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Media in Manchester has been an integral part of Manchester's culture and economy for many generations and has been described as the only other British city to rival to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in terms of television broadcasting. Today, Manchester is the second largest centre of the creative and digital industries in Europe. Most notable television exports include the longest running serial soap drama in the world in ''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...
'' and the longest running documentary series in 7 Up!. A wide array of award-winning British television programmes have originated from, and often been set in Manchester, such as ''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...
'', '' A Question of Sport'', '' Dragons' Den'', '' The Royle Family'', '' University Challenge'', '' Mastermind'', ''
Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...
'', ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'', '' It's a Knockout'', ''
World in Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its product ...
'', '' Seven Up!'', '' Jewel in the Crown'', '' Brideshead Revisited'', '' Stars in Their Eyes'', '' The Krypton Factor'', ''
Red Dwarf ''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. ...
'', '' Life on Mars'', ''
Cold Feet Cold feet is a phrase that refers to a person not going through with an action, particularly one which requires long term commitment, due to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. A person is said to be "getting cold feet" when, after previously committin ...
'', ''
Cracker Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films ...
'' and '' The Street''. In the BFI TV list of greatest British television programmes decided by industry professionals in 2000, nine television programmes which were devised and produced in Manchester made the top 50. Manchester was given the nickname 'Granadaland', as many of the city's successful programmes were produced by
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...
and its influential chairman Sidney Bernstein actively encouraged this nickname to promote Manchester and the North West. The company was based at Granada Studios in Manchester and was considered one of the best commercial television companies in the world by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' and ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
''. Granada had its own entertainment complex showcasing its television exports to the public. Eventually Granada took over eleven other franchisees through a series of hostile bids to form ITV in 2004, and consequently a more unified ITV corporate brand appeared. The new
MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside Media ...
in Salford forms part of the major
decentralisation Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...
of the BBC. The corporation opted to move to
MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside Media ...
in 2004 as a replacement for its ageing Mancunian studios at New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios - the latter being partly owned by both ITV and the BBC through 3SixtyMedia. At the same time, BBC Television Centre was also coming to the end of its lifespan, so the BBC decided to split departments between existing facilities in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
. The BBC currently has a major broadcast division business operating here under the BBC North Group it comprises the departments
BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before ...
,
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside f ...
,
BBC Children's #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...
, BBC Learning, BBC Research & Development and BBC Philharmonic presently broadcasting and producing. ITV also has a major division of its business based here ITV Studios which is responsible for all UK and international production. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' newspaper was founded in Manchester as the ''
Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...
'' and the city's regional newspaper, the ''
Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'' is the second most popular regional newspaper in the UK after the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
''.


Television broadcasting

Television broadcasts spread to the North West relatively late – the first monochrome
405 line 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...
television transmitter covering the area (from Holme Moss) did not open until 1951. Commercial TV began in May 1956 and the signals were broadcast from Winter Hill.


BBC in Manchester

Dickenson Road Studios, the former home of Mancunian Films in a converted Methodist Church in Rusholme, was bought by the BBC in 1954 to become its first regional TV production studio. The facilities at Studio A, recalled Olive Shapley, a BBC television producer from 1959, consisted of
one studio and very cramped make up and other production facilities, with a canteen and a few poky little dressing rooms. We coped well enough, though I do remember apologising sometimes to guests who clearly found the place not quite up to their expectations of the BBC.
The first edition of ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' was broadcast on New Year's Day 1964 from the studio, and Yorkshire host Jimmy Savile stated: "anything they didn't want to do in London, they slung up into this old church. And, of course, they didn't want anything to do with pop music so that was our place". But when viewing figures took off the BBC decided that the pop show had to be broadcast from London, although it remained based in Manchester for three years before moving to
Lime Grove Studios Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, a ...
in west London in 1967. The BBC's northern Outside Broadcast base was at the former Longsight Free Christian Church, on the corner of Plymouth Grove and Birch Lane in Longsight. The BBC began regional TV news bulletins in 1957 from Broadcasting House in Piccadilly, and in September 1969 its '' Look North'' evening regional opt-out became part of the '' Nationwide'' programme (the former evolved into the current programme '' North West Tonight''). The 1970s marked a change for the BBC's involvement in Manchester and it appeared that the city had been given more licence to produce programmes for national consumption. The revival of It's a Knockout was one such success; with the show attracting only 100,000 viewers the BBC hired a reluctant Stuart Hall to present the show in a new format, and within a few years the show was attracting 15 million viewers nationally. 1975 also marked the year Manchester finally got its purpose-built BBC studio in the form of New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road in Manchester City centre. The new Network Production Centre (NPC) in the north of England was given licence to produce programmes for national consumption, one of its first successes . Programmes including ''A Question of Sport'', ''Mastermind'', and Real Story, are made at New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road, just south of the city centre. The hit series '' Cutting It'' was set in the city's Northern Quarter and ran on BBC1 for five series. '' Life on Mars'' was set in 1973 Manchester. Also, '' The Street'', winner of a BAFTA and International Emmy Award in 2007 is set in Manchester. Manchester is also the regional base for the BBC One North West Region so programmes like North West Tonight are produced here. The BBC intends to relocate large numbers of staff and facilities from London to
MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside Media ...
at Salford Quays. The Children's (CBBC), Comedy, Sport (BBC Sport) and New Media departments are all scheduled to move before 2010.
•


