The team at Jazz FM are celebrating their most recent award win, at the internal BBC Radio Awards this week.
They won as part of a collaboration between Jazz FM and BBC Music taking home the Best Collaboration Award the first time a commercial radio station has been part of a winning entry.
BBC Music Jazz was a pop up digital radio station broadcast on both Jazz FM and the BBC during the EFG London Jazz Festival last November, capitalising on an existing BBC Radio 3 partnership with the festival. It featured programmes from BBC personalities Jamie Cullum, Claire Teal, and Alan Shipton, while Chris Philips and Helen Mayhew provided exclusive versions of Jazz FM’s content. Helen also co-presented the Top 50 Greatest Jazz Artists public vote programmes with BBC Radio 3’s Jeffrey Smith highlighting the collaborative approach on air.
Jazz FM’s launch concert from 1990 with Ella Fitzgerald was re-broadcast while “Neil and Dud – the Other Side of Dudley Moore” was aired to much praise and acclaim. This programme is also nominated at next week’s Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards.
Jazz FM’s Content Director Nick Pitts, who collected the award with BBC Music Editor James Stirling and BBC Music Jazz Executive Producer Lindsay Pell told RadioToday: “Jazz is all about collaboration – different skills working together in harmony. How apt that our collaboration with BBC Music has been honoured in such a way. It is fantastic that such a trail blazing project has been recognised. I’m really proud of this achievement.”
James Stirling, BBC Music Editor commented: “The audience reaction to BBC Music Jazz was fantastic and to have been recognised by our peers as well is truly gratifying. The Jazz FM collaboration was the first time the BBC had partnered with a commercial radio station and we wanted to do it both for jazz fans and those curious about the music. It seemed a natural fit to work with Jazz FM and luckily for us, they all felt the same!”
Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3: “At BBC Radio 3 our mantra is to bring remarkable music and culture to our audiences and we are always on the look out to work with the industry because at the end of the day we’re ‘all in it together’! BBC Music Jazz was a fantastic opportunity to curate content from our commercial radio friends at Jazz FM, other jazz content across the BBC and it capitalised on Radio 3’s existing jazz strands and partnership with Serious for the EFG London Jazz Festival. I’m delighted it’s been recognised as a model of good working by our colleagues and we continue to work together to this day!”
Notes to Editors:
In photograph: Mim Shaikh (1xtra/award presenter), Nick Pitts (Content Director, Jazz FM), Lindsay Pell (Executive Producer, BBC Music Jazz), James Stirling (Editor, BBC Music).
