Media in Manchester
Encyclopedia
Music of Manchester
-The pop groups of the 1960s and early 1970s:Manchester had an impressive music scene before 1976, with groups like The Hollies, The Bee Gees, Herman's Hermits, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, Freddie and the Dreamers in the 1960s and Barclay James Harvest and 10cc in the early 1970s. Top of the...
and sport
Sport in Manchester
Sports in the City of Manchester are an important part of the city's culture, with SportCity being a dedicated district in east Manchester for sports such as football, athletics and cycling....
has been an integral part of Mancunian
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
culture for many generations and has been described as the only other British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
city to rival to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in terms of television broadcasting.
Home to the longest running serial soap drama in the world in Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
and the greatest British television documentary as voted for by esteemed film-makers in the Up Series, its latest documentary 56 Up, is due for premiere on the 13 May 2012. Manchester even had its own entertainment complex
Granada Studios Tour
Granada Studios Tour was an entertainment theme park at the Granada Studios complex in Castlefield, Manchester which England operated from 1988 to 1999...
showcasing Granada Manchester's television exports. Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH, KCB, FBA was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians of his generation...
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." The Granada Manchester franchise was commercially fuelled by its juggernaut production Coronation Street and eventually Granada took over the eleven other franchisees through a series of hostile bids to form ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 2004. However key script-writers at Granada such as Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott is a BAFTA award-winning English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain today, following his work on many popular series, including Coronation Street, Cracker and Shameless,...
, Kay Mellor
Kay Mellor
Kay Mellor, OBE is an English actress, scriptwriter, and director best known for her work on several successful television drama series.-Early life:...
, Nicola Shindler
Nicola Shindler
Nicola Shindler is a British television producer and executive, the founder of Red Production Company, one of the foremost independent television drama production companies working in the UK today....
swiftly left after the ITV plc. formation and formed their own production companies.
A wide array of award-winning British television programmes have originated from, and often been set in, the city of Manchester, such as Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport is a long-running BBC quiz show which started on 2 December 1968 and continues to this day. It is currently recorded at The Studios, MediaCityUK...
, Dragon's Den
Dragons' Den (UK)
Dragons' Den is a British television series, hosted by Evan Davis. The format of the show is owned by Sony Pictures and is based on the original Japanese series, which has been sold around the world...
, The Royle Family
The Royle Family
The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...
, University Challenge
University Challenge
University Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
, Mastermind
Mastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
, Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
, Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
, It's a Knockout
It's a Knockout
It's a Knockout was adapted from the French show Intervilles. It ran between from 7 August 1966 to 25 December 1988 on BBC1, 28 May 1990 on ITV, 3 August 1991 to 24 December 1994 on S4C and from 3 September 1999 to 6 January 2001 on Channel 5, produced by Richard Hearsey and Ronin Entertainment...
, World in Action
World in Action
World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
, Seven Up!
Seven Up!
The Up Series is a series of documentary films produced by Granada Television that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. The documentary has had seven episodes spanning 49 years and the documentary has been broadcast on both ITV and BBC...
, Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited (TV serial)
Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...
, Stars in Their Eyes
Stars In Their Eyes
Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show that ran on Saturdays nights from 21 July 1990 until 23 December 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars...
, The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor was a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on Mondays at 19:00....
, Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
, Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
, Life on Mars
Life on Mars (TV series)
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
, Cold Feet
Cold Feet
Cold Feet is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his award-winning 1997 Comedy Premiere of the same name. The storyline follows three couples experiencing the...
, Cracker
Cracker (UK TV series)
Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...
and The Street
The Street (TV series)
The Street is a British television drama series created by Jimmy McGovern and produced by Granada Television for the BBC. The series follows the lives of various residents of an unnamed street in Manchester and features an all-star cast including Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Bob...
with the production of Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
and Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
in 2011 to join the list of renowned programmes to be broadcast from Manchester. In the BFI TV list of greatest British television programmes decided by industry professionals in 2000, nine TV programmes which were devised and produced in Manchester made the top 50.
The new MediaCityUK just outside of the City of Manchester marks major decentralisation
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
for the BBC and other tenants such as ITV will join the BBC at the new base. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
opted to move to MediaCityUK in 2004 as a replacement for the aging New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House is the home of the BBC on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. The studios house BBC Manchester, BBC North, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department...
