ACRAs 2024: Inside Australia’s wildest awards show

Kate Ritchie was shocked when she was presented with an old photo of herself on the red carpet of the radio awards in Sydney.

Australia’s biggest radio stars hit the red carpet for the ACRAs (Australian Commercial Radio & Audio Awards) on Saturday night.

The event, held at The Star Sydney, was attended by Kate Ritchie, Carrie Bickmore, Tommy Little, Will and Woody and Amanda Keller to name just a few.

News.com.au played a little game on the red carpet where we presented stars with old/embarrassing photos of themselves.

You can see what happened in the video player above, but it’s safe to say some of them did NOT enjoy the vintage pics.

Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones won the big award of the night.

Who were the big winners?

The night belonged to WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda (Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones) who won the big award, Best On Air Team, which is comparable to the Gold Logie.

They beat KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O, Gold FM’s Christian O’Connell, Nova’s Jase and Lauren, the Hit Network’s Carrie and Tommy, and Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie.

It’s the fifth time the pair have won it, having previously walked away with the trophy in 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2023.

“I never in a million years expected to win for the second year in a row,” Amanda Keller told news.com.au after the win.

“At my advanced age, people think, ‘why are you still working?’ and to be at the peak of our careers at this age, what a gift.

“To still have things to say and to have a relevance and want to do it, I find that extraordinary, and I’m so grateful,” Amanda said.

Jonesy and Amanda have both been on air for 20-odd years, but the Sydney breakfast duo say they’ve still got more in the tank.

“I thought by now I’d be over it, I really did,” Amanda told news.com.au. “But it’s so addictive and I don’t feel I’m at the end yet.”

“I can quit you, man” Jonesy joked in response to his longtime co-host.

The other big winners on the night were 2GB’s Ben Fordham who won Individual Talent of the Year (Metro), and KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O who won Best Networked Show.

Ben Fordham. Picture: Matrix Media

Who performed during the night?

Australia’s radio stars were entertained by a bevy of incredibly talented performers during the 2024 ACRAs.

Dean Lewis performed, as did Baker Boy and IVANA.

But the standout performance of the evening was by The Screaming Jets.

Frontman Dave Gleeson had the entire crowd up on their feet, with many attendees saying it was the best musical performance at the ceremony in the last decade.

Nova’s Kate Ritchie. Picture: Matrix Media

Stunning. Picture: Matrix Media

Tim and Joel. Picture: Matrix Media

Brittany Hockley. Picture: Matrix Media

Ben Fordham and Dickie. Picture: Matrix Media

Natarsha Belling. Picture: Matrix Media

What are the ACRAs all about?

The ACRAs are basically radio’s version of the Logies, but there’s one main difference … the ACRAs are 10 x more wild.

Radio stars take full advantage of the fact the ceremony isn’t televised and happily indulge in the open bar throughout the night.

“It gets loose,” Fitzy from Nova 96.9 told news.com.au before the event. “You sit down, you have a beautiful meal, but you are drinking the whole time and there are so many awards that you have to get through.

“It’s like throwing everything into a slow cooker at the start of the day, and at the end of the day when you get home from work it’s ready to burst!” Fitzy said.

“And towards the end, that’s when the heckling really starts,” his co-host, Wippa said.

The Nova duo said the ACRAs used to be even more loose back in the day.

“I heard a story that some of the Nova team had been smuggling in alcohol,” Wippa told news.com.au, before Fitzy owned up to the fact it was him.

“I used to do it every year,” Fitzy said. “I would bring two really nice bottles of wine and I would put them in bags and I would say to (security) on the red carpet, ‘this is a gift for someone in our team,’ and I would get them through every time.”

Brooke Blurton. Picture: Matrix Media

Jonesy and Amanda. Picture: Matrix Media

Christie Hayes. Picture: Matrix Media

Deb Knight. Picture: Matrix Media

Just like the Logies, the ACRAs also used to invite some big international guests to attend the ceremony, including Sharon Osbourne back in 2012.

“One year the special guest was Kelsey Grammer (from the TV show, Frasier),” Fitzy recalled.

“My mum made me get a photo with him,” Wippa laughed.

“There was a moment halfway through the night where Kelsey Grammer was on stage and I swear he was thinking to himself, ‘where has my career gone that I’m on the Gold Coast in Australia doing a radio awards night?’” Fitzy said.