Demise of ABC Television

Between 1956 and 1969, the old Capitol Theatre at the junction of Parrs Wood Road and School Lane served as the northern studios of ITV station
ABC Weekend Television ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...
. Early episodes of '' The Avengers'' and programmes such as '' Opportunity Knocks'' were made in the studios. ABC ceased to use the site in 1968 when it lost its ITV franchise, on its merger with fellow ITV company Rediffusion. The site was then used briefly by Yorkshire Television until its own facilities in Leeds were ready. In 1971, the studios were acquired by Manchester Polytechnic, who used it for cinema, television studies and theatre. The building was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for a residential development, but the name lives on in the form of a new theatre space in the heart of the M.M.U. campus in the All Saints area along Oxford Road, just to the south of Manchester city centre.


Granada Television Studios, Manchester

Granada Television in Manchester was arguably ITV's most successful franchisee. Kenneth Clark stated as early as 1958 that: "We did not quite foresee how much Granada would develop a character which distinguishes it most markedly from the other programmes companies and from the BBC." It was the only original franchisee formed in 1954 that kept its licence for
North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
into the 21st century, fuelled by commercially successful productions such as its flagship programme, Coronation Street. Granada Television's parent company Granada PLC took over the 11 other ITV franchise holders from 1994 and by 2004 only a Carlton Communications stood in Granada's way. The formation of ITV was reported as a merger, but it was in effect a takeover by Granada who would own 68% of the new shares with Carlton getting 32%. Granada Television's on-screen identity no longer exists due to the formation of ITV and Granada Television productions are now known with the ITV Studios. The first ITV franchisee was
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...
, which remained the service provider until it was absorbed into the ITV Network in 2004. Granada has its headquarters in a distinctive purpose built building on Quay Street, in the Castlefield area of the city. Granada produces the world's oldest and most watched television soap opera, ''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...
'', which is screened five times a week on ITV.


BBC and ITV move out of Manchester City Centre to MediaCityUK

By the 2000s, Manchester had proved itself as a key base for the ITV brand with its
Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
franchise and BBC North at New Broadcasting House. Granada Television based in Manchester was one of ITV's most successful franchises along with London Weekend Television (LWT), which was often thanks to successful programmes produced in Manchester such as Coronation Street. The BBC considers Manchester as one of the two main BBC production bases (London) in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. The turn of the millennium also saw Manchester gain its own television channel,
Channel M Channel M was a regional television station, serving Greater Manchester. The station, originally known as ''Manchester Student Television'', was owned and operated by the GMG Regional Media division of Guardian Media Group. Coverage Original ...
, owned by the Guardian Media Group and operated since 2000. The launch of the station on digital satellite services in April 2006 led to an increase of the station's local output (news, sport, entertainment etc.) until major cutbacks led to the end of in-house programming in March 2010. The vacuum for local programming has since been filled by Manchester.tv and QuaysNews.net In June 2004, it was revealed that the BBC planned to redevelop the aging New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road in Manchester and with it will take the opportunity to transfer 1000 jobs out of London to bring investment in Northern England to the level the BBC invest in London, Birmingham and Bristol. The Studios, which opened in 2013, is a separate studio complex at MediaCityUK, operated by dock10. The Studios is home to shows such as The Jeremy Kyle Show, The Voice UK and Match of the Day.


