Media in Manchester

{{Short description|none}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

File:Footbridge to Media City, Salford - geograph.org.uk - 6131368.jpg is the largest media-production facility in Europe.{{Cite journal |title=Europe's largest, digital, tech and creative hub: MediaCity |url=https://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MediaCity_Commercial-Brochure_Feb_V1_030223.pdf |journal=MediaCityUK}}]]

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 in terms of television broadcasting.{{Cite news |title=Television and radio: Picture remains bright as BBC gears up for move |quote=Manchester is home to far and away the biggest broadcasting cluster outside London. |last=Hall |first=William |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2f874f2-7814-11df-a6b4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1QtgzqUfL |newspaper=Financial Times |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=1 July 2011}}{{Cite news |title=Manchester on TV: Ghosts of Winter Hill |quote=Manchester's contribution to television's cultural history is considerable: from Coronation Street to Shameless, no city outside London has seen itself on screen as much as Manchester. |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8332000/8332589.stm |date=30 October 2009 |access-date=1 July 2011 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |title=Speech given to Royal Society for Arts (RSA), Manchester University |quote=What both Granada and the BBC found in Manchester and the North-West was extraordinary creative talent: in writers probably most of all – I don't think any other part of the UK has produced so many distinctive, memorable writers for broadcasting ... And from Z-Cars to Jewel In The Crown, World In Action to Brass Tacks and File On 4, Granada and the BBC and Manchester delivered some of the best programmes ever made. |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/speeches/stories/thompson_rsa.shtml |date=9 March 2006 |access-date=1 July 2011}} Today, Manchester is the second largest centre of the creative and digital industries in Europe.{{Cite news |title=Talent pool. |url=http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/about-us/talent-pool |work=MediaCityUK |access-date=18 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925201145/http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/about-us/talent-pool |archive-date=25 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |date=2022-04-19 |title=PR Insight: Manchester and the Broadcast Media Landscape |url=https://www.broadcastrevolution.co.uk/pr-insight-manchester-and-the-broadcast-media-landscape |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=Broadcast Revolution |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Creative and Media |url=https://www.investinmanchester.com/why-manchester/industry-expertise/creative-and-media/ |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=www.investinmanchester.com |language=en-us}}

Most notable television exports include the longest running serial soap drama in the world in Coronation Street 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, A Question of Sport, Dragons' Den, The Royle Family, University Challenge, Mastermind, Songs of Praise, Top of the Pops, It's a Knockout, World in Action, Seven Up!, Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited, Stars in Their Eyes, The Krypton Factor, Red Dwarf, Life on Mars, Cold Feet, Cracker 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.File:Granada TV.jpg was renowned for being one of ITV's most successful franchisees – the iconic red 'Granada TV' has since been removed{{Cite web |title=Granada TV sign could end up in a museum |url=http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-news/north-west-broadcasting/granada-tv-sign-could-end-up-in-a-museum-201010059253/ |website=How-do.co.uk |date=5 October 2010 |access-date=7 October 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20101008105812/http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-news/north-west-broadcasting/granada-tv-sign-could-end-up-in-a-museum-201010059253/ |archive-date=8 October 2010 |url-status=dead }} and the Granada identity has ceased to exist{{Cite news |title=Granada name to disappear from ITV businesses |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/may/28/granada-itv#start-of-comments |website=Guardian.co.uk |date=28 May 2009 |access-date=8 October 2010 | location=London | first=Leigh | last=Holmwood}}]]Manchester was given the nickname 'Granadaland', as many of the city's successful programmes were produced by Granada Television 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 and The Independent. 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,{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3450397.stm|title=ITV shares on London stock market|date=2 February 2004|access-date=2 May 2019|website=News.bbc.co.uk}} and consequently a more unified ITV corporate brand appeared.

