and Jim Jim, Today FM’s Ray D’Arcy, Ian Dempsey and Ray Foley and Newstalk’s Sean Moncrief amongst others for what is considered the Oscars of the music industry calendar.
Dara O’Briain was on hand to officiate at the ceremony and in his imitable style kept the proceedings enjoyable and indeed funny. For the first time radio stations from all 32 counties were eligible to enter and these new stations make a welcome addition to a ceremony overloaded with talented people and programmes. With over 500 entries and over 1,000 hours of radio airplay to listen to, its no easy task picking the winners.
This year the Outstanding Achievement Award went to Des Whelan CEO of WLR. Over the past thirty years Des Whelan has been at the forefront in the independent radio sector. He is the driving force behind the highly successful WLR FM and also Ireland’s first regional radio station Beat 102-103.
Another change to this years’ awards was on the judging panel. Traditionally the 45 strong judging panel has been made up from print media, UK radio executives, TV personalities and the general public. However this year the awards committee decided that Irish Radio should be judged by Irish Radio, thus 35 of the 45 judges come from radio on the island of Ireland including RTE, BBC Radio Ulster, Today FM, Newstalk together with many of the local independent stations. New also in 2007 is online judging in 3 categories – New Irish Music, Sports Coverage and Short Features which were judged by a further 33 judges all actively involved in local and national radio.
Full list of winners below:
Group A MUSIC PROGRAMMING AWARDS
A1: General The Jam FM104
A2: Specialist McClean’s Country BBC Radio Ulster
A3: Breakfast Programme Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show Today FM
A4: Music Special Tom Dunne’s Sgt. Peppers 40th Anniversary Special Today FM
A5: New Irish Music / Musical Talent Programme Transmission-Green-onRed-SLAYER Cork’s Red FM 104 -106
Group B NEWS AND SPORTS PROGRAMMING AWARDS
B1: News Story The Mary Shannon Story Clare FM
B2: News Programme Lunchtime with Eamon Keane Newstalk 106 -108
B3: Current Affairs Programme Today with Pat Kenny RTE Radio 1
B4: Sports Coverage The Ryder Cup RTE Radio 1
B5: Sports Programme Off the Ball Newstalk 106-108
Group C SPEEECH PROGRAMMING AWARDS
C1: Documentary Across the Line Shannonside Northern Sound
C2: Short Feature Don’t Be Mean Vote McKean – Moncrief Newstalk 106 -108
C3: Light Entertainment Programme The Ray D’Arcy Show Today FM
C4: Drama From Heartache to Hope – The Story of Jeanie Johnson Radio Kerry
C5: Specialist Speech Programme – Mind Matters RTE Radio 1
Group D GENERAL PROGRAMMING AWARDS
D1: Community / Social Action Brake the Cycle Cork’s Red FM104 -106
D2: On-Air Competition / Promotion 98FM’s Dilemma 98 FM
D3: Station Imaging Radio Kerry
D4: Entertainment Inserts Gift Grub The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show Today FM
Group E PERSONALITIES
E1: Music Broadcaster of the Year KC Cork’s Red FM 104 -106
E2: News Broadcaster of the Year Philip Boucher Hayes RTE Radio 1
E3: Sports Broadcaster of the Year Des Cahill RTE Radio 1
E4: Speech Broadcaster of the Year Stephen Nolan BBC Radio Ulster
E5: Outstanding Achievement Award Des Whelan WLR FM
Group F STATION OF THE YEAR AWARDS
F1: Local Station of the Year – Full Service Radio Kerry
F2: Local Station of the Year – Music Driven Phantom FM
F3: National Station of the Year Newstalk 106-108
