Mzansi’s commercial radio station, Hot 102.7FM will be representing SA at the 2024 New York Festivals Radio Awards.
The station picked up three nominations this year in the popular awards.
“Hot 1027 Breakfast” was nominated in the category Morning Drive/Afternoon Programming: Best Music/Personality Show, and two of their features, “Padkos & Playdough” and “Beginner’s Guide to Online Dating”, produced by head of news Tara Penny, got the nod in the Best News/ Human Interest Feature category.
Lloyd Madurai, managing director at Hot 102.7 FM, said: “Since joining Hot 102.7FM two years ago, Tara has made a huge impact on how we deliver and package our news content, bringing a different dimension to our storytelling.
“These nominations are just reward for the many hours she and her team have put in, and the stories are an example of how Hot 102.7FM likes to take a different approach to producing great radio.”
Dubbed the “Oscars” of radio, the awards ceremony aims to showcase and celebrate world-class storytellers from around the globe.
Last year, the station bagged seven nominations and although they didn’t win, they made history by being honoured as finalists in four categories at the awards ceremony in Las Vegas, earning them “finalist” status.
The station is now classified alongside the ranks of global heavyweights such as the BBC, Al Jazeera, Sky (UK) and Virgin Radio (UK).
Past winners include the BBC, which bagged last year’s Broadcaster of the Year award, and HarperCollins Publishers UK, which earned the 2023 Radio Production Company of the Year Award for the second consecutive year.
This year, award-winning broadcasting pioneer, Donna de Varona, will be honoured with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award during the New York Festivals 2024 Storytellers Gala event, taking place virtually on April 16.
Madurai added: “This (nominations) is a pretty big deal and the reason it means so much is the fact that when we launched the HOT 102.7FM brand, our goal was always to ‘think big’ and measure ourselves against the world’s best and not just our competitors in the local market.
“These nominations are just proof that we’re on the right track.”