The awards, now in their 18th year, are organised by RadioCentre, the industry body for commercial radio, and this year will also celebrate commercial radio’s 40th anniversary.

This year’s nominations are led by Bauer, who received at total of 16 nominations in 12 different categories. Global is close behind with 14 nominations while Absolute Radio receives eight and Real & Smooth have seven nominations. Alongside the major groups Orion and Town and Country Broadcasting, as well as smaller local operators like Isle of Wight Radio, 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire, Fun Kids and 103.1 Central FM are also in the running for awards.

Ben Hart, Head of Commercial Radio at Arqiva commented: “This year’s awards look set to be the best yet – we are proud to once again be associated with the awards and I’d like to wish all the nominees the best of luck this year.”

Christian O’Connell from Absolute Radio will host the awards ceremony on July 3rd. There’s 24 categories covering everything from on-air talent to the people behind the scenes responsible for bringing in the money. So head over to the Arqiva channel and listen to the nominees announcement in full!

There’s five categories – with awards for short and long programmes in each: Entertainment, Documentary, Drama, Factual/News and Experimental, and the judges are a prestigious bunch:

• Alex Feldman, Creative Director of Pixiu
  
• Michael Hill, MD of Radioplayer
• Dirk Maggs, writer & director (he adapted Hitchhikers Guide for Radio 4!)
• Steve Kyte, former Deputy Controller, BBC Five Live
• James Cridland, MD of Media UK and Radio Futurologist

There’s also going to be a Gold Award for the best overall entry. You can enter now and the closing date is July 15th. Find out more on the British Public Radio website.

Here’s an action shot from the recording:

You can expect a new programme every Friday, and excitingly, you too can get involved in a feature called Have I Got Boos For You – so if you’ve got something to say then you can record your thoughts in the HIGBFY channel.

The 2013 nominees for the Sony Radio Academy Awards have now been announced, and we’re delighted that so many users of our platform have been recognised by the judges. Some of the categories are particularly fruitful for Audioboo users:

For Breakfast Show Of The Year, in the 10 million plus listeners category Christian O’Connell from Absolute Radio, Chris Evans on Radio 2, KISS Radio Breakfast, and of course Radio 4′s Today Programme have all got the nod – and remarkably in the under 10 million listeners category, all five stations (BBC Berkshire, BBC Tees, Gem 106, Metro Radio and XFM Manchester) are currently regular users of Audioboo.

In Best Speech Programme, both the BBC Listening Project (which is also up for Best Use of Multiplatform – that’s us!) and the JVS Show on BBC Three Counties are both nominated. And Keys & Grey are up for Best Sports Programme.

Best News & Current Affairs Programme is also a big category for Audioboo users – BBC World Service Newshour, Nick Ferrari on LBC97.3 and The Nolan Show on BBC Ulster are all nominated.

And in Best Speech Broadcaster it sees Danny Baker, Eddie Mair and Victoria Derbyshire all pitted against each other – we’re just glad we don’t have to choose!

Across the other categories we also see tonnes of Audioboo users nominated: Geoff Lloyd, Newsbeat, Free Radio, Folded Wing, Radcliffe & Marconie, 6Music (in a number of categories!), Unique Productions, Real Radio Northwest and Jack FM.

Good luck to all competitors – we can’t wait to hear the results!

Today marks the start of the ambitious BBC Listening Project, which is being run in partnership with the British Library.

The BBC are asking people up and down the country to share an intimate conversation with a close friend or relative, to help to build a unique picture of our lives today. Some of these conversations will be broadcast across BBC radio and archived by the British Library, preserving them for future generations.

BBC radio producers have been gathering conversations from across the UK, covering everything from living with Alzheimer’s to falling in love in the front seat of a Reliant Robin. Now they’d like you to have, record and share your own conversations using Audioboo.

Here’s how the BBC describe it:

“Perhaps you know someone with a fantastic story that you’d love them to share with the world. There may be something that you’ve always wanted to discuss with someone close to you. Or maybe you’d just like to celebrate happy moments in your life, or reflect on memories of a dearly departed friend. What you talk about is completely up to you. This project is about creating space for you and a loved one to have the conversation you always meant to have.”

If you’d like to take part you can find out more information and submit your conversation on the BBC Listening Project Channel.

If you speak Chinese, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, or Turkish, we’d love to hear from you.

Drop Lance a line on lance@audioboo.com and he’ll tell you more.

This week Audioboo has helped launched an exciting news project – The Great British Innovation Vote: a quest to find the greatest British innovation of the last 100 years.