Production companies based in Manchester

* 3SixtyMedia – a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
between Granada Manchester and BBC North in Manchester with primary aim to pool resources. The company is beneficial to both as programmes produced for BBC are sometimes made by Granada Manchester such as University Challenge at The Manchester Studios. * Red Production Company – formed by Nicola Schindler who left Granada Manchester after ITV plc was formed in 2004.


Radio

A number of regional and national radio stations broadcast from Manchester: *
BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...
– National * BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra – National * BBC Radio Manchester – Manchester area * Capital Manchester – Manchester area * Hits Radio Manchester – Manchester area * Greatest Hits Manchester – Manchester area Manchester was an important location for early radio broadcasts in Britain, the first of which were made by the
Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 189 ...
when it began experimental transmissions of a station that was known as
2ZY 2ZY was the name of a radio station established by the British Broadcasting Company in Manchester, England, in 1922. Part of the newly nationalised British Broadcasting Corporation from 1 January 1927, the station continued broadcasting under the 2 ...
on 17 May 1922. The
British Broadcasting Company The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British General ...
was granted a licence for AM radio broadcasts in October of the same year and inaugurated a station called 2LO in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on 14 November 1922, followed the next day by 2ZY, the BBC's official Manchester station. 2ZY made regular transmissions from the Metropolitan-Vickers factory in Trafford Park on 800 kHz (375 metres)
Medium Wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the dayti ...
). In July 1925 the BBC opened a much higher powered transmitter at Daventry,
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...
, which broadcast on 187.5 kHz (1562 metres) Long wave and was receivable across most of Britain. The station was called 5XX and it conducted its first experimental
stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
broadcast from a concert in Manchester. The 5XX Long Wave transmitter beamed the right channel and all the local BBC Medium Wave transmitters broadcast the left channel. The BBC opened a central Control Room on Piccadilly in Manchester in 1929 from where many network radio programmes were made or transmitted and several technical innovations were installed – including volume metres, the precursor of the PPM. Radio plays and concerts were staged in an old converted
repertory theatre A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawin ...
hall in Hulme which was renamed 'The Radio Playhouse'. The 2ZY Orchestra created in 1922 went on to play a pivotal role in the establishment of the Northern Wireless Orchestra (and later the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra). Programme content made in Manchester included radio features on subjects like
Cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
and
Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
. One example, Joan Littlewood and Olive Shapley's ''The Classic Soil'' (1939), on the Manchester poor, was inspired by an assertion of Fredrick Engels that the city was "the classic soil . . . where capitalism flourished". Many well-known networked radio comedies and concerts as well as ''
Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented ...
'' were produced in Manchester. It was not until the late 1960s that true ''local'' radio services began across Britain and BBC Radio Manchester was first launched in 1970 on 95.3 MHz
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
. The Medium Wave frequency of 1458 kHz (206 metres) was opened later. Independent Commercial radio began in Britain in 1973 so on 2 April the following year Piccadilly Radio was launched in Manchester on 1146 kHz (261 metres) medium wave and 97.0 MHz vhf (the frequency was changed in 1986). The BBC's original radio studios became cramped and outdated so all operations were moved to a large new purpose built studio complex on Oxford Road which was named New Broadcasting House (known as NBH) which were in use for both TV and radio production by the spring of 1976 (the old studios on Piccadilly were finally closed in 1981). The number of hours of productions made in Manchester then increased until at its peak in the 1990s around 20% of the output on the newly opened
BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...
in 1994. Around 10% of
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
programming and a daily afternoon show on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...
(Mark & Lard) were all being made in and broadcast from Manchester. The commercial station Piccadilly Radio was re-branded in 1988 when the services were split in two: AM became Piccadilly Gold and FM was named Key 103 (now
Hits Radio Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR. Overvie ...
). A number of new local commercial services were licensed by the Radio Authority in the late 1980s and 1990s. This proliferation has meant that the radio market in Manchester now has the highest number of local radio stations outside London including BBC Radio Manchester, Key 103, Greatest Hits Manchester, Capital Manchester, Heart North West, Smooth North West, XS Manchester and
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
BBC Radio Manchester returned to its original title in 2006 after becoming BBC GMR in 1988. Throughout the last 40 years Manchester has also heard many pirate, student, temporary (Restricted Service Licence) and unofficial radio stations. Student radio stations include Shock Radio and Utter Radio at the University of Salford, Fuse FM at the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...
and MMU Radio at the Manchester Metropolitan University. A community radio network is coordinated by Radio Regen, with stations covering the South Manchester communities of Ardwick, Longsight and Levenshulme (All FM 96.9) and Wythenshawe (Wythenshawe FM 97.2Mhz).Se
Radio
at the
Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
web site and subpages, especially th
directory of analogue radio stations
the ma
Commercial Radio Styles
(PDF), and the ma
Community Radio in the UK
(PDF). Retrieved 6 November 2007. One of the earliest pirate stations, started in 1979 on 94.6 MHz FM, was called Andromeda which broadcast to the entire conurbation from various locations on the hills around
Tameside The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, ...
. Defunct (official) radio stations include
Sunset 102 Sunset 102 was an Incremental radio station, a new type of station licensed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in 1989. It was the first of a series of licenses awarded by the IBA in areas already served by an Independent Local Radio stati ...
(which became Kiss 102, now Capital Manchester), and KFM (which became Signal Cheshire, now
Imagine FM Imagine FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Stockport broadcasting to South Manchester and Cheshire in the North West of England. History The station began its life as KFM, initially as a pirate local radio station based in Stoc ...
). These stations, as well as many 1990s pirates, played a significant role in the city's House music culture, also known as the Madchester scene, which was based around clubs like The Haçienda (which had its own shows on Sunset and on Kiss 102). Some of the best known voices on UK radio began their careers in (or featured regularly on) radio made in Manchester including: radio producer and author
Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author. After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of ' ...
, of The Ricky Gervais Show;
Allan Beswick Allan Beswick (born 8 October 1948 in Warrington, Lancashire) is a radio broadcaster who presents the late night phone-in on BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Lancashire. Before starting his late-night phone show, Beswick presented the breakf ...
,
Andy Crane Howard Andrew Crane (born 24 February 1964) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting Children's BBC between 1987 and 1990 and for his current work as a presenter on the Greatest Hits Radio network. Career Crane ...
,
Terry Christian Terence Christian (born 8 May 1960) is a British broadcaster, journalist and author. He has presented several national television series in the UK including Channel 4's late night entertainment show '' The Word'' (1990–1995) and six series o ...
, David Dunne,
Nemone Nemone Metaxas (born 3 November 1972 in Chester, Cheshire), often billed simply as Nemone, is an English DJ, radio presenter and television presenter/producer. She is also a trained psychotherapist practising in West and Central London. She is ...
,
Andy Kershaw Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is a broadcaster and disc jockey, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in world music. Kershaw's shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, African music, spoken wo ...
,
Andy Peebles Robert Andrew Peebles (born 1948) is a British radio DJ, television presenter, and cricket commentator. Born in London, Peebles attended Bishop's Stortford College. He began as a nightclub DJ in the late 1960s. Peebles was resident DJ at the C ...
, Brian Redhead, James Stannage, Mike Sweeny, Julian Worricker.


