BLACK Country Radio has celebrated being crowned Station of the Year at a national awards ceremony.

The station, based at The Waterfront in Brierley Hill, picked up the prestigious award at the Community Radio Awards, which celebrate the best of local radio across the UK.

Station director Alex Totney collected the trophy on behalf of the BCR team at an awards ceremony held at King’s House, Bedford, at the weekend following the 2022 national conference.

He dedicated the win to the station’s 150 “amazing volunteers” and said: “We couldn’t do any of the things we do, nor make any of the difference we make, without them.

"Our wonderful listeners make us who we are and we dedicate this award to them as well.”

He also used his speech to urge the Government to take community radio more seriously especially in the wake of potential cutbacks to programming at BBC local radio stations.

He said: “Never before has community radio in the UK served more of a purpose. It would appear inevitable that, as time goes on, the need for stations like all of ours will grow ever stronger.”

The Station of the Year gong was the highlight but a raft of other accolades went to volunteers at the station.

The sports team, a group of more than 20 led by sports editor Roy Felstead, scooped the gold award for Sports Show of the Year for the Saturday Sports Show.

Technical director Tom Walker won a silver award in the Volunteer of the Year category, while Friday Night Clive presented by Clive Payne and produced by Andy Caddick also picked up a silver award in the Speech and Journalism category.

The weekly show, also available as a podcast, focuses on difficult topics such as bereavement, drug abuse, debt and mental health.