The new MediaCityUK in Salford forms part of the major decentralisation of the BBC. The corporation opted to move to MediaCityUK 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 and Greater Manchester. The BBC currently has a major broadcast division business operating here under the BBC North Group it comprises the departments BBC Breakfast, BBC Sport, BBC Children's, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Learning, BBC Research & Development and BBC Philharmonic presently broadcasting and producing.{{Cite news |title=BBC TV channels could move to Salford |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8201664/BBC-TV-channels-could-move-to-Salford.html |last=Midgley |first=Neil |date=16 December 2010 |access-date=19 June 2011 |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite news |title=BBC1 'could join the move to Salford within four years', says BBC executive Richard Deverell |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1405653_bbc1_could_join_the_move_to_salford_within_four_years_says_bbc_executive_richard_deverell |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=19 January 2011 |access-date=17 June 2011}}{{Cite news |title=BBC could move another channel to Salford |last=Conlan |first=Tara |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/10/bbc-salford-mark-thompson |publisher=Guardian Media Group |date=10 May 2011 |access-date=17 June 2011 |location=London}} ITV also has a major division of its business based here ITV Studios which is responsible for all UK and international production.

The Guardian newspaper was founded in Manchester as the Manchester Guardian and the city's regional newspaper, the Manchester Evening News is the second most popular regional newspaper in the UK after the Evening Standard.

Television broadcasting

{{Main|List of television programmes set, produced or filmed in Manchester}}

{{See also|BBC North|Granada Studios Tour|MediaCityUK}}

Television broadcasts spread to the North West relatively late – the first monochrome 405 line 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=

File:Dickenson.jpg in Rusholme]]

File:BBC Manchester, Oxford Road.jpg which is often referred to as BBC Manchester Studios]]

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.Olive Shapley Broadcasting a Life, London: Scarlet Press, p.162

The first edition of Top of the Pops was broadcast on New Year's Day 1964 from the studio,Spencer Leigh [https://web.archive.org/web/20090124141803/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/johnnie-stewart-494921.html Obituary: Johnnie Stewart], The Independent, 4 May 2005 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".{{Cite news |title=BBC stars look back at 35 years of broadcasting in Manchester |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13760757 |publisher=BBC |date=17 June 2011 |access-date=20 June 2011}} 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 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.{{cite web|url=http://manchesterhistory.net/LONGSIGHT/CHURCH/freechristian.html|title=Longsight Free Christian Church|website=Manchesterhistory.net|access-date=2 May 2019}}

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.{{Cite news |title=Stuart Hall: Look North/ It's a Knockout |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13760757 |publisher=BBC |date=17 June 2011}}

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,{{Cite press release | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/speeches/stories/bennett_manch.shtml | title=Championing sustainable TV production in the nations and regions | access-date= 6 October 2008 | publisher= BBC | date= 23 November 2005}} and Real Story,{{Cite press release | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/11_november/15/real.shtml | title= BBC One's Real Story with Fiona Bruce series comes to end in 2007 | access-date= 6 October 2008 | publisher= BBC | date= 15 November 2006}} 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.{{cite news | title= International Emmys Awards to honor Al Gore |url= https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-11-18-al-gore_N.htm | date= 19 November 2007 | access-date= 6 October 2008 | work=USA Today | first=Charles J. | last=Gans}}

Manchester is also the regional base for the BBC One North West Region so programmes like North West Tonight are produced here.{{Cite web|url=http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/media/tv-and-radio.html |title=Television & Radio Stations in Manchester |access-date=11 September 2007 |website=Manchester2002-uk.com|year=2002 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922233804/http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/media/tv-and-radio.html |archive-date=22 September 2007 }} The BBC intends to relocate large numbers of staff and facilities from London to MediaCityUK at Salford Quays. The Children's (CBBC), Comedy, Sport (BBC Sport) and New Media departments are all scheduled to move before 2010.{{Cite web | url=http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?id=2464 | title=BBC R&D to relocate to Salford Quays | access-date=6 October 2008 | publisher=Digital TV Group | date=1 June 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206144955/http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?id=2464 | archive-date=6 December 2008 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}
• {{Cite press release | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/05_may/31/salford.shtml | title=BBC move to Salford gets green light | access-date=6 October 2008 | publisher=BBC | date=31 May 2007 }}

=Demise of ABC Television=

File:ABC Weekend TV studios in Didsbury Manchester.jpg, formerly ABC Weekend Television's northern studios in Didsbury]]

