Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce, Steve Wright and Johnnie Walker — with an average age of 57 — beat a revived Radio 1 to the supreme honour at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.

It is the third time in five years that Radio 2 has prevailed. The station has 13.33 million listeners and a record 16.5 per cent share of Britain’s radio audience.

Commercial rivals are forming an alliance to combat what they regard as unfair competition from BBC Radio. They argue that Radio 2 has changed its music policy, dumping crooners for Coldplay.

Radio 2 has soared under Lesley Douglas, the controller, whose task is to reduce the average age of the listener from 51 without alienating its loyal audience.

She has retained the older daytime DJs but transformed evenings with a mix of punk documentaries, reggae specials and live concerts, with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant the latest to perform this Saturday.

Jeremy Vine, Radio 2’s replacement for Jimmy Young, was named Speech Broadcaster of the Year. Steve Wright, one of several fugitives from Radio 1, took the prestigious Gold Award.

A Radio 1 tribute to John Peel, the venerated talent picker who died last year, won Best Music Feature. Jarvis Cocker, the Pulp singer who was helped in his career by Peel, narrated the programme and accepted the prize.

AIRWAVE WINNERS

Gold Award winner
Steve Wright

UK Station of the Year
BBC Radio 2

Breakfast Show of the Year
Christian O’Connell’s Breakfast Show — Xfm News

Programme of Year
Vote Friction — BBC Radio 1

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