A major music moment celebrating Luton has taken home one of the top prizes at this year’s ARIAS – the UK’s biggest radio awards – after Coldplay’s surprise tribute to the town captured the nation’s imagination.
It dates back to Radio 1’s Big Weekend last year, which was hosted in Stockwood Park with the rock band headlining the final night of the three-day music extravaganza. Fans of Luton Town FC – whose colours are famously orange – joked about whether the band would steer clear of their hit song ‘Yellow’, as it is the colour of the club’s arch-rivals, Watford.
What started as tongue-in-cheek banter turned into a campaign from local radio station BBC Three Counties, led by broadcaster and Hatters fan Justin Dealey, to get Coldplay front man Chris Martin to change the lyric to his smash-hit classic.
At the glitzy awards bash last night in London, dubbed the radio Oscars, BBC Three Counties Radio won the Moment of the Year award for Coldplay go Orange for Luton, following a public vote with more than 7,000 entries,
Talking on the red carpet with CBBC legends Dick and Dom after collecting the gong, Dealey said of the campaign he spearheaded: “Chris Martin heard about it and he didn’t change the lyrics, he wrote an entire new song for the people of Luton, called orange. It was a magical weekend. For a town that’s been knocked for so many years, Luton’s a good town and it was a wonderful song.”
In the build-up to the awards bash, Dealey had previously told The Radio Times: “It just all happened organically. Greg James [BBC radio presenter] was going to be introducing Coldplay on stage and got a message to Chris Martin.
“I’m always banging on about how Luton gets bad press. The people of Luton deserved that moment, because they’ve been kicked for years, and here was a huge festival coming to their town off the back of the Premier League success.”
The award is a major win for the local BBC station and a proud moment for Lutonians, with the event now officially recognised as the standout moment in UK radio over the past year.
The ARIAS (Audio and Radio Industry Awards) celebrate excellence across the UK audio and radio sector. They are judged by over 200 senior industry figures and are open to all UK-based content creators who are members of The Radio Academy – the charity that supports people working in radio and audio.
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