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. 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.{{citation |last1=Rudyard |first1=Nigel |last2=Wyke |first2=Terry |title=Manchester Theatres |year=1994 |publisher=Bibliography of North West England |isbn=978-0-947969-18-9 |page=29}} The building was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for a residential development,{{Cite web|last=Graham |first=Russ J. |title=From the North |publisher=Transdiffusion Broadcasting System |url=http://www.transdiffusion.org/tmc/abc/studios/didsbury.php |access-date=3 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014194437/http://www.transdiffusion.org/tmc/abc/studios/didsbury.php |archive-date=14 October 2007 }} 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.{{Cite web |title=About us |url=http://www.capitoltheatre.mmu.ac.uk/about.php |publisher=Manchester School of Theatre |access-date=20 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026054117/http://www.capitoltheatre.mmu.ac.uk/about.php |archive-date=26 October 2010 |url-status=dead }}

=Granada Television Studios, Manchester=

File:Coronation Street set October 2007.jpg were originally filmed in at the Granada Studios in Manchester City Centre.]]

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."{{Cite news |title=London calling |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/nov/24/mondaymediasection.northsouthdivide |publisher=Guardian Media Group |date=24 November 2003 |access-date=20 June 2011 |first=David |last=Liddiment}} It was the only original franchisee formed in 1954 that kept its licence for North West England 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, 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.skillset.org/uk/northwest/article_4334_1.asp | title= The creative media industries and workforce in North West England | website=Skillset.org | year= 2008 | access-date=6 October 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071128065702/http://www.skillset.org/uk/northwest/article_4334_1.asp| archive-date = 28 November 2007}} Granada produces the world's oldest and most watched television soap opera, Coronation Street,{{cite book | last = Little | first = Daran | title = The Coronation Street Story | year = 1995 | publisher = Boxtree | location = London | isbn = 1-85283-464-1 | page = 6 | quote = Coronation Street is without doubt the most successful television programme in the world. ... what is today the world's longest running drama serial. }} 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 franchise and BBC North at New Broadcasting House. Granada Television based in Manchester was one of ITV's most successful franchises along with Thames Television (until 1992) and 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 turn of the millennium also saw Manchester gain its own television channel, Channel M, 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.{{Cite news|title=BBC's big move to Manchester |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/122/122558_bbcs_big_move_to_manchester.html |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=29 June 2004}}

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=

Radio

{{See also|List of national radio programmes made in Manchester}}

File:Sunley Tower, Manchester.jpg's radio stations]]

A number of regional and national radio stations broadcast from Manchester:

Manchester was an important location for early radio broadcasts in Britain, the first of which were made by the Marconi Company when it began experimental transmissions of a station that was known as 2ZY on 17 May 1922.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mds975.co.uk/Content/ukradio.html |title=UK Radio History 1, Marconi, 2LO, BBC and Radio Normandy by Mike Smith |access-date=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611090521/http://www.mds975.co.uk/Content/ukradio.html |archive-date=11 June 2011 |url-status=dead }} The British Broadcasting Company was granted a licence for AM radio broadcasts in October of the same year and inaugurated a station called 2LO in London 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).{{Cite web |url=http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/broadcasting.htm |title=Broadcasting |access-date=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509064331/http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/broadcasting.htm |archive-date=9 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}

In July 1925 the BBC opened a much higher powered transmitter at Daventry, Northamptonshire, 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 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/mr/mr2.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731181420/http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/mr/mr2.htm|url-status=dead|title=Orbem has moved|date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|website=Archive.is|access-date=2 May 2019}} Radio plays and concerts were staged in an old converted repertory theatre hall in Hulme which was renamed 'The Radio Playhouse'.{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/mr/mr1.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721045959/http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/mr/mr1.htm|url-status=dead|title=Orbem has moved|date=21 July 2012|archive-date=21 July 2012|website=Archive.is|access-date=2 May 2019}} 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 and Coal. 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".Allan Shaw [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-olive-shapley-1081732.html Obituary: Olive Shapley], The Independent, 20 March 1999 Many well-known networked radio comedies and concerts as well as Woman's Hour 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. 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).{{cite web|url=https://planetradio.co.uk/hits-radio/|title=Hits Radio|website=Planetradio.co.uk|access-date=2 May 2019}}

