Just like that, the IMRO Radio Awards 2024 are done and dusted.
Another packed night at Kilkenny’s Lyrath Estate Hotel in the bag, another 40-odd happy winners, a return to hosting duties for Dermot Whelan who elected to trade a night of repairing broken shakras for hanging out with maniacs and masochists. His words, though I might be paraphrasing slightly.
With the best of Irish radio celebrated, from newcomers to Hall of Fame inductees, the annual pilgrimage to the five-star surrounds of Lyrath serves as much about recognising the talent, quality and depth of content and personnel in the commercial radio sector in Ireland as it does a much-needed knees up for an industry often stretched paper-thin.
While you can find the original list of 2024 nominees here, the winners are listed in full below.
A: Music Programming Awards
- A1: General Music Programme: Ray Foley on Today FM (Today FM)
- A2: Specialist Music Programme: The Tom Dunne Show (Newstalk)
- A3: Breakfast Programme: Morning Glory with PJ Gallagher and Jim McCabe (Radio Nova)
- A4: Music Special / Music Event: Chuck Berry, In A Field, In Ballisodare
- A5: IMRO Irish Music Programme or Initiative: All Irish with Claire Beck (Today FM)
B: News & Sports Programming Awards
- B1: News Story / News Event: Dublin Riots (Newstalk)
- B2: News Programme – Full Service: Newstalk’s Dublin Riots Special
- B3: News Programme – Local/Regional: FYI Galway – Blockades, Bottles and Birthdays (Galway Bay FM)
- B4: Current Affairs Programme – Full Service: The Hard Shoulder (Newstalk)
- B5: Current Affairs Programme – Local/Regional: The Michael Reade Show (LMFM)
- B6: Sports Story: Doubters to Believers – Jurgen, Liverpool and The Irish Reds
- B7: Sports Programme – Full Service: Off The Ball (Newstalk)
- B8: Sports Programme – Local/Regional: Radio Kerry Weekend Sport (Radio Kerry)
C: Speech Programming Awards
- C1: Documentary: Leesa: Last One On The Train (RTÉ Radio 1)
- C2: Music, Arts & Culture Documentary: Are You Blind Or What? (Midlands 103)
- C3: Short Feature: Henry McKean Reports (Newstalk)
- C4: Magazine Programme: Saturday with John Toal – Christmas at John’s (BBC Radio Ulster)
- C5: Drama: Drama on One – Helen Wheels by Fionn Foley (RTÉ Radio 1)
- C6: Specialist Speech Programme: Feather and Flock (Lyric Feature) (RTÉ Lyric FM)
- C7: Craoltóireacht le Gaeilge: Cosán na mBan (RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta)
- C8: Interactive Speech Programme: Liveline (RTÉ Radio 1)
- C9: Sustainability: Waterford In Action – A Climate Discussion (WLR FM)
D: General Awards
- D1: Community/Social Action: Cork’s 96FM Giving For Living Radiothon (Cork’s 96FM)
- D2: On-air Competition/Promotion: The Grand Tour (iRadio)
- D3: Station Imaging: Today FM
- D4: Entertainment Insert: Gift Grub on The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show (Today FM)
- D5: Digital & Social Innovation: FM104’s Quid Games with Graham and Nathan (FM104)
- D6: Radio Station Podcast of the Year: Runaway Joe (RTÉ Radio 1)
E: People Awards
- E1: Music & Entertainment Presenter of the Year: KC (Cork’s Red FM)
- E2: Radio DJ of the Year: Simon Murdoch (Cork’s 96FM)
- E3: Specialist Music Broadcaster of the Year: Kieran McGuinness (Radio Nova)
- E4: News Broadcaster of the Year: Chris Buckler (BBC Radio Ulster)
- E5: News Reporter of the Year: Barry Lenihan (RTÉ Radio 1)
- E6: Sports Broadcaster of the Year – Full Service: Nathan Murphy (Newstalk)
- E7: Sports Broadcaster of the Year – Local/Regional: Austin O’Callaghan (Ocean FM)
- E8: Speech Broadcaster of the Year – Full Service: William Crawley (BBC Radio Ulster)
- E9: Speech Broadcaster of the Year – Local/Regional: Neil Prendeville (Cork’s Red FM)
- E10: The Gay Byrne Award – Newcomer of the Year: Zeinab Elguzouli (FM104)
F: Station of the Year Awards
- F1: Radio Moment of the Year: Who Cares For The Carers? (Newstalk)
- F2: Local Station of the Year: WLR FM
- F3: Music Station of the Year: Cork’s RedFM
- F4: National Station of the Year: Newstalk
The first award of the night was the Outstanding Achievement Award, that one going to Beat for their Digital Media Literacy Tour for secondary schools. The initiative saw 41 bilingual digital media literacy information sessions, on site, at 20 different secondary schools across the South East.
The four inductees to the IMRO Radio Awards Hall of Fame also collected their awards – those being Eddie Caffrey (LMFM), Ray D’Arcy (RTÉ), Carol Dooley (Sunshine 106.8 / KCLR), Hugo Duncan (BBC Radio Ulster / BBC Radio Foyle).
For more on the awards, and audio from the winners, see imroradioawards.ie.