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    <title>The Radio 4 Blog Feed</title>
    <description>Behind the scenes at Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra from producers, presenters and programme makers.</description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2011 15:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
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      <title>Radio 4 at the Sony Awards</title>
      <description><![CDATA[It was the Sony Radio Academy Awards last night ("the radio industry's equivalent of the Oscars"). Here's where you can hear this year's gold winners from Radio 4 which were cunningly rescheduled into some of the station's repeat slots when the nominees were announced. 

 The winner of the best ...]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2011 15:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/entries/fcc1acf2-4968-3539-ba2d-1b4f78637d2a</link>
      <guid>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/entries/fcc1acf2-4968-3539-ba2d-1b4f78637d2a</guid>
      <author>Paul Murphy</author>
      <dc:creator>Paul Murphy</dc:creator>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="component">
    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p02601nr.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p02601nr.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p02601nr.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p02601nr.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p02601nr.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p02601nr.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p02601nr.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p02601nr.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p02601nr.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""></div>
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    <p>It was the <a href="http://www.radioawards.org/">Sony Radio Academy Awards</a> last night ("<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/09/sony-radio-awards-ronnie-wood">the radio industry's equivalent of the Oscars</a>"). Here's where you can hear this year's gold winners from Radio 4 which were cunningly rescheduled into some of the station's repeat slots when the nominees were announced.</p>

<p>The winner of the best speech programme award was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w">Infinite Monkey Cage</a> which we've featured on the blog before. The new series starts on BBC Radio 4, Monday May 30th at 4.30pm (repeated on Tuesday evenings at 11pm) for 6 weeks. In the meantime you can listen to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/timc">some earlier episodes via the Radio 4 podcast page</a>.</p>

<p>Matthew Price won news journalist of the year for his work for Radio 4. You can listen to one of his recent reports <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9471000/9471631.stm">on the Syrian protests</a>.</p>

<p>The winner of the best feature was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0112982">Heel, Toe, Step Together</a> made by <a href="http://www.fallingtree.co.uk/about">Falling Tree</a>. Heel, Toe, Step Together (pictured above, Bob Hill) "tells the story of two people who met at an East London market one day and the unlikely friendship that blossomed through dance" and you can listen to it again at 13.30 this Sunday, the 15th May on Radio 4 and for seven days after that on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio">iPlayer</a>.</p>

<p>For the judges the winner of best drama <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v73zm">Every Child Matters</a> is a story that "drew them in whilst portraying the reality of the contradictions, conflicts and complexities facing the professional staff working in child protection". You can hear Every Child Matters this Thursday at 14.15 and for seven days after that on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio">iPlayer</a>.</p>

<p>Jenni Murray won the gold award, a '<a href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/index.cfm?winners_award_group_id=6&amp;winners_award_category_id=1001">special award that lies within the gift of the Committee</a>'. This is what <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/09/sony-radio-awards-ronnie-wood">the Guardian</a> said:</p>

<blockquote>'On a night when female winners were thin on the ground, Radio 4's Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray received the prestigious gold award. The judges said it rewarded a "career of exemplary broadcasting, for her incisive yet sensitive interviewing skills, her championship of the woman's perspective and the inspiration she has given to others".'</blockquote>

<p>On <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01115hc">this Thursday's Woman's Hour</a> Jenni Murray talks to Kate McCann about the ongoing search for her daughter.</p>

<p><em>Paul Murphy is the acting editor of the Radio 4 blog</em></p>

<ul>
<li>Follow <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/bbcradio4">Radio 4 on Twitter</a> or see a full list of <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/BBC/radio4">Radio 4 accounts on Twitter</a>
</li>
	<li>Join the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/BBCRadio4">Radio 4 page on Facebook</a>
</li>
<li>On the 5live blog you can <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/2011/05/some-of-our-sony-winning-entri.shtml">listen to some of 5live's winning submissions</a> and read <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/2011/05/6-sony-gold-awards-for-5-live.shtml">7 Sony Gold Awards for 5 live</a>
</li>

