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.

Ever had to register before listening to a radio broadcast? You will if you want to listen to The Tube’s comeback.

Generally, the hour-long internet-only broadcast doesn’t really work. It’s too busy, there are too many presenters, too many sound clips and it’s all happening too quickly.

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