Despite Manchester International Festival ‘not really [being] interested in emulating Edinburgh’, local businesses seem to hope that it will bring the same financial bonanza that Edinburgh sees each year.

That, I guess, is why the North West Business Leadership Team - aka North West’s leading businesses - have awarded it the Lever Prize and a cash award:

The judges were impressed by the breadth and scope of the Festival, with a programme created by leading artists from across the spectrum of popular culture, innovation and the arts. They were also attracted by the Festival’s unique approach in delivering a programme of newly-commissioned work, which reflects the NWBLT’s commitment to innovation and world-class research and development.

It seems slightly strange to me, however, that the award is going to a large, well-funded but unproven arts organisation that has so far only hosted a couple of events.

Couldn’t the prize money (�10,000) be better used by a small, struggling organisation in the region? All FM perhaps?

All FM is by far my favourite community radio station in Manchester. It’s also a station that’s been in financial trouble of late, and I’ve heard that the Levenshulme-based operation has been perilously close to closure.

But things are looking better now: the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has just awarded it �10,372 in grant aid to fund a participation manager, and a further �8,205 for a technician. I hear these two positions would have been in particular danger otherwise.

Also, a further �2,000 is apparently on its way from Barclays Bank, to fund the production of a Polish community programme. And there’s word too that more funding may be heading All FM’s way… but nothing is signed and sealed as yet.

For anyone who has yet to discover All FM, I’d recommend Mog’s Standing in the Shadows of Lev (Saturdays, 9am-11am) and The Every Other Monday Show (every other Monday, 9pm-11pm). The station broadcasts online or on 96.9FM in South Manchester.

All FM are also seeking volunteers if anyone’s interested. Call Danielle on 0161 248 6888 or email danielle@allfm.org.

It passed non-radio people by, but last week Guardian Media Group (GMG) won the FM licence for Manchester. Here’s what GMG Radio chief executive John Myers had to say:

We’re getting ready to rock in the North West! The station won’t be launching ’til 2008 as we have got to wait for a bulk order of Harley Davidsons for staff!

No, seriously, that’s what a big media bigwig said. I can’t quite believe it myself. GMG owns the Manchester Evening News, Channel M and Century FM, you’ll recall.

The new station - Rock Talk - will broadcast classic, heavy, soft and popular rock on 106.1FM. No more than 10% of output will be current. The station is aiming particularly at over-35s.

Here’s a bit about the ‘talk’ side:

Speech will not fall below 60% during weekday peak time and 55% during weekend peak time and will cater for the tastes and interests of listeners in the Manchester area. Content will include relevant local travel, weather, sports news, what’s on, charitable and community information

Rocktalk.com is already owned by US station K-Rock, and rocktalk.co.uk belongs to UKClimbing.com. I notice rocktalkmanchester.com, .co.uk etc haven’t been registered yet, leaving them wide open to possible ownership disputes a few months from now.

What do you think then? Will Rock Talk be a good addition to the airwaves, or an even more MOR XFM Manchester? You can read details of the other 10 licence applications at UKOnAir.

So did anyone go to the BBC Manchester blogging workshop last Thursday? I suspect the bizarre weather and unnerving traffic meant a few didn’t make it in the end.

For those who did: how was it?

The BBC is continuing the trend today, by asking listeners of Five Live to write their first ever blog post for its website. By mid-afternoon, they’ve already had 150 respondents, most embracing blogging’s self-referential style with ease.

Annoyingly, however, the posts are just displayed as one long page of comments on the Five Live Breakfast blog. Whatever happened to user-friendliness, BBC?

Minor gripes aside, hopefully some of those people participating will enjoy the experience so much that they set their own blogs up.

Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing? Hoodlum Tribe (they who run Red Deer Club) broadcast a radio show every Wednesday from 9pm. You can communicate with them, in real time, via MSN Messenger.

It’s something that almost certainly wouldn’t have existed without the internet. Neither would you be able to watch the video below, of Down The Tiny Steps‘ performance.