It was a rather special day for the British broadcasting industry yesterday, as one of our greatest voices received the most well deserved of awards. At the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square Terry Wogan was inducted into the UK Radio Hall of Fame and presented with the 2009 PRS John Peel Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music Radio.

Ordinarily at such events we speak about a man or woman being honoured by their peers, but in this case it would be fair to say that the recipient is peerless. Chris Evans, the man who replaces Wogan at Radio 2 in the New Year, was clearly caught up in the emotion of the day as he announced the award and introduced the presenters of other breakfast shows, who in turn gave some often funny, always loving speeches. Our own Christian O’Connell, John Humphrys of the Today programme, Magic’s Neil Fox, Radio 1’s Chris Moyles and Alan Brazil from Talk Sport each delivered their own tribute.

Humphrys saluted Wogan’s enduring appeal and O’Connell applauded his ability to entertain without apparently doing any of the sorts of programming common to other shows. This question of what it is that makes his programmes so compelling was a common thread amongst all of the speeches; Moyles answered that it was a case of Wogan being himself. I think it would be fair to describe it simply as wit, intelligence and talent in abundance.

A ‘fine event’ as our own Adam Bowie describes it in his blog post and gladdening too to see the BBC and commercial radio come together to celebrate a remarkable broadcaster.