...after Radio 4 axed Short Cuts

Josie Long has won one of radio’s most prestigious awards, five months after the BBC pulled the plug on her programme.

The comedian won the gold Aria award in the speech entertainment category last night, despite Radio 4 axing her show Short Cuts in January. It had run for 12 years compiling short documentaries and ‘adventures in sound’. 

When the results were announced last night, Long posted on Instagram: ‘I can’t get over this, it’s really wonderful to have won this. I am backstage in Glasgow and assumed I couldn’t have. I’m so lucky to have been a part of Short Cuts.’

Meanwhile, Radio 4’s The Skewer won the gold for best comedy – an award Jon Holmes’ satirical audio mash-up show has won twice before.

The silver went to Green Wing: Resuscitated, a revival of the cult Channel 4 sketch comedy show made for Audible, with bronze going to the podcast Help I Sexted My Boss. The latter also won bronze in the entertainment category.

A BBC Radio Wales celebration of the music featured in Gavin & Stacey, presented by Alex Jones, won the gold in the music entertainment category. 

When Short Cuts was dropped, producers wrote on social media: ’We are proud of this audio garden, and what has grown here over the years.

‘Short Cuts has always been a collective endeavour, emerging from the audio imaginations of countless radio makers and podcasters around the world - people who love the medium and believe in its possibilities.

‘We are so grateful to the hundreds of producers who entrusted us with their ideas over the past (nearly) 250 episodes. It's been a privilege to help them reach the radio.

‘We have been proud to provide many people's first ever broadcast on the BBC, and also to be a place where established makers have been free to try new things.

‘Over the years, it's brought us so much joy to hear work that has grown from a small seed in this space into new imaginations audible across the BBC and beyond.

‘In the audio ecology, we believe that the small spaces - with invitations to experiment and play - matter just as much as the big.’

The Aria awards are handed out by The Radio Academy and cover podcasts as well as radio.

Published: 15 May 2025