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).{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbceng.info/Eng_Inf/EngInf_4.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106011307/http://www.bbceng.info/Eng_Inf/EngInf_4.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2009 |url-status=dead }} 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 in 1994. Around 10% of BBC Radio 4 programming and a daily afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 (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). 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{{cite web |url=http://frequencyfinder.org.uk/tc/manc.html |title=Frequency Finder UK - Manchester |access-date=23 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013192143/http://frequencyfinder.org.uk/tc/manc.html |archive-date=13 October 2009 }}{{cite web |url=http://manchester.romanticide.org/about.php |title=everybody's kind of city |access-date=23 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070807235529/http://manchester.romanticide.org/about.php |archive-date=7 August 2007 }} including BBC Radio Manchester, Key 103, Greatest Hits Manchester, Capital Manchester, Heart North West, Smooth North West, XS Manchester and Gold. BBC Radio Manchester returned to its original title in 2006 after becoming BBC GMR in 1988.{{cite press release | title= Radio Manchester goes back to its roots | publisher = BBC | date=17 March 2006 | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/03_march/17/manchester.shtml | access-date = 6 October 2008}}

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 and MMU Radio at the Manchester Metropolitan University.{{cite web|url=http://www.fusefm.co.uk/ |title=FUSE FM – Manchester Student Radio |access-date=6 October 2008 |work=fusefm.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919151313/http://www.fusefm.co.uk/ |archive-date=19 September 2008 }} 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).See [http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ Radio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710144436/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ |date=10 July 2009 }} at the Ofcom web site and subpages, especially the [http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/amfm/analogue-main.htm directory of analogue radio stations], the map [http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/formats/acrm_styles.pdf Commercial Radio Styles] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304085205/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/formats/acrm_styles.pdf |date=4 March 2009 }} (PDF), and the map [http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/formats/crmmap.pdf Community Radio in the UK] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414200018/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/formats/crmmap.pdf |date=14 April 2010 }} (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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.freewebs.com/g1hbe/andromeda.htm |title=G1HBE | Better than Nothing |access-date=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324075718/http://www.freewebs.com/g1hbe/andromeda.htm |archive-date=24 March 2009 |url-status=dead }} Defunct (official) radio stations include Sunset 102 (which became Kiss 102, now Capital Manchester), and KFM (which became Signal Cheshire, now Imagine FM). 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).{{Cite web |url=http://www.khaosanroad.com/hacienda/hacienda.htm |title=The Hacienda |access-date=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605061555/http://www.khaosanroad.com/hacienda/hacienda.htm |archive-date=5 June 2009 |url-status=dead }} 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, of The Ricky Gervais Show; Allan Beswick, Andy Crane, Terry Christian, David Dunne, Nemone, Andy Kershaw, Andy Peebles, Brian Redhead, James Stannage, Mike Sweeny, Julian Worricker.

Film

{{See also|Films set in Manchester}}

File:Captain america set.JPG in Manchester, 2010.]]

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 has held the Commonwealth Film Festival and it has been the home of the biennial Insight Film Festival (2007-2013).[http://www.creativetimes.co.uk/articles/5-questions-with-john-forrest-founder-director-of-insight-film-festival 'Five questions with… John Forrest', Creative Times, 6 March 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204045417/http://www.creativetimes.co.uk/articles/5-questions-with-john-forrest-founder-director-of-insight-film-festival|date=4 December 2013}} Since 2015, it has hosted the Manchester Film Festival.{{Cite web |title=Manchester Film Festival |url=https://www.manchesterfilmfestival.com/ |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=Manchester Film Festival |language=en-GB}}

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.{{Cite news |title=Captain America film set on Manchester street |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9023000/9023638.stm |work=BBC |date=22 September 2010}} Producers chose Manchester because of its resemblance to 1940s New York City with its high buildings dating from pre-WW2 and the site is a shortlisted UNESCO world heritage site.{{Cite news |title=Captain America production heads for Manchester |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-10849901 |work=BBC |date=3 August 2010}} In 2004, the Northern Quarter district was also used for the filming of Alfie.

