RTÉ Radio Wins Five Awards at the 7th Annual PPI Radio Awards.

RTÉ Radio took home a total of five awards at tonight's annual Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI) Radio Awards 2007. The award for Best Current Affairs Programme went to Today with Pat Kenny, while the award for Best Sports Coverage went to RTÉ Radio 1's coverage of The Ryder Cup. The award for Best Specialist Speech Programme went to Mind Matters, also on RTÉ Radio 1, while the award for Best News Broadcaster of the Year went to Philip Boucher Hayes of RTÉ Radio 1, with Best Sports Broadcaster of the Year going to Des Cahill, also RTÉ Radio 1.

RTÉ Radio received a total of 25 nominations for the 2007 PPI Awards; 18 nominations for RTÉ Radio 1, five nominations for RTÉ 2fm and two nominations for RTÉ lyric fm.  This is the seventh year of the awards, established by the PPI and the BCI (Broadcasting Commission of Ireland) to celebrate the art and skill of radio production and programming.

B3: Current Affairs programme - Today with Pat Kenny (RTÉ Radio 1)

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Immigration is one of the burning issues in our country today and in the Today with Pat Kenny programme 'Trading Faces: A Tale of Two Inner Cities' award-winning producers Marian Richardson and Rachel Graham took Pat Kenny on a walk down to that bastion of Old Dublin, Moore Street and to the north inner city to explore the issues of integration, racism and the implications of immigration on our new multi-cultural society. The programme examines what immigration means for Ireland and for the people who have come here, among them Romanians, Iranians, Chinese and Nigerian. They talk about their experiences and about issues which affect their particular ethnic groups.

B4: Sports Coverage - The Ryder Cup (RTÉ Radio 1)

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A week after European captain Ian Woosnam announced his wild cards for the European Ryder Cup team RTÉ Radio 1 confirmed its line-up for this major golfing event. Among the team committed to working on the coverage were European Tour professionals Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy and Stephen Browne. RTÉ Radio was the only Irish station with inside-the-ropes access at the K Club and the professionals joined popular sports presenters including Greg Allen, Con Murphy, Des Cahill and Darragh Maloney. Australian professional Wayne Riley and the popular Scottish commentator Dougie Donnelly joined the RTÉ team of commentators and there were also contributions from the American side.   The broadcast featured hushed tones, whispers and rounds of applause as golfing stars negotiated fairways and greens.  Gary Moran produced RTÉ Radio 1's Ryder Cup coverage.

C5: Specialist Speech Programme - Mind Matters (RTÉ Radio 1) 

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Produced and presented by Ella McSweeney, the series Mind Matters looks at conditions of the human brain, and its ability to function and recover after trauma. The programme asked what science knows about how these conditions affect the brain, and what treatments are currently available?

E2: News broadcaster of the Year - Philip Boucher Hayes (RTÉ Radio 1)

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Philip Boucher-Hayes joined RTÉ in 1993 as a continuity announcer. He started reporting on 5-7 Live and the Gerry Ryan Show before producing the Gay Byrne Show and presenting the film programme "Talking Pictures".

In 1997 he left RTÉ for a midday presenting slot on Today FM precursor Radio Ireland, but rejoined the 5-7 Live reporting team on Radio 1 in 1998. Since then his reporting has taken him to Kosovo, the Middle East, New York for September 11th, Iraq for the American invasion, and Lebanon.

Currently Philip is head of RTÉ Radio's Investigative Unit and continues as a reporter across all of RTÉ Radio's daytime current affairs programmes

Kildare born Philip lives in Wicklow with his wife Suzanne Campbell. Educated in Waterford he started journalism as a freelance contributor to local papers before studying History and Politics in UCD.

E3: Sports Broadcaster of the Year - Des Cahill (RTÉ Radio 1)

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Des Cahill joined RTÉ in 1984 as a News Reporter. In 1987 he moved to Radio Sport.  He reported on many major sports events including the World Cup, The Olympic Games, the Tour De France, the Ryder Cup and the GAA Championships.

He presented the Talk Radio programme on Saturday mornings, and deputised on radio programmes such as Liveline; The Gerry Ryan Show; and proved to be a popular summer replacement on The Gay Byrne Show.  In 1997 he presented a GAA discussion programme Sideline View on RTÉ Television and was a regular presenter of RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday afternoon sports programme. Up until last year he presented the sports bulletins on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme each day and also presented Sportscall.

Since September 2006 Des has been presenting Drivetime Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 each weekday from 6.30pm and over the summer he presented the RTÉ Television series The Road to Croker and

A Dubliner with a Clare family background, Des Cahill was educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin and studied journalism at Rathmines College. He worked as a reporter with the Nationalist newspaper group in Carlow and with the Kerryman, before joining RTÉ.

More Information

www.ppiradioawards.com

Date: 20 October 2007