VETERAN Suffolk-based broadcaster John Peel was honoured for championing the careers of countless bands and for his years of deadpan delivery by landing radio's top honour.

VETERAN Suffolk-based broadcaster John Peel was honoured for championing the careers of countless bands and for his years of deadpan delivery by landing radio's top honour.

The 62-year-old presenter who lives near Stowmarket, is the only launch DJ still on the Radio 1 airwaves. He took the honorary gold award at the Sony Radio Awards.

Another radio stalwart Terry Wogan took one of the major prizes when he scooped the breakfast music award for his long-running BBC Radio 2 slot.

Peel – who also has a Radio 4 show, Home Truths – has an incredible reputation for unearthing new acts who have gone on to find major success.

Judges said: "Across four decades of broadcasting, his championship of music that is both new and different has set the style for which he's become best known.

"He can claim an unrivalled record of 35 years of broadcasting for Radio 1 – along the way his unmistakable voice has cropped up, at one time or another, on all of the BBC's networks including the World Service."