A Glasgow-based radio station has won a 2024 Audio and Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) for Community Station of the Year. RNIB Connect Radio was established by leading sight loss charity RNIB to provide news, information and entertainment to blind and partially sighted people across the UK.
The ARIAS are presented annually to recognise, honour and reward outstanding shows and the teams behind them. Over 1,000 entries were submitted and judged by over 200 senior audio and radio practitioners, drawn from all sectors of the industry. The ‘Community Station of the Year’ award celebrates stations that are clearly rooted in the local or interest community that they serve.
Yvonne and Allan with the award.
RNIB Connect Radio celebrated 20 years of broadcasting in 2023, having started as an internet radio station that would provide people with sight loss vital information that could help them live their best lives. And 20 years later, the station now reaches 90,000 listeners and its podcasts are downloaded more than 20,000 times each month. It has 12 presenters, all of whom have sight loss and broadcasts fresh content around the clock. RNIB Connect Radio provides an important service to a community which can be hard to reach, potentially isolated and is traditionally under-serviced with information and opportunities. The radio station also has responsibilities to its secondary audience of family, friends, employers and professionals who work in the sight loss sector and associated areas.
Yvonne Milne, Head of RNIB Connect Radio says: “We are so incredibly thrilled to have won a gold ARIAS award. RNIB Connect Radio aims to centre voices from the blind and partially sighted community as well as provide a wide range of information and programming for people with no or low vision and to be honoured with this award means so much to us at the station.
“My thanks to go to all our talented volunteers and staff who work so hard to create excellent content every single day as well as to judges and The Radio Academy for recognising RNIB Connect Radio is this way. We are beyond delighted!”
Yvonne and Allan.
Highlights amongst the station’s 20 years of broadcasting include interviewing Stevie Wonder about the importance of braille in his life, speaking to Sophie, The Duchess of Edinburgh about the work of the station and hearing from the many blind and partially sighted people who have spoken over the years about their challenges, lives and aspirations.
The ARIAS Awards ceremony took place Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London on 7th May and were hosted by Alice Levine & Romesh Ranganathan.
* RNIB Connect Radio can be heard on 101 FM in the Glasgow area, and elsewhere on Freeview 730 and online on the RNIB website.
