Jonathan Ross has two nominations

Ross, nominated for the third year running, has also been short-listed for the best weekly show prize.

His station Radio 2 is the reigning station of the year and was again nominated for the prestigious title at the 2002 awards, which take place on 2 May.

It is in an all BBC clash, competing against Radio Five Live and Radio 4.

The best breakfast show will be a fight between BBC Radio 2's Terry Wogan, Kiss 100's Bam Bam, Viking FM's Hirsty's Morning Glory, Trent FM's Jo and Twiggy and Xfm's Christian O'Connell.

Star

O'Connell is also in the running for the best entertainment prize, one of two Xfm entries in that category.

The station's Ricky Gervais - also star of BBC Two show The Office - is also nominated, against BBC Radio 1's Moyles, BBC Radio 2's Ross and Southern FM's Terry Garoghan.

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The prize for best daily music programme sees Radio 3's Late Junction competing with Jazz FM's Late Lounge, Radio 2's Steve Wright, Virgin's Pete and Geoff and Century FM's Simon James and Hill.

Jonathan Ross's Saturday morning programme is up against Radio Scotland's Celtic Connections, Classic FM's Classic Tales, Stuart Maconie's The Critical List on Radio 2 and Radio 3's Andy Kershaw for best weekly programme.

Tim Blackmore, chairman of the Awards committee, said: "This year's nominations are the most wonderful representative mix of the lively and dynamic British radio that we are all very proud to be a part of.

"The strength of the nominations is in the sheer diversity and the unexpected - I think we would all agree that this list is not full of the obvious."

Radio Five Live has landed three entries in the best news broadcaster category.

The station's Fi Glover goes up against Nicky Campbell and the presenting duo Peter Allen and Jane Garvey, with Capital FM's Howard Hughes and IRN's Kevin Murphy, who is broadcast across commercial radio, making up the field.

BBC Radio 4 leads the field with 24 nominations for the 28 prizes and dominates the categories for comedy, features and drama. BBC Radio Five Live picks up 12 nominations while BBC Radio 2 is short-listed nine times.