Studios on Oxford Road, Manchester and the majority of BBC investment was invested disproportionately in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
despite the majority of TV license payers outside of the capital. MediaCityUK will house the BBC Sport
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC. It became a fully dedicated division of the BBC in 2000. It incorporates programmes such as Match of the Day, Grandstand , Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Rugby Special and coverage of Formula One motor racing, MotoGP and the Wimbledon Tennis...
, BBC Children's, BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
departments and a major BBC Channel such as BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
or BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
by 2015 if the move is a success.
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper was founded in Manchester as the Manchester Guardian and the city's regional newspaper, the Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
is the second most popular regional newspaper in the UK after the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
.
Television broadcasting
Holme Moss
Holme Moss is a moor in the south Pennines of England, on the border between the High Peak District of Derbyshire and the West Yorkshire district of Kirklees. It is just inside the boundary of the Peak District National Park....
) did not open until 1951. Commercial TV began in May 1956 and the signals were broadcast from Winter Hill
Winter Hill transmitting station
The Winter Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site situated on Winter Hill, at the southern boundary of the Borough of Chorley, and above Bolton in Greater Manchester, England...
.
BBC in Manchester
The former home of Mancunian FilmsMancunian Films
Mancunian Films was a British motion picture production company organized in 1934.Founded by John E. Blakeley, the company originally produced films in London on extremely low budgets. Blakeley's first studio consisted of a single soundstage in a loft space above a taxi garage...
, a converted church on Dickinson Road, Rusholme
Rusholme
-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...
, 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
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
was broadcast on New Year's Day 1964 from the studio, and Yorkshire host Jimmy Savile
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...
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
Lime Grove Studios was a film studio complex built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915 situated in a street named Lime Grove, inShepherd's Bush, west London, north of Hammersmith and described by Gaumont as "the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country...
in west London in 1967.
The BBC's northern Outside Broadcast base was at another former church on the corner of Plymouth Grove and Birch Lane in Longsight
Longsight
Longsight is an area of Manchester, England, about south of the city centre. Its population is about 16,000.-History:Longsight has been known over the past for its gang related violence, similar to that of nearby Moss Side. Most of the violence came from tensions between 2 gangs; The 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
Nationwide (TV series)
Nationwide was a BBC News and Current affairs television programme broadcast on BBC One each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting...
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
It's a Knockout
It's a Knockout was adapted from the French show Intervilles. It ran between from 7 August 1966 to 25 December 1988 on BBC1, 28 May 1990 on ITV, 3 August 1991 to 24 December 1994 on S4C and from 3 September 1999 to 6 January 2001 on Channel 5, produced by Richard Hearsey and Ronin Entertainment...
was one such succes; 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
New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House is the home of the BBC on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. The studios house BBC Manchester, BBC North, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department...
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
Cutting It
Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :...
was set in the city's Northern Quarter and ran on BBC1 for five series. Life on Mars
Life on Mars (TV series)
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
was set in 1973 Manchester. Also, The Street
The Street (TV series)
The Street is a British television drama series created by Jimmy McGovern and produced by Granada Television for the BBC. The series follows the lives of various residents of an unnamed street in Manchester and features an all-star cast including Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Bob...
, 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 at Salford Quays
Salford Quays
Salford Quays is an area of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it became one of the first and largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom following the closure of the dockyards in...
. 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 TheatreCapitol Theatre, Manchester
The Capitol Theatre was a cinema in Didsbury, Manchester later used as television studios by ITV contractor ABC from 1956 to 1968.The building opened as a cinema in 1931, but was badly damaged by fire in April 1932 and was closed for repairs until August 1933...
at the junction of Parrs Wood Road and School Lane served as the northern studios of ITV station ABC Weekend Television
Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies established in the United Kingdom during the 1950s by cinema chain companies in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television which was taking away their cinema audiences.In this...
. Early episodes of The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
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
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion, London, was the British ITV contractor for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 1954 and 29 July 1968. Transmissions started on 22 September 1955.-Formation:...
. The site was then used briefly by Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
until its own facilities in Leeds were ready. In 1971, the studios were acquired by Manchester Polytechnic
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
, 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. It was the only original franchisee formed in 1954 that kept its license for North West EnglandNorth West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
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
ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a television production company owned by the British television network ITV. It not only makes programmes primarily for its parent company, but also for other networks...
.
