Westminster’s student radio station Smoke Radio has won a phenomenal eight awards at the Student Radio Association’s 2019 Awards, including the Best Student Radio Station sponsored by BBC Radio 1.
The star-studded event took place on 7 November at indigo at the O2 and was supported by BBC Radio 1 and Global. Those in attendance included industry stars Scott Mills, Charlie Hedges and Angela Scanlon.
The eight awards won by Smoke Radio include the ReelWorld Best Station Sound, the gold award for the show Thursday Breakfast with Gabriel and Joe, and gold and silver for Best Interview, both for the show Gyal from Brum with Kaylee Golding. Golding’s show also won gold in the category Best Specialist Music Programming. Other awards won are bronze in Best Event or Outside Broadcast for their 24 Hours Broadcast in Aid of Movember and bronze inBest Podcast for the Passion Fruit Podcast.
As part of the win for Best Student Radio Station, some of the students from Smoke Radio will be hosting their own shows over Christmas on BBC Radio 1. The special shows are in addition to the 20+ people who will be chosen from a previous initiative to put more local and community radio presenters on the network.
Pulama Kaufman, last year’s Station Manager, said about the achievement: “Winning eight awards at the Student Radio Awards this year was absolutely incredible and a wonderful recognition for all of the hard work the Smoke Radio team put in last year. Our aim last year was to make content that reflected the interests and lives of the students of Westminster and I am so proud of the work we achieved. The feedback from the judges has been very validating and proves that doing something different can pay off. We are so excited to be hosting radio shows on BBC Radio 1 over the Christmas period as well. Make sure you tune in to the early breakfast slots (4-7am) on 29-31 December to support us."
Dr Matthew Linfoot, Principal Lecturer of the Radio and Digital Production BA Honours course and co-founder of Smoke Radio, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled for Smoke Radio. The whole team have produced some terrific work in the past few years, and the station has been recognised as the best in the country for reflecting student life. All the awards are well deserved, and these achievements will no doubt translate into jobs and careers for our students in the radio and audio industries.”
The Student Radio Association is a volunteer-run representative body for the UK student radio community. Their annual awards are supported by BBC Radio 1 and Global in order to bring the entire industry together to celebrate the best in student radio across the UK.