Film

Manchester is featured in several Hollywood films such as '' My Son, My Son!'' (1940), directed by Charles Vidor and starring Brian Aherne and Louis Hayward. The city was also mentioned frequently in '' Grand Hotel'' (1932), in which an industrialist, played by Wallace Beery, frantically tries to secure a deal with a cotton company based in Manchester, and it was also mentioned very briefly by Myrna Loy in '' Too Hot to Handle'' (1938). Others include Velvet Goldmine starring Ewan McGregor, and Sir Alec Guinness's '' The Man in the White Suit''. More recently, the entire city of Manchester is engulfed in runaway fires in the 2002 film 28 Days Later. The 2004 Japanese animated film, Steamboy was partly set in Manchester, during the times of the industrial revolution. The city is also home to the Manchester International Film Festival and has held the Commonwealth film festival. In recent years a number of Hollywood films have been filmed in Manchester, with the city historic Northern Quarter district used due to its pre-WW2 architecture. In 2010, the car chase scene in '' Captain America: The First Avenger'' was filmed on Dale Street in the Northern Quarter. Producers chose Manchester because of its resemblance to 1940s
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
with its high buildings dating from pre-WW2 and the site is a shortlisted UNESCO world heritage site. In 2004, the Northern Quarter district was also used for the filming of '' Alfie''. The 2009 film ''
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
'' was extensively filmed in Manchester alongside London and
Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
. The movie was filmed in such locations as the Northern Quarter, Jersey Street in
Ancoats Ancoats is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is located next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has ...
and inside Manchester Town Hall. Since 2007, Manchester has been the home of the biennial
Insight Film Festival The Insight Film Festival (IFF) is a biennial short film event focusing on interfaith films that has taken place in the UK from 2007 to the 4th Festival, held in 2013. IFF claims to be the UK's only interfaith film festival and has the tagline " ...
. The most recent Festival was held in March 2013