</ul>
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      <title>Six Sony Golds for Radio 4</title>
      <description><![CDATA[We had a good night at the Sonys - six Golds, four Silvers and five Bronzes (here's the full list).  Winning a Sony Gold can often be a career highlight and (no names) there were some awards last night, not just Radio 4 ones, that left a very big glow.  The margins on these occasions are rather ...]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 11 May 2010 07:38:31 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/entries/9e9d4667-d333-3bd2-bb11-5091a70e2b3a</link>
      <guid>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/entries/9e9d4667-d333-3bd2-bb11-5091a70e2b3a</guid>
      <author>Mark Damazer</author>
      <dc:creator>Mark Damazer</dc:creator>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="component">
    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p02645mx.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p02645mx.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p02645mx.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p02645mx.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p02645mx.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p02645mx.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p02645mx.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p02645mx.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p02645mx.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""></div>
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    <p>We had a good night at the Sonys - six Golds, four Silvers and five Bronzes (here's <a href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2010">the full list</a>).</p><p>Winning a Sony Gold can often be a career highlight and (no names) there were some awards last night, not just Radio 4 ones, that left a very big glow.</p><p>The margins on these occasions are rather fine. It is not obvious in most categories who is going to win. I sit at the table and try and pick the winner just before the roll call of honour is unveiled - and I don't get it right all the time. Far, far from it. Every now and then I am amazed by proceedings - sometimes pleasurably so - sometimes less so. But that is all part of the fun of the fair and I can say that I have judged the Sonys on several occasions and the judges take their work seriously. And the central Sony committee is impeccably chaired by Tim Blackmore.</p><p>It is the overall standard of Radio 4 that helps define the station. Everyone is spurred on by the demands of the audience and the standards the programme makers set for one another.</p><p>The Sonys take place at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane. There is no phone or Blackberry reception so I spent the evening in a febrile state (though repressed) trying to see where the politics of the nation was heading. The News teams broadly did not seem to be disappearing up and down stairs - so I assumed either that they too were blind to the outside world or that nobody has gone to the Palace. A correct assumption.</p><p>So - back on the election front - there will probably need to be more schedule changes to accommodate the drama. But keep with it - the coverage is good.</p><p><em>Mark Damazer is Controller of BBC Radio 4</em></p><ul>
<li>The Sony Radio Academy Awards first took place in 1983 and are administered by trade body <a href="http://www.radioacademy.org/">The Radio Academy</a>. The full list of winners is <a href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2010">on the web site</a> and you can <a href="http://events.ctn.co.uk/ec/sonyradioawards/812">watch the awards ceremony</a> (hosted by Chris Evans) too.</li>
<li>Radio 4's gold awards include 'best interview' for Jenni Murray's interview with dismissed Haringey director of social services Sharon Shoesmith. Listen to the interview <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/2009/02/weekend_womans_hour.html">here on the blog</a>.</li>
</ul>
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      <title>The Sony Awards</title>
      <description><![CDATA[The Sonys on Monday - Radio's big awards night of the year - is a largely enjoyable ritual. The evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London's Park Lane is long - but there is more goodwill around than in many of these sort of occasions. And it is the only time the industry can see itself in t...]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2009 11:28:52 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/entries/6d898c08-e6c3-3343-850f-05a11f603cca</link>
      <guid>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/entries/6d898c08-e6c3-3343-850f-05a11f603cca</guid>
      <author>Mark Damazer</author>
      <dc:creator>Mark Damazer</dc:creator>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="component">
    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p02645mx.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p02645mx.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p02645mx.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p02645mx.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p02645mx.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p02645mx.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p02645mx.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p02645mx.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p02645mx.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""></div>
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    <p>The <a href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2009">Sonys</a> on Monday - Radio's big awards night of the year - is a largely enjoyable ritual. The evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London's Park Lane is long - but there is more goodwill around than in many of these sort of occasions. And it is the only time the industry can see itself in the round - or a semblance of the round.</p><p>Thus those assembled in the cavernous ballroom come from the BBC and Commercial Radio, from big stations and small stations and from those who are in music radio and those who focus on speech. In recent years alcohol consumption has fallen and the acceptance speeches have been shorn of most of their baroque ornamentation.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio">Radio 4</a> did fine - even if the predominant hue was silver rather than gold. The tally was 3 Gold awards, 10 Silver and 2 Bronzes. In some other years we have won more Golds and fewer Silvers - but it's still a decent haul and down to the skill of the programme-makers - both from within the BBC and the independent radio companies that provide us with many excellent programmes. Here are the details:</p>
<p><strong>Radio 4's winners</strong></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Drama Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=157&amp;awname=The+Drama+Award&amp;year=2009">The Drama Award</a>.<br>
Gold</strong>: <a title="The Afternoon Play, Mr Larkin's Awkward Day, BBC Radio 4, 29 April 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b1czp">Mr Larkin's Awkward Day</a><br><strong>Silver</strong>: <a title="Woman's Hour Drama, The Color Purple, BBC Radio 4, October 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dr8bz">The Color Purple</a><br><strong>Bronze</strong>: <a title="Afternoon Play, Goldfish Girl, BBC Radio 4, 2 April 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009mtcf">Goldfish Girl</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Interview Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=169&amp;awname=The+Interview+Award&amp;year=2009">The Interview Award</a><br>
