The organisers of the event said it would be renamed The Radio Academy Awards and that a new sponsor will be announced soon. Ben Cooper, chairman of the academy, said the ceremony would "continue to celebrate the very best of the UK radio industry". "It is now time for Sony to move on and focus on other areas of the business," said Chris Bowen, from Sony United Kingdom and Ireland. We wish The Radio Academy every success and we are delighted to have played our part in making these awards the most credible radio awards, not only in the UK but worldwide."
Piping Live - Pipers from around the globe have gathered in Glasgow for the world's biggest bagpipe festival. The Glasgow International Piping Festival - known as Piping Live - is in its 10th year. It is expected to attract 30,000 people by the time it closes on Sunday 18 August. The programme includes almost 200 events, ending with the World Pipe Band Championships. The championships will take place next Saturday and Sunday, the first time it has been held as a two-day event.
Concert venues include New Athenaeum at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, which will host a Pipes and Strings concert featuring acts from Canada, Scotland and Galicia. Festival organiser Finlay MacDonald said: "Over the last decade, Piping Live has become one of the biggest and most successful events in the global traditional music calendar."
Fringe Sales - Edinburgh Fringe ticket sales are up on this time last year across the major venues, with many reporting increases in double figures. Ticket sales fell last year for only the second time in more than a decade. The dip was put down to the effect of the Olympic Games in London which clashed with the first nine days of the festival. The Fringe will run for two more weeks so final figures will not be known until after the last weekend in August. It remains the largest arts festival in the world. The 2013 programme features 45,464 performances in 2,871 shows at a total of 273 venues across the city.
(Jim Evans)
