Awards Success For Radio Ulster

Northern Ireland's most listened to radio station is celebrating winning four awards at this year's Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI) Radio Awards.

Radio Ulster won four awards at the ceremony which took place at Lyrath Estate Hotel, Kilkenny on Friday night.

The Nolan Show picked up a Gold Award for the Current Affairs Programme of the Year.

Host, Stephen Nolan, said: "This is a great honour. It's been an amazing year for stories and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my teams who work so hard behind the scenes to get some incredible content on air.

"And, of course, I want to say a special thanks to all the people who call in to the programmes and who continue to listen. Without them, we wouldn't be here."

The station also won three other awards, the comedy series Great Unanswered Questions picked up a Bronze Award in the Specialist Speech category; the music documentary Rathlin's Black History, in which the Irish musical family, including Frances and Mary Black, talk about their relationship with Rathlin Island, won a Silver Award in the Music Special category and Irish language programme Blas also won a Silver Award in the Craoltóireacht le Gaelige category.

Fergus Keeling, Head of Radio, BBC Northern Ireland, said: "We're delighted with our success at the PPI Radio Awards and it's always wonderful to be recognised by our peers in such a way. I think the categories in which we were recognised this year show the strength, diversity and uniqueness of our schedule and this success is testament to the thought, commitment and dedication which go into making our programmes."

This is the fifth year that Northern Ireland radio stations were eligible to enter the PPI Radio Awards in its 11 year history.

(BMcN/BMcC)