URN NAMED BEST STUDENT RADIO STATION… AGAIN

For a stunning fourth consecutive year, URN has been named the Best Station at the Student Radio Awards.


The announcement was made last week at the prestigious Student Radio Awards in London, which is supported by Global Radio and BBC Radio 1 and was hosted by Dave Berry and Greg James.

The winning station celebrates

URN faced competition from a number of universities, including old rivals Trent, and managed to win the Gold award ahead of Bournemouth and Cardiff, who came second and third respectively.

Notts also enjoyed great success on an individual level, with Head of Daytime Programming Giles Gear winning the Best Entertainment award.

Speaking to The Tab, Giles said that it was “an honour to be recognised for just doing something I love day-in, day-out, whether it’s prank calling ‘exotic massages’, getting chased by Dementors on the Downs or just having a laugh on air and kickstarting people’s mornings.”

Giles Gear, winner of Best Entertainment

With the competition incredibly tight, Giles believes that it was these slightly more alternative aspects of his show which helped him stand out: “I’d like to think that it was perhaps the slightly quirkier games and pre-recorded items that enabled me to be seen as slightly ‘different’!

“I take just as much pride in creative writing and comedy as radio, which I tried to include as much as possible in my entry, for example a film spoof dedicated to my own mother after I may have completely forgotten Mother’s Day… (she still hasn’t forgiven me!)”

All the winners at the SRAs are expected to do a speech, which Giles said “was not such an easy thing in front of hundreds of people and such famous faces as Greg James and Scott Mills!

“I was completely overwhelmed and have relied on video evidence to even remember what I said, but most importantly, I managed to congratulate all the other nominees on their amazing achievement and I (hopefully) expressed the immense gratitude that I have towards everyone who’s guided me at URN.

“It’s such a great bunch of people – we’re more of a family than a society – and I am indebted to everyone, past and present, who have shown me the way and allowed me to grow!”

Station of the year… again

With regard to the future, Giles is aware that getting anywhere in the industry doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work, but said that the SRAs are “a great platform into a career.”

“Whether it’s making tea for Greg James or continuing to take degrees at UoN for the rest of my life, radio is where my heart lies and I just hope this translates into employment.”

You can listen to the award-winning The Morning Show with Giles Gear every Friday from 10-12 on URN1350.net