The first ITV franchisee was Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
, 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
Castlefield
Castlefield is an inner city area of Manchester, in North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, Quay Street, Deansgate and the Chester Road. It was the site of the Roman era fort of Mamucium or Mancunium which gave its name to Manchester...
area of the city. Granada produces the world's oldest and most watched television soap opera, Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, which is screened five times a week on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
.
BBC and ITV move out of Manchester to MediaCityUK
By the 2000s, Manchester had proved itself as a key base for the ITV brand with its Granada franchise and BBC NorthBBC North
BBC North is a brand used by the BBC to mean any of the following.*The large BBC North region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968....
at New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House is the home of the BBC on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. The studios house BBC Manchester, BBC North, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department...
. Granada Television based in Manchester was one of ITV's most successful franchisees along with London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
(LWT), which was often thanks to successful programmes produced in Manchester such as Coronation Street. The BBC considers Manchester as one of the three main BBC production bases in England, alongside London and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
.
The turn of the millennium also saw Manchester gain its own television channel, Channel M
Channel m
Channel M is a regional television station, based in Manchester, England. It began broadcasting on 14 February 2000 as Manchester Student Television and is owned and operated by the Guardian Media Group.-Coverage:...
, 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.
In June 2004, it was revealed that the BBC planned to redevelop the aging New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House is the home of the BBC on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. The studios house BBC Manchester, BBC North, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department...
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.
Production companies based in Manchester
- 3SixtyMedia3SixtyMedia3sixtymedia is a joint venture production facilities company, based in Manchester and co-owned by Granada Television and BBC Manchester...
– a joint ventureJoint ventureA joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
between Granada Manchester and BBC NorthBBC NorthBBC North is a brand used by the BBC to mean any of the following.*The large BBC North region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968....
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 ChallengeUniversity ChallengeUniversity Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
at The Manchester StudiosThe Manchester StudiosThe Manchester Studios is a television studio on Quay Street in Manchester with the facility to broadcast live and film drama programmes. The studios have been home to Granada Television since its inception in 1954...
. - Red Production CompanyRed Production CompanyRed Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker...
– formed by Nicola Schindler who left Granada Manchester after ITV plc was formed in 2004.
Radio
- BBC Radio 5 LiveBBC Radio 5 LiveBBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
– National - BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra – National
- BBC Radio ManchesterBBC Radio ManchesterBBC Radio Manchester is a BBC Local Radio station broadcasting to Greater Manchester in North West England. It broadcasts 24 hours a day from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays via a transmitter at Holme Moss, with a small repeater at Saddleworth covering Tameside and Saddleworth...
– Manchester area - XFM ManchesterXfm ManchesterXfm Manchester is a commercial radio station broadcasting alternative and indie music to Manchester in North West England.It builds on the brand and format established by Xfm London. The majority of programming is shared but some is produced specifically for Manchester...
– Regional - Capital Manchester – Manchester area
- Key 103Key 103Key 103 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the city of Manchester and the north west of England. Its output is principally contemporary pop and dance music. Formerly owned by Trans World Communications, EMAP and now by Bauer Radio, Key 103 is part of Bauer's Place Network of...
– Manchester area - Piccadilly Magic 1152Piccadilly Magic 1152NB Piccadilly Radio re-directs here. See also Key 103Piccadilly Magic 1152 , began broadcasting as Piccadilly Radio, which was Manchester's first commercial radio station.-Early years:...
– Manchester area
Manchester was an important location for early radio broadcasts in Britain, the first of which were made by the Marconi Company
Marconi Company
The Marconi Company Ltd. was founded by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 as The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company...
when it began experimental transmissions of a station that was known as 2ZY
2ZY
2ZY was the name of a radio station broadcast by the British Broadcasting Company from Manchester, England, between 1922 and 1927. It had its first test transmission on 450 metres on 17 May 1922 and began regular broadcasts on 15 November 1922, one day after sister station 2LO started daily...
on 17 May 1922. The British Broadcasting Company
British Broadcasting Company
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom and licensed by the British General Post Office...
was granted a licence for AM radio broadcasts in October of the same year and inaugurated a station called 2LO
2LO
2LO was the second radio station to regularly broadcast in the United Kingdom . It began broadcasting on 11 May 1922, for one hour a day from the seventh floor of Marconi House in London's Strand...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 14 November 1922, followed the next day by 2ZY, the BBC's official Manchester station. 2ZY made regular transmissions from the Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, they were particularly well known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam...
factory in Trafford Park
Trafford Park
Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Located opposite Salford Quays, on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, it is west-southwest of Manchester city centre, and north of Stretford. Until the late 19th century it was the...
on 800 kHz (375 metres) Medium Wave).