The 2009 film Sherlock Holmes was extensively filmed in Manchester alongside London and Liverpool. The movie was filmed in such locations as the Northern Quarter, Jersey Street in Ancoats and inside Manchester Town Hall.{{Cite news |title=Ancoats makes Hollywood mark in Sherlock Holmes |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/northeastmanchesteradvertiser/news/s/1186507_ancoats_makes_hollywood_mark_in_sherlock_holmes |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=17 December 2009}}{{Cite news |title=Sherlock movie shot on city streets |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1076445_sherlock_movie_shot_on_city_streets |newspaper=Manchester Evening News}}

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Newspapers

{{See also|Manchester Evening News|Manchester Guardian|Edward Hulton (senior)}}

File:Express Building Manchester.jpg, built in the 1930s but since vacated by the Daily Express. Newspaper printing still takes place at the building]]

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 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, 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/trinity-mirror-wants-men-staff-to-move-to-oldham-in-deal-with-gmg/s2/a537511/|title=Trinity Mirror wants MEN staff to move to Oldham in deal with GMG - Media news|date=9 February 2010|website=Journalism.co.uk|access-date=2 May 2019}} Many management functions of The Guardian were moved to London in 1964.{{cite book | title= Manchester : a history | last= Kidd | first= Alan J | year= 2006 | publisher= Carnegie | location= Lancaster | isbn= 978-1-85936-128-3 }} Its sister publication, the Manchester Evening News, 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.{{cite news | url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/aug/30/pressandpublishing.abcs1 | title= Paid-for sales of MEN slump | access-date= 6 October 2008 | last= Sweney | first= Mark | date= 30 August 2007 | work= Guardian Unlimited | publisher= Guardian News and Media Limited | location=London}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.merrymedia.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2881&Itemid=175 |title=M.E.N. Makes Changes To Metro Distribution |access-date=6 October 2008 |date=9 March 2007 |work=Merry Media News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022154944/http://www.merrymedia.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2881&Itemid=175 |archive-date=22 October 2007 }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/newspapers/ |title=manchester local press |access-date=6 November 2007 |year=2007 |work=ManchesterOnline |publisher=GMG Regional Digital |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812015752/http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/newspapers/ |archive-date=12 August 2011 }}
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.{{cite book | last= Waterhouse | first= Robert | title= The Other Fleet Street | publisher= First Edition Limited | year= 2004 | isbn= 1-84547-083-4 }} An attempt to launch a Northern daily newspaper, the North West Times, employing journalists made redundant by other titles, closed in 1988.[155] Another 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.{{cite news |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article341851.ece |title=New quality weekly for Manchester is a good idea on paper |access-date=6 October 2008 |last=Herbert |first=Ian |date=30 January 2006 |work=The Independent |publisher=Independent News and Media Limited |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830052407/http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article341851.ece |archive-date=30 August 2008 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.nw-enquirer.co.uk/the_enquirer_suspends_publication_.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226214918/http://www.nw-enquirer.co.uk/the_enquirer_suspends_publication_.html |title=The Enquirer suspends publication |access-date=6 October 2008 |archive-date=26 February 2007 |last=Waterhouse |first=Robert |date=20 September 2006 |work=The North West Enquirer |publisher=The North West Enquirer |url-status=dead }}
There are several local lifestyle magazines, including YQ Magazine and Moving Manchester.

{{cite web | url= http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-features/special-features/what's-(not)-on?-20070322146 | title= What's (not) on? | access-date= 6 November 2007 | last= Barnett | first= Mike | date= 22 March 2007 | website= How-do.co.uk | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081206022037/http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-features/special-features/what's-(not)-on?-20070322146 | archive-date= 6 December 2008 | url-status= dead }}

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 is [https://businessmanchester.co.uk/ 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 organisation [https://www.live-manchester.co.uk 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.

Student media

Most universities in Manchester have media entities run by students. Examples include weekly newspaper The Mancunion, online magazine The Manchester Magazine,{{cite web|url=http://www.manchestermag.com/about-us.html|title=About us|website=The Manchester Magazine|access-date=2 May 2019}} radio station Fuse Fm and video channel Fuse Tv.

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Manchester}}

{{Media in the United Kingdom|rmg}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Media In Manchester}}

Category:Mass media in Greater Manchester

Manchester