WorldSpace Honours will reportedly be the first satellite radio award show to recognise music and artistic contribution by artists from more than 20 musical genres, represented on WorldSpace channels ranging from Up Country to Jhankaar and The System to Shruti. The honorees will be chosen by WorldSpace’s executive selection committee, made up of programming staff from each of the 20 channels represented.
“WorldSpace Honours presents a completely new format for satellite music awards and was created to reflect the diversity of our music programming, the expertise of our staff, and the broad range of preferences of our subscribers,” says William Sabatini, VP of global programming, WorldSpace.
“We are also thrilled to be announcing our choices for the WorldSpace Honours, live from the prestigious Abbey Road Studios.”
Honours Week will also feature the second annual “UPop @ Abbey Road Sessions” which will officially kick off with the Honours Award Show on 12 February and run through 15 February. The sessions will feature four days of exclusive performances and recording sessions from some of yesterday’s and today’s hottest stars, live from Abbey Road Studio 2.
Additionally, WorldSpace will again host the global broadcast of Europe’s biggest music event - the Brit Awards - on 14 February. The live broadcast will feature exclusive backstage and red carpet interviews, celebrity appearances and performances by more than a dozen superstars.
WorldSpace’s Ted Kelly, VP of content marketing and Velu Shankar, director of network programming for WorldSpace India, will host the awards show and will announce this year’s 23 honourees.
Specialty programming is being created to showcase each artist and will include interviews, career highlights, background information and their music. Subscribers can listen throughout the day for all honourees and can tune in to their favorite WorldSpace channel from 16 - 19 February, when each honouree’s works will be showcased throughout the weekend.
For more information, go to www.worldspacehonours.com.
As part of its goal of continually developing and delivering “creative, unique programming”, WorldSpace is also launching two new channels, Retro Radio (channel 80 only on AsiaStar satellites) and Punchline (channel 700 on both AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites).
Punchline features a range of comedy acts, both old and new, and shows from major stars including the internationally recognised Monty Python, Bob Hope, Jerry Seinfeld and Dane Cook to name a few.
As for Retro Radio, it’s time to bring out the bell bottoms, lava lamps and neon, start reminiscing about yuppies, break dancing and big hair, and get down to Abba, Blondie and Elton John!
