Sandy Harsch receives CMA International Broadcaster Award

The BIB sends its warm congratulations to Sandy Harsch, presenter of RTE's 'Country Time', on receiving the prestigious International Broadcaster of the Year award from the Country Music Association (CMA) of Nashville, TN. The photo above shows Sandy with country star Brad Paisley, the CMA’s current Entertainer of the Year and co-host of the CMA Awards show, at the presentation backstage at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, where he was about to go on stage for his first show in Ireland last week.

The award honours radio broadcasters outside the USA who have made outstanding contributions toward the development of country music in their country. Sandy has worked in and around the music business in Ireland in many roles (including chief photographer, record reviewer, and interviewer for Hot Press magazine), has been a broadcaster since 1989, and has presented 'Country Time' since 1996, playing (as she once put it) 'bluegrass, old-time string-band music, Cajun, roots country, Western swing... honky-tonk, cowboy songs, hillbilly, Bakersfield, rockabilly – in fact everything from Americana to zydeco'. She is quoted:

... does anyone really deserve getting an award for doing something they absolutely love?... Country music has been a huge part of my life since I was a kid. I have been sharing this passion on air for twenty-two years and I am totally honoured that the CMA thinks I am doing a good job.

The full CMA press release can be read here. (A minor detail for historians: the trophy itself was held up in customs, so its role in the photo is being played by a digital recorder.)