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Our Trustee Lawrence Galkoff has been recognised with the Unsung Hero Award at the 2026 RTS Technology Awards, recognising his decades of tireless work supporting the development of prison radio in the UK.
Lawrence Galkoff’s extraordinary contribution to prison radio spans more than three decades. He has been central to its development from a single pioneering project at Feltham Young Offender Institution into a world-leading national service reaching prisons across England and Wales.
Lawrence first became involved in 1992, after meeting Radio Feltham founder Mark Robinson during a sponsored bike ride. Feltham was then experiencing serious violence, self-harm and suicide. Radio Feltham had been created to provide companionship and support, particularly during the long nights when young prisoners were locked alone in their cells.
An experienced BBC technician, Lawrence immediately recognised the project’s potential. He became a weekly presence at Feltham, training young prisoners in radio production, advising staff, solving technical problems and installing an AM transmitter on the prison gatehouse. He combined immense technical knowledge with warmth, authority and an ability to earn the respect of prisoners and prison staff alike.
Then, in 2007, Lawrence helped the newly formed Prison Radio Association establish a radio station at HMP Brixton.
His technical design was ingenious. Rather than trying to provide every listener with a radio, he worked out how we could broadcast through the television systems already installed in cells. He also proposed distributing the station by satellite. That might have seemed excessive when the studios and prison wings were only yards apart, but it made the service scalable from the beginning.
That decision helped a local station serving 750 prisoners become National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people in prison. It now broadcasts into every prison in England and Wales, reaching a potential audience of more than 80,000 people and inspiring prison radio projects across the world.
Lawrence became a Prison Radio Association trustee in 2010 and remains a trustee and technical adviser today. Most recently, he voluntarily designed our new visualised broadcast system, allowing us to combine audio with video, information and messages directing people in prison towards vital support.
Alongside this remarkable voluntary contribution, Lawrence has enjoyed an outstanding career with the BBC, ITV, Radioplayer and community radio, delivering technical facilities for general elections, US presidential elections, Glastonbury and major sporting events, including engagements at the heart of ITV’s World Cup coverage and regular work on Champions League matches.
But much of his most important work has happened far from public view. Lawrence is extraordinarily knowledgeable, endlessly generous and one of the loveliest people you could hope to work with.
A true unsung hero, and now, very deservedly, an award-winning one.
Congratulations, Lawrence – and thank you for everything you’ve done for prison radio.