Newspapers

At certain points in the 1800s Manchester had up to seven newspapers – this was not unusual, many towns and cities had a plethora of papers at this time. The ''
Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...
'' however being the largest, selling more than any other regional newspaper (average of 51,000 in 1837). The others were at various times: ''Manchester Herald'', ''Manchester Advertiser'', ''
Manchester Times The ''Manchester Times'' was a weekly newspaper published in Manchester, England, from 1828 to 1922. It was known for its free trade radicalism. From 1828 to 1847, the newspaper was edited by Archibald Prentice, a political radical and advocate ...
'', ''Manchester Chronicle'', ''Manchester Courier'', ''Manchester Voice''. ''The Guardian'' newspaper was founded in Manchester in 1821. It no longer has a head office in Manchester after the sale of the Manchester Evening News to Trinity Mirror, which is now based in Oldham. Many management functions of The Guardian were moved to London in 1964. Its sister publication, the ''
Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'', has the largest circulation of a UK regional evening newspaper. It is free in the city centre, but paid for in the suburbs. Despite its title, it is available all day. The '' Metro'' North West is available free at Metrolink stops, rail stations and other busy transit locations. The MEN group distributes several local weekly free papers. For many years most of the national newspapers had offices in Manchester: ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Daily Express'', ''Daily Mail'', ''The Daily Mirror'', ''The Sun''. Only ''The Daily Sport'' remains based in Manchester. At its height, 1,500 journalists were employed, though in the 1980s office closures began and today the "second Fleet Street" is no more. An attempt to launch a Northern daily newspaper, the ''North West Times'', employing journalists made redundant by other titles, closed in 1988. 55Another attempt was made with the ''North West Enquirer'', which hoped to provide a true "regional" newspaper for the North West, much in the same vein as the ''Yorkshire Post'' does for Yorkshire or ''The Northern Echo'' does for the North East; it folded in October 2006.
• There are several local lifestyle magazines, including ''YQ Magazine'' and ''Moving Manchester''. Since 2013, the online news platform Prolific North, has been covering the media and marketing communities of the North from its base in Manchester. With over 100,000 unique readers a month, the title has established itself as the biggest media outlet outside London spanning an array of initiatives, awards and three annual expos. Another publisher is The Manchester Gazette, an online news organisation covering the City and 10 Boroughs of Greater Manchester. A new addition i
Business Manchester
a good news business only website, catering for the Greater Manchester business community, which has caught the attention of circa 20,000 business readers in the region. The online news organisatio
Live Manchester
launched in 2014, dedicated to live music, theatre and cultural events taking place in the city and surrounding area.


Magazines

There are several local lifestyle magazines, including ''YQ Magazine'' and ''Moving Manchester''. '' City Life'' was a listings magazine which was published fortnightly between 1983–2005 until it was absorbed into the ''MEN''. A single edition of ''Time Out Manchester'' was published in 2006.


Media Agencies

Manchester has a vibrant media community ranging from agencies to specialised creative companies such a
One Day Agency - Advertising & Marketing Agency


Student media

Most universities in Manchester have media entities run by students. Examples include weekly newspaper '' The Mancunion'', online magazine '' The Manchester Magazine'', radio station ''Fuse Fm'' and video channel ''Fuse Tv''.


See also

* Television programmes produced, filmed or set in Manchester


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Media In Manchester Mass media in Greater Manchester
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...