Last night, New Zealand’s radio talent stepped out from behind the microphones for the 2019 NZ Radio Awards. The big winners on the night were ZM, judged the Station of the Year – Network, and Mike Hosking, of Newstalk ZB, who once again took home the Best Talk Presenter – Breakfast or Drive.
The two wins contributed to a successful show for NZME, which also celebrated Marcus Lush being named Best Talk Presenter (Other), with Lush’s producer Helen McCarthy named Best Talk Show Producer.
Newstalk ZB’s news team also won several awards – Barry Soper (Best Journalist), Raylene Ramsay (Best Newsreader) and its news team (Best Team Coverage) for its handling of the Jami-Lee Ross story.
ZM also added to its collection with Fletch, Vaughan and Megan’s Final Conversion taking home ‘The Blackie Award’.
Two of the biggest names in radio were also recognised, NewstalkZB’s former Drive host Larry Williams – Services to Broadcasting and new ZB Afternoon host Simon Barnett – Outstanding Contribution to Radio.
NZME CEO Michael Boggs says he’s very proud of the winners and finalists who were recognised last night.
“Our amazing radio teams are a huge part of our business. They are industry leaders in the content they create for their listeners and the audiences they deliver for our advertisers. With the combined strength of our radio audiences, massive readership numbers we deliver through print and our growing digital audiences, NZME has much to celebrate.”
Meanwhile, MediaWorks also had plenty to celebrate with More FM taking out More FM Manawatu named Station of the Year – Surveyed Market.
Taking home a number of awards was The Edge, whose haul included Best Digital and Social Content, Best Community Campaign and Best Video, while its content director Ryan Bathbone was named Best Content Director.
Dominic Harvey, of The Edge, was given The Special Recognition Award.
Also celebrating was Radio New Zealand, which took home a number of awards for RNZ National including Best News Story – Team Coverage for Checkpoint – Dodgy EQC Repairs, Best Documentary or Factual Talk Feature for Insight – Imprisoned by Meth, and Best Podcast for Gone Fishing with Stuff.
RNZ journalist Logan Church also won Best New Broadcaster – Journalist.
With the awards now wrapped up, eyes will now be on the next round of the GfK Radio Survey released next week.
All winners can be seen here.
