The Guardian Media Group have won the new FM licence for Manchester with their Rock Talk station which promises the people of Greater Manchester a rampant mix of, erm, rock and talk. GMG already have two North West based radio stations, Smooth FM and the Century FM outpost they recently acquired from GCap. But the new service will be the first Manchester specific station in the group. And they are the Manchester Guardian, after all, so I think they probably deserve it.
Commenting on the licence win, GMG Radio top dog John Myers told reporters: "At last Ofcom has decided to award something totally different. The bid led on the whole GMG ethos of offering something different. It is an opportunity to do speech at peak time with classic rock around it. It is a totally new format for Britain. We will be targeting BBC Radio Manchester. I think one of the reasons Ofcom awarded us the licence is that we have the facilities in the North West to make it work".