In July 1925 the BBC opened a much higher powered transmitter at Daventry
Daventry
Daventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 22,367 .-Geography:The town is also the administrative centre of the larger Daventry district, which has a population of 71,838. The town is 77 miles north-northwest of London, 13.9 miles west of Northampton and 10.2...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, 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
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
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 hall in Hulme
Hulme
Hulme is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. Located immediately south of Manchester city centre, it is an area with significant industrial heritage....
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
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
and Coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
. One example, Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
and Olive Shapley
Olive Shapley
Olive Mary Shapley was a British radio producer and broadcaster.As an undergraduate at St Hugh's College, Oxford from 1929 she soon met her lifelong friend Barbara Betts, the future Labour politician Barbara Castle; the two women spent their holidays together, and unlike Betts Shapley was briefly...
's The Classic Soil (1939), on the Manchester poor, was inspired by Fredrick Engels assertion 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
Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.-History:Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey the programme was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's Light Programme . It was transferred to its current home in 1973...
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
Piccadilly Magic 1152
NB Piccadilly Radio re-directs here. See also Key 103Piccadilly Magic 1152 , began broadcasting as Piccadilly Radio, which was Manchester's first commercial radio station.-Early years:...
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
New Broadcasting House
New Broadcasting House is the home of the BBC on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. The studios house BBC Manchester, BBC North, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department...
(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
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
in 1994. Around 10% of BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programming and a daily afternoon show on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
(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 Key103. 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, 102 Capital FM, Piccadilly Magic 1152
Piccadilly Magic 1152
NB Piccadilly Radio re-directs here. See also Key 103Piccadilly Magic 1152 , began broadcasting as Piccadilly Radio, which was Manchester's first commercial radio station.-Early years:...
, 105.4 Century FM
105.4 Century FM
105.4 Real Radio is an independent local radio station controlled by GMG Radio. It is the flagship station of the Real Radio network and has a regional license to broadcast to North West England. The station was part of the Century Network for over ten years until it was rebranded in 2009.The...
, 100.4 Smooth FM, Rock Radio
Rock Radio
Rock Radio is a brand of radio stations in the United Kingdom owned by GMG Radio.96.3 Rock Radio was the first station in the network. It operates in West Central Scotland...
, Capital Gold 1458, 96.2 The Revolution and Xfm
Xfm
Xfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.-History:Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are...
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 Fuse FM
Fuse FM
Fuse FM is a student radio station covering the campuses of the University of Manchester, England, UK, broadcasting all year round online via the station's website from the University of Manchester's Student's Union....
at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
and MMU Radio at the Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
. A community radio network is coordinated by Radio Regen
Radio regen
Radio Regen is a charity based in Manchester, UK, that provides training in community radio.- Origins :Emerging from the kernel idea of radio training for unemployed people, Radio Regen was born as a non-profit organisation in April 1999, in partnership with Manchester College of Arts and...
, with stations covering the South Manchester communities of Ardwick, Longsight and Levenshulme (All FM 96.9) and Wythenshawe (Wythenshawe FM 97.2Mhz).
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
Tameside
The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after the River Tame which flows through the borough and spans the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge. Its western...
. Defunct (official) radio stations include Sunset 102
Sunset 102
Sunset 102 was the first of a new type of station licensed by The Independent Broadcasting Authority back in 1989.-History:Manchester dance station Sunset 102 went into liquidation in October 1993...
(which became Kiss 102
Kiss 102
-History:The frequency was originally issued to Sunset 102 Radio - The Kickin FM but that suffered some financial problems. In May 1993, the Radio Authority made a decision to prematurely terminate Sunset's licence, apparently accusing the station of providing inaccurate information about its...
, now Galaxy Manchester), and KFM (which became Signal Cheshire, now Imagine FM
Imagine FM
Imagine FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Stockport broadcasting to South Manchester and Cheshire in the North West of England.-History:...
). These stations, as well as many 1990s pirates, played a significant role in the city's House music culture, also known as the Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
scene, which was based around clubs like The Haçienda
The Haçienda
Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...
