A SOUTHAMPTON radio station has taken to the highest ranks after winning two national awards during a virtual ceremony.
Radio Sonar, run by students at Solent University, came up top as Most Improved Station and Best Station Culture in the I Love Student Radio Awards.
The station was also highly commended for Student Radio Moment of the Year, for the time they hosted a chart show and tricked listeners into believing they were going live from Spain as part of a challenge.
And although the team can't celebrate together due to lockdown measures, they can look back at their 24-hour broadcast which involved two of its broadcasters raising £1,500 for charity Student Minds last year.
Radio Sonar team
Station manager Danny Humby, who is also a film and television student, said: "I think the wins come down to the hard work put in by the team throughout the year.
"We knew off the bat when we started that if we worked really hard, that we would potentially have a chance to do something we hadn't done as a station in a very long time - win an award for our work.
"We spent a lot of time over the summer holidays trying our hardest to improve every aspect of the studio and by the time all the freshers joined, our hard work had shone through and the team spirit really shot off like a rocket from there."
This year's awards were hosted online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Danny won an individual award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Student Radio.
Danny broadcasting live on Radio Sonar
Danny added: "The Most Improved Station and Best Station Culture awards are really really special to me as I know how hard we've worked at the station to improve and grow as a community.
"Just over a year ago at the last awards, we were really happy just to be shortlisted once. This year, we won three, got one highly commended and got shortlisted a bunch of other times. It is just so special and I couldn't be more grateful for the judges and my team to help us get to this point over the last year."
The I Love Student Radio Awards aims to celebrate the commitment and contributions by individuals to student radio stations.
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