Xfm DJ is best to wake up to

Months of pre-dawn wake-up calls paid off for DJ Christian O'Connell yesterday when he scooped three trophies at the Sony radio awards.

O'Connell, who hosts the breakfast show on rock station Xfm, won the entertainment award and his Rock School show also picked up a gong.

He also fought off competition from Capital FM's Johnny Vaughan to be named breakfast DJ of the year.

But O'Connell failed to retain the DJ of the year accolade, which went to BBC London 94.9's Danny Baker.

Despite his success, rivals still joked that rising star O'Connell, 31, has more gongs than he does listeners.

It was also a good night for Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, who was named music broadcaster of the year. The indieloving New Zealander, who used to work at Xfm, presents a weekday show from 7pm to 9pm. This year saw more nominees from regional stations than ever, with Kerrang! 102.2 and FCUK FM on Sky Digital scooping awards.

The two stations are relative newcomers, launching only last year.

Radio 2 beat its sister station Radio 1 to be named UK station of the year.

The two BBC stations were nominated with Classic FM for the prestigious title, which was presented at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

Radio 2 also got two other awards. Jeremy Vine won speech broadcaster of the year and DJ Steve Wright got a lifetime achievement gold award.