Bit of a good day at work. For the second year running I have been nominated for a Radio Academy Award, something which I have to say wasn’t at all expected. It’s for Radio Interview of the Year, for my interview with James, an eyewitness to the Woolwich murders. The other nominees are Stephen Sackur, Iain Lee, Winifred Robinson and Becky Milligan.
If you don’t remember the interview I wrote it up on the blog HERE. Here’s the interview, which came right at the start of my show on May 22.
listen to ‘Woolwich Attack: Eyewitness James’ on Audioboo
Obviously I am delighted to be nominated, and one of the reasons is so I can acknowledge the work of my two brilliant producers Matt and Laura. Matt took the call from James on that afternoon in May 2012, calmed him down and then briefed me in about 30 seconds before I had to start the programme. Laura is leaving the LBC to return to her north east roots, but it was she who not only talked to James immediately after the interview, to ensure he was OK she phoned him back several times over the next twenty four hours and has remained in touch with him ever since. That’s called exercising a duty of care.
LBC has picked up 9 nominations, a record for the station. Call Clegg and Nick Ferrari deservedly got two each, with our senior reporter Tom Swarbrick being nominated for radio journalist of the year and also getting two nominations for his ‘Slavery on our Streets’ documentary. And we’re also nominated for Radio Station of the Year. And finally, I was delighted to see Newsbeat’s Declan Harvey getting a nomination two. He was at LBC for my first two years and is a star in the making.
Looking forward to the ceremony on May 12th!