(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
Karl Pilkington is a British podcaster, author, television personality and former radio producer. He is best known for the Sky travel series, An Idiot Abroad, which was also presented in the United States on the Science Channel, in Canada on Discovery Channel and in Australia on One HD, and The...
, of The Ricky Gervais Show
The Ricky Gervais Show
The Ricky Gervais Show is a comedy audio show in the UK starring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, later adapted into an animated televised version debuting for HBO and Channel 4 in 2010. The show started in November 2001 on Xfm, and aired in weekly periods for months at a time...
; Allan Beswick
Allan Beswick
Allan Beswick is a radio broadcaster who presents the breakfast show on BBC Radio Manchester in Manchester.Prior to becoming a radio presenter, Beswick worked as a soldier, a bus driver and a mental health nurse and for the Citizen's Advice Bureau; during his time at the C.A.B...
, Andy Crane
Andy Crane
Howard Andrew 'Andy' Crane is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting Children's BBC , amongst many others.-Career:...
, Terry Christian
Terry Christian
Terry Christian is a British television and radio presenter whose credits include Channel 4's late night Youth Entertainment show The Word and ITV1 moral issues talk show It's My Life...
, David Dunne
David Dunne
David Dunne is a UK Club DJ, Radio presenter and former head of music at MTV.-Career:David Dunne's DJ career spans more than twenty years on Radio and as a club DJ...
, Nemone
Nemone
Nemone Metaxas is a British DJ, Radio Presenter, Television Presenter/Producer and former athlete of Greek descent.Her family's Greek ancestral village is in Sekhia and the family name is `Anastasakis'....
, Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...
, Andy Peebles
Andy Peebles
-Early life:The son of a head postmaster, Peebles attended Bishop's Stortford College, Hertfordshire before training in hotel management.After DJing at a college dance he was offered a job at Samanthas in Bournemouth.He worked at Chelsea Village,The Scotch of St James in London and at the Hardrock...
, Brian Redhead
Brian Redhead
Brian Leonard Redhead was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was probably best known as a co-presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 which he worked on from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death...
, James Stannage
James Stannage
James Stannage, born 22 February 1950, is a British late night talk show radio host. He is best known for presenting The Late Night James Stannage Talk Show on Manchester's Key 103...
, Mike Sweeny, Julian Worricker
Julian Worricker
Julian Worricker is a British journalist, currently working as a presenter of You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 and a relief presenter on BBC News, the corporation's 24 hour rolling news channel...
.
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. Also Grand Hotel (1932), in which Wallace Beery often shouts "Manchester!". Others include Velvet Goldmine starring Ewan McGregor, and Sir Alec Guinness's The Man in the White SuitThe Man in the White Suit
The Man In The White Suit is a 1951 satirical comedy film made by Ealing Studios. It starred Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, and Cecil Parker, and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. It followed a common Ealing Studios theme of the "common man" against the Establishment...
. 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
Northern Quarter
The Northern Quarter is an area of Manchester City Centre, England, generally marked out between Piccadilly, Victoria and Ancoats, and centred around Oldham Street, just off Piccadilly Gardens....
district used due to its pre-WW2 architecture. In 2010, the car chase scene in Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America. It is the fifth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...
was filmed in Manchester's Northern Quarter, on Dale Street to be specific. Producers chose Manchester because of its resemblance to 1940s New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
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 (2004 film)
Alfie
Alfie is a 1966 British film directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Michael Caine. It is an adaptation by Bill Naughton of his own novel and play of the same name. The film was released by Paramount Pictures....
.
The 2009 film version of Sherlock Holmes was extensively filmed in Manchester alongside London and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. The movie was filmed in such locations as the Northern Quarter, Jersey Street in Ancoats
Ancoats
Ancoats is an inner city area of Manchester, in North West England, next to the Northern Quarter and the northern part of Manchester's commercial centre....
and inside Manchester Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian-era, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. The building functions as the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments....
.
Newspapers
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
, 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
Metro (Associated Metro Limited)
Metro is a free daily newspaper in the United Kingdom published by Associated Newspapers Ltd . It is available from Monday to Friday each week on many public transport services across the United Kingdom.-History:The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in 14 UK urban centres...
North West is available free at Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...
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.[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.• There are several local lifestyle magazines, including YQ Magazine and Moving Manchester.