Retiring Abramsky wins Sony award

Jenny Abramsky (pictured), the BBC's out-going director of audio and music, has hit the jackpot again. At the annual Sony Radio Academy Awards, hosted by Paul Gambaccini, she was awarded a lifetime achievement award. The award was given for her groundbreaking career in BBC radio (she was the first woman editor of the Today programme, and went on to be director of BBC Radio), not for her stunning achievement, revealed recently, in scoring one of the biggest pensions ever recorded in the public sector.

After nearly 40 years at the beeb, Abramsky, 60, has amassed a pension pot in excess of £4m, a sum that equates to £190,000 per year. Not that Abramsky will have to struggle on that alone; despite "retiring" she will receive £45,000 as part-time chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Other winners at the Sony Awards were Radio 4, which was named station of the year, and Planet Rock, named digital station of the year. Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys was beaten to speech broadcaster of the year by Simon Mayo of Radio 5 Live, who, in paying tribute to Humphrys and his co-presenter James Naughtie, described them as "the And and Dec of breakfast radio". Today listeners can expect a suitably acerbic response soon.