Gold</strong>: <a title="Taking a Stand, Lana Vandenberghe, BBC Radio 4, 23 December 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3336">Fergal Keane interviews Lana Vandenberghe</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The News and Current Affairs Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=160&amp;awname=The+News+%26+Current+Affairs+Award&amp;year=2009">The News and Current Affairs Award</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="Today, BBC Radio 4" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj9z">Today</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The News Special Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=161&amp;awname=The+News+Special+Award&amp;year=2009">The News Special Award</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="Poetry from the Front Line, BBC Radio 4, 16 November 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ffwlq">Poetry From The Front Line</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The News Journalist of the Year Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=162&amp;awname=The+News+Journalist+of+the+Year&amp;year=2009">The News Journalist of the Year</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="Radio 4 programmes categorised 'Mike Thomson'" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/people/VGVmL25hbWUvdGhvbXNvbiwgbWlrZSAoam91cm5hbGlzdCk">Mike Thomson</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, Speech Radio Personality of the Year 2009" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/people/VGVmL25hbWUvdGhvbXNvbiwgbWlrZSAoam91cm5hbGlzdCk">Speech Radio Personality of the Year</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="Eddie Mair's biography on the BBC Radio 4 web site" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/presenters/eddie_mair.shtml">Eddie Mair</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, Speech Radio Broadcaster of the Year 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=164&amp;awname=The+Speech+Broadcaster+of+the+Year&amp;year=2009">The Speech Broadcaster of the Year</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="Evan Davis' BBC Press Office profile" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/news/evandavis.shtml">Evan Davis</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Comedy Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=167&amp;awname=The+Comedy+Award&amp;year=2009">The Comedy Award</a><br>
Gold</strong>: <a title="Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! BBC Radio 4" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006rbrr">Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show!</a><br><strong>Bronze</strong>: <a title="The Now Show, BBC Radio 4" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qgt7">The Now Show</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Feature Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=168&amp;awname=The+Feature+Award&amp;year=2009">The Feature Award</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="Anatomy of a Car Crash, BBC Radio 4, 30 October 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f4ryn">Anatomy Of a Car Crash</a><br><strong>Bronze</strong>: <a title="Leonard and Marianne, BBC Radio 4, 2 August 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00csph9">Leonard and Marianne</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Breaking News Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=170&amp;awname=The+Breaking+News+Award&amp;year=2009">The Breaking News Award</a><br>
Silver</strong>: Attacks in Mumbai</p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Themed Programming Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=173&amp;awname=The+Themed+Programming+Award&amp;year=2009">The Themed Programming Award</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="1968 - Myth or Reality, BBC Radio 4, 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/1968/">1968 - Myth or Reality?</a></p>
<p><strong><a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Multiplatform Radio Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=178&amp;awname=The+Multiplatform+Radio+Award&amp;year=2009">The Multiplatform Radio Award</a><br>
Silver</strong>: <a title="World on the Move - Great Animal Migrations, BBC Radio 4" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/">World On The Move</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3">Radio 3</a> - happily - won the <a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Station of the Year Award" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=183&amp;awname=UK+Station+of+the+Year&amp;year=2009">Station of the Year Award</a> - for the first time. Here is the list of all the awards made on the night.</p> 
<p>Of course every year there are some programmes - whether big programme strands or individual documentaries - you particularly wish had won the top bauble... but restraint is called for. It would not be right to single out in public any single programme.</p> 
<p>The Radio 4 winners were all top notch. <a title="Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! BBC Radio 4" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006rbrr">Count Arthur Strong</a>, winner of <a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Comedy Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=167&amp;awname=The+Comedy+Award&amp;year=2009">the comedy award</a>, is a very strong flavour - one very much to my taste. We know that there is a section of the audience that doesn't get it - but we also know that another section of the audience loves it with feeling. Steve Delaney - the comic genius behind the programme - picked up the award as himself. I had wondered whether he might make his acceptanace speech in character. There will be another series. Catch it.</p>
<p>The <a title="Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009, The Drama Award 2009" href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=157&amp;awname=The+Drama+Award&amp;year=2009">Drama award</a> was won by <a title="The Afternoon Play, Mr Larkin's Awkward Day, BBC Radio 4, 29 April 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b1czp">Mr Larkin's Awkward Day</a> - written by Chris Harrald. It provides a delicious insight into Philip Larkin's character - and has a tremendous sense of period. We will repeat it.</p>
<p>And Fergal Keane's <a title="Taking a Stand, Lana Vandenberghe, BBC Radio 4, 23 December 2008" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3336">interview with Lana Vandenberghe</a> (from the programme strand '<a title="Taking a Stand, BBC Radio 4" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qvbj">Taking a Stand</a>') - who when working at the Independent Police Complaints Commission in London leaked documents about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. Fergal pressed her hard - but with careful politeness. A terrific piece. <strong>Listen to the programme <a title="Click to listen to Fergal Keane's Sony Award-winning Taking a Stand" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3336">here</a></strong>.</p><ul>
<li>The <a href="http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2009">Sony Radio Academy Awards</a> and the <a href="http://www.radioacademy.org/">Radio Academy</a>.</li>
<li>The Guardian's Media Monkey <a title="Monkey goes to... the Sony awards, The Guardian, 12 May 2009" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog/2009/may/12/sony-awards-media-monkey-chris-evans">went to the awards</a>.</li>
<li>The Telegraph's Anita Singh <a title="Radio 3 named Station of the Year, Daily Telegraph, 11 May 2009" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5308344/Radio-3-named-Station-of-the-Year.html">on the awards</a>.</li>
<li>Steve Delaney <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2004/aug/11/theatre.edinburghfestival20045">interviews Count Arthur Strong</a> in The Guardian in 2004.</li>
<li>Fergal Keane wrote <a title="Menezes: The woman who leaked the story, BBC News Online, 22 December 2008" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7795289.stm">a piece for the BBC News web site</a> about Lana Vandenberghe.</li>

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