Condemned digital radio station BBC 6Music has something to smile about at last as they picked up two awards at last night's Sony Radio Awards in London. The likewise-cursed Asian Network also managed to win an award. Hooray for all that.
The winning 6Music DJs were Jarvis Cocker, who took home the prize for Rising Star, and Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, who scooped the honours for Best Comedy Show, deservedly so, I'm sure you'll agree.
Buxton said:
"My children went to school and boasted about the fact that their dad was on Radio 1 and knew Chris Moyles. When the children found out that wasn't true and, in fact, the station that dad was on was closing, it was very disappointing."
Elsewhere at the Awards, Cocker launched an impassioned argument to save the doomed radio station, arguing that the void of its closure would not be sufficiently replaced by commercial radio.
He said:
"This award is vindication of the 6 Music way of working, giving presenters the freedom to share the music they love with their listeners. If 6 Music goes the commercial sector is not going to take up the slack. Advertisers do not want to reach alternative types who wear second-hand clothes and grow their own potatoes."
According to The Guardian Cocker said he'd spoken to the important BBC Trust on the issue:
"It will never have millions of listeners but the listeners it does have love the station with a passion and would be devastated if it closed."
A full list of winners can be found here.