Surely Xfm will have something to celebrate on 9 May when the UK radio industry gather at London's Grosvenor House Hotel for its annual back slapping bash, the Sony Awards. Assuming I can count, the station's breakfast show host Christian O'Connell is up for no less that three awards in the nominations list released yesterday - Breakfast Show Of The Year, The Entertainment Award and DJ Of The Year. Xfm itself is up for one of the Station Of The Year gongs, so well done them.
Of course bosses at Xfm's parent company, the Capital Radio Group, will probably have their fingers crossed for Christian in the latter two of those categories, surely preferring for Capital FM's flagship presenter Johnny Vaughan to take the Breakfast Show Of The Year award. Doing so would round off Vaughan's first year in the job nicely, further demonstrating Capital were right to ignore early criticism and stick with the former Big Breakfast man on their main morning programme.
The usual mix of BBC and commercial stations appear on the shortlist which is included at the bottom of today's Daily, though predictably the Beeb dominate once you move out of the music radio domain. A smattering of independent producers also get nominations, most prominently Somethin Else who surely deserve credit for getting nominated for their show The Selector which was broadcast on French Connection's in store radio station FCUK FM (albeit an in store station that was also webcast).
Commenting on the short list Tim Blackmore, chairman of the Sony Radio Academy Awards committee, told reporters: "UK Radio is going through one of its most exciting phases, as new stations and new broadcasters embrace the digital age. It's a real joy to see how these awards consistently manage to reflect the full breadth and depth of one of the world's most vibrant radio markets."
See you back here on 10 May to bitch about the predictable choices and shameful omissions from the final winners list.