A CO-founder of Inverness Hospital Radio has been named the winner of an award recognising ‘an outstanding contribution to hospital radio over a period of years’.
Donnie Aird has been named the recipient of the John Whitney Award at the annual Hospital Radio Awards, held at the weekend.
Said the award organisers: “There simply would be no Inverness Hospital Radio if it wasn’t for Donnie Aird. It was founded by Donnie and the late Alistair Gardner, with a first home-recorded broadcast in November 1970.
“Together they organised and financed the whole operation, with Donnie the technical brains. He has been a stalwart for the service ever since – seeing it through to the 24/7 operation today. Donnie spent very many hours building the desks and wiring all the equipment when, in 1976, a small studio room was made available in the hospital.
“He trained new members to extend broadcasting to every evening. He was also the technical operator for the weekly request show for many years. In 1998 the service moved to its current studios and Donnie’s experience was invaluable. He also played a big part in raising the £150,000 to kit out the new premises. Today, he still plays as big a part as ever at the station – as a former chief engineer at Moray Firth Radio, his technical know-how is second-to-none.”
Aird was also named bronze medal winner in the fundraising category of the awards, which chose Plymouth Hospital Radio as its station of the year.
Read the full winners’ list, here.
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YET another journalist with Edinburgh Evening News connections has joined the Mail titles.
Gareth Rose began at the Scottish Daily Mail yesterday, having before been home affairs correspondent at The Scotsman. He has been appointed Scottish political reporter.
He follows in the footsteps of other former Evening News reporters, Alan Roden (political editor at the Scottish Daily Mail), Michael Blackley (political editor, Scottish Mail on Sunday) and Andrew Picken (former political correspondent at the Scottish Daily Mail, then political editor of the Scottish Mail on Sunday and now political editor of The Sunday Post).
Meanwhile, Alan Simpson, who has been Scottish political reporter at the Mail for just over a year, has been promoted to business and consumer affairs editor.
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THE cover price of the Daily Record newspaper (Monday-Friday edition) has been increased, by 5p, to 55p.
On Sunday, sister title, the Sunday Mail, was increased by 10p, to £1.50. And the Saturday edition of the Daily Record will be, this weekend, going up from 75p to 80p.
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THE news agency, Deadline News, is seeking a photographer (here) and also a reporter (here) – both advertised on www.allmediascotland.com and repeated on twitter.com/allmediajobs.
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THE Scottish Government reportedly spent one fifth of a £450,000 public information budget on billboards to publicise its White Paper on independence.
Writes Marc Ellison, on the BBC Scotland website: “A freedom of information request revealed the adverts were pasted on 189 billboards across Scotland for a two-week period at a cost of £84,160.”
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BEGINS Gerry Braiden, in The Herald, today: “An appeal by Rangers supporters to the BBC Trust over comments made by one of the Corporation’s sports pundits, Jim Spence, has been thrown out.”
He continues: “The BBC Scotland presenter was cleared of a number of complaints made against him after he had provoked the ire of hundreds of fans by making references to Rangers as ‘the old club that died’.”
And speaking of football, the Evening Times names Archie Macpherson as No.1 in its top ten listing of Scots football commentators.
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SEVERAL priorities have been identified by the broadcasting and telecoms regulators, Ofcom, in its latest annual plan, published yesterday.
They are headed as follows: Promote effective competition and informed choice, Secure optimal use of spectrum, Promote opportunities to participate, Protect consumers from harm, Maintain audience confidence in broadcast content and Contribute to and implement public policy defined by Parliament.
Read the plan, here.
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REPORTS The Herald – and several others: “Photo sharing company, Blipfoto, has appointed a former executive at Getty Images to its board.
“Lewis Blackwell, who has also held senior positions at Creative Review Magazine, Image Source and Evolve Images, joins the Edinburgh business as a non-executive director.”
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