Beat 102-103 has received four nominations for the prestigious 2017 IMRO Radio Awards.
The awards, which are regarded as the Oscars of the radio industry in Ireland, will take place on October 6th at Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny. The Awards are a much sought after accolade and the highlight event in the radio industry calendar.
Beat has been shortlisted in the On Air Competition/Promotion category for the station's innovative Halloween promotion, The Coffin Lock-In, which took place in City Square in Waterford last October.
Darren Rice has been shortlisted in the Specialist Music Broadcaster of the Year category for his work on The Saturday Selection on Beat. Darren has consistently been nominated in this category over the past ten years.
Darren will face competition from Irishbeats presenter Rob O'Connor in the same category. Rob has been a champion of Irish music in the South East for over a decade.
The station will also be in the running for the Sports Story Award. Beat produces four sports documentaries annually under the "What's the Score?" title and a series on women in sport produced by Ciarán O'Regan got the nod from PPI judges this year.
Beat will also be in contention for Music Station of the Year, the results of which will be announced on the night of the awards in Kilkenny.
Beat C.E.O. and Programme Director Gabrielle Cummins said "Having been involved in the judging process for a number of years, I'm fully aware that the standard of entries is ridiculously high. The IMRO Awards judging process takes no account of station size or resources - it's solely based on the quality of the audio entry. So, it's really impressive for Beat to receive four shortlists for these prestigious awards."
This year, 90 Judges deliberated over the record number of 677 entries for the IMRO Radio Awards. Having listened to almost 295 hours of the best of radio from both sides of the border, the 2017 Radio Awards have been the most hotly contested in their 17 years of existence. National, local and DAB broadcasters, producers and station staff have worked tirelessly to present the best of their work as an entry to this year’s awards.
Speaking about the judging process and quality of the entries, Awards Committee Chairperson Sean Murtagh said “The record number of entries is an indicator of the continuing level of support the radio industry has for the Awards. The judges, who are all drawn from the Irish radio industry, all commented on the quality of entries this year which made for a difficult decision process.”