Professor Stephen Hawking, who is shortlisted for two innovations himself, explained his support for the vote in a Boo, “I am passionate about British innovations. They’ve kept me alive, enabled me to communicate and transported me around the world.”

The people behind it are the GREAT Britain campaign, the Science Museum Group, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, British Science Association, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Engineering UK – and the shortlist features around 100 British innovations, from the splitting of the atom to the invention of the World Wide Web and the discovery of the structure of DNA.

Members of the public will be asked to decide on the most important innovation in British science, engineering and technology from the last century (1913-2013). Voters will also get the chance to predict which of ten recent innovations they think will have the greatest impact in the next century.

You can listen online to Boos recorded by leading figures championing their favourite British innovation. Perhaps you agree with Stephen Fry that Alan Turing’s Universal Machine is our greatest innovation, or believe Sir Paul Nurse is correct in championing the discovery of Penicillin? Or are you convinced that Brian Eno is right to celebrate the World Wide Web?

Voting has already started at topbritishinnovations.org on 15 March and will continue throughout National Science and Engineering Week, with the winning innovation to be announced on 25th March.

All-new user interface

We’ve completely revamped the user experience in the app – we hope it will be simple to use, but with easy access to some of our more advanced features.

Download and keep your favourite clips to listen offline

If you’re about the jump on a train or a bus, why not download some Boos to listen to on your phone – so that if you go through a tunnel you’ll be able to carry on listening? This also means that you can download Boos on your WiFi at home, and not use up mobile phone data when out and about.

Explore Channels and Categories

We know we’ve got lots of great stuff to listen to on Audioboo – so we’ve made it even easier to find something that takes your fancy, by enabling you to browse our channels and audio categories more easily. Want the latest from Westminster or Washington? Check out the “news” category. Want something a bit lighter? Then why not have a look at “funny” instead?

Create and curate your own lists of clips with Boo Boards

It’s been a few months now since we introduced Boo Boards – which we’ve now brought to our Android app. Add your Boos and the Boos of others to Boards so you can keep everything nice and organised – and then share them with others.

New search options

We’ve improved search in the app, so hopefully you’ll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for!

The app is only in beta at the moment so there may be some tinkering around the edges needed, so we’d love to hear your feedback.

So go download the app, and do let us know what you think!

Trevor, former head of BBC Music Entertainment, now runs his own independent production company. He founded and hosted the Radio Academy’s RadioTalk podcast as part of his role as chief executive.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the mic and talking radio. There are always lots of issues to debate in our industry and I hope the podcast will become an essential part of everyone’s week,” Trevor says.

The Radio Today Programme will feature topical discussions and interviews, ranging from one-on-one to round-table topics. Up-to-date radio news and gossip will also feature with RadioToday’s managing editor Roy Martin.

In the first edition, Trevor speaks to BBC Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan and Roy finds out what Celador’s plan is for their new purchase, Total Star Cheltenham.

You can listen to the show on the Radio Today Audioboo Channel.

As you may know, February on Audioboo is FeBOOary! We’re encouraging our users to Boo every day on different topics Freedom Day USA

Starting from Day 8

8: Nirvana Day.  How do you find Inner Peace?

9: 1969 saw the first test flight of the Boeing 747. Do you travel further than your parents did?

10: Chinese New Year.   What animal are you?

11: Inventors Day, What do you think is the best invention?

12: Darwin Day.  Do you believe in evolution?

13: World Radio Day. Have you ever been on the Radio?

14: St Valentines: Do you celebrate or are you a cynic?

15: It’s the creator of the Simpsons Matt Groening, Birthday. What do you think of modern cartoons?

16: It’s John Mac Enroe Birthday famously known for his tantrums on court. Do you know someone who needs anger management?

17:Arab Spring: A lot of news is spread by using social media. Do you think Social Media can change the world? 

18: Space Shuttle Enterprise: Would you like to go into space when Richard Brandson starts commercial flights?

19: Author of Bridget Jones Diary Helen Fielding’s birthday, What is your greatest dating disaster?

20: World Day of Social Justice: Are humans rights being eroded?

21: Watergate Scandal: The scandal was broken by the Journalists from the Washington Post. Do you think in this day and age Journalist are given the respect they deserve?

 22: Boy scout day. Were you a part of any organisation as child?

23: John Keats, English poet died. What is your favourite poem?

24: Steve Jobs born. Have Apple products changed your life?

25: Comedian Lee Evans was born. Who do you think is a really funny person? 

26: Victor Hugo, French writer of Les Miserables. Have you seen the film or show. Do you prefer the book or the film?

27: The British Labour Party is founded. Are you a political person or does it all go over your head?

28: How was your febooary and what are your plans for March?