Somer Valley FM’s Sports Show is named the national Sports Show of the Year.

The show, which has been led by Ian Nockolds for eight years, was given the Gold award for sports broadcasting at the Community Radio Awards. The inaugural awards took place at Birmingham City University, on Saturday 10th September, to a sold out gala with over 35 community radio stations being recognised for their broadcasting excellence.

The Somer Valley Sport Show has broadcast weekly, promoting the news and fixtures of sports clubs across North East Somerset. Ian Nockolds has been involved with sports broadcasting on Somer Valley FM since the station was piloted at Somervale School in August 2006. He said,

“As the Sport Show has evolved, it has been our mission to provide local sports coverage, focusing on participants and clubs overlooked by commercial and public service radio, produced by amateur broadcasters to a professional standard”.

The Sports Show has engaged volunteers across the generations, not only those involved with the Clubs they cover, but everyone from school students to retired former players. Today, the Sport Show team includes Allan Trinder and Evan Dando, with Saturday Live produced and presented by Richard Burgess.

The awards were hosted by Somer Valley FM’s manager Dom Chambers, “As I was hosting the evening you can imagine my pleasure at the announcement and welcoming Ian on to the stage to collect the award. Ian’s work with our Sports programme has been a considerable personal achievement. It is exemplary community broadcasting from empowering local clubs with a voice, to the skill building of young volunteers and the live match commentaries. Ian has brought local clubs together on the central platform of the Somer Valley FM studio. This recognition is richly deserved and my hearty congratulations to Ian and the team.

On receiving the award Ian Nockolds thanked all the volunteers who have been involved with the Show since it began, before making special mention of the Clubs, without whom there would be no content.

“This award isn’t just about the quality of our sport coverage, it’s about recognising the hard work and commitment of the volunteers at every Club we cover including Midsomer Norton Rugby Club, Welton Rovers Football Club, Radstock Town Football Club, Paulton Rovers Football Club, Midsomer Norton Cricket Club, Writhlington Tennis Club and many more. They support us to support them and now we are all on the Gold medal team.

Looking to the future, the Somer Valley Sports team are hoping to build upon their success and encourage more local Clubs to get involved so that even larger audiences can celebrate and support local sport.

Broadcasting every Tuesday at 6pm, the Somer Valley Sport Show is available online and at 97.5FM. Somer Valley FM is the community radio station serving the people of Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Paulton and the surrounding villages.

Click here to listen to the award winning showreel.