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XS Manchester
XS Manchester was an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station was owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcast from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. Up until its closure, it was Communicorp UK's only station that did not broadcast a programme service supplied by Global.
As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 112,000, according to RAJAR.
The station ended regular programming on February 21st 2025, and officially ceased transmission the following Monday, February 24th 2025, when Radio X offshoot 'Radio X 90s' took over the former XS frequencies.
The station began technical test transmissions on 10 April 2008 and launched, as 106.1 Rock Radio, on 5 May 2008.
The station organised a 'Free one-day festival' to promote its launch. This was held at Cathedral Gardens, with headlining bands Bad Company and Gun with support acts Salford Jets, Letz Zep and Mercury. The performances started at 1:00pm with a countdown to 6:00pm when the station went live. The first voice heard on Rock Radio was the mid-morning presenter Moose. The station replicated the original 96.3 Rock Radio in Glasgow by featuring voiceover Nick Coady whose prerecorded humorous comments, considered controversial by some, were heard in between most music tracks.
Due to the mix of output, the original application was made under the name RockTalk. The licence competition included bids by existing licence holders Chrysalis and Emap as well as a number by smaller local groups. Chrysalis Radio's managing director expressed his surprise that the talk/rock hybrid won in preference to a dedicated talk or rock station, both of which had been offered by his group.
Both 106.1 Rock Radio in Manchester and 96.3 Rock Radio in Glasgow became popular stations amongst the local Rock and Metal music communities, and the stations expanded on to DAB digital Radio in Newcastle and London. However, after initial solid growth, audience numbers stalled, and alternative options were considered to find bigger audiences for the two frequencies.
On 28 July 2011, GMG Radio announced that the Manchester-based service would be re-branded as Real Radio XS, while the Glasgow-based sister station 96.3 Rock Radio would be sold. The decision was justified by the company on the grounds that the new Real Radio XS service would "benefit from the brand and scale of sister station Real Radio".
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XS Manchester
XS Manchester was an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station was owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcast from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. Up until its closure, it was Communicorp UK's only station that did not broadcast a programme service supplied by Global.
As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 112,000, according to RAJAR.
The station ended regular programming on February 21st 2025, and officially ceased transmission the following Monday, February 24th 2025, when Radio X offshoot 'Radio X 90s' took over the former XS frequencies.
The station began technical test transmissions on 10 April 2008 and launched, as 106.1 Rock Radio, on 5 May 2008.
The station organised a 'Free one-day festival' to promote its launch. This was held at Cathedral Gardens, with headlining bands Bad Company and Gun with support acts Salford Jets, Letz Zep and Mercury. The performances started at 1:00pm with a countdown to 6:00pm when the station went live. The first voice heard on Rock Radio was the mid-morning presenter Moose. The station replicated the original 96.3 Rock Radio in Glasgow by featuring voiceover Nick Coady whose prerecorded humorous comments, considered controversial by some, were heard in between most music tracks.
Due to the mix of output, the original application was made under the name RockTalk. The licence competition included bids by existing licence holders Chrysalis and Emap as well as a number by smaller local groups. Chrysalis Radio's managing director expressed his surprise that the talk/rock hybrid won in preference to a dedicated talk or rock station, both of which had been offered by his group.
Both 106.1 Rock Radio in Manchester and 96.3 Rock Radio in Glasgow became popular stations amongst the local Rock and Metal music communities, and the stations expanded on to DAB digital Radio in Newcastle and London. However, after initial solid growth, audience numbers stalled, and alternative options were considered to find bigger audiences for the two frequencies.
On 28 July 2011, GMG Radio announced that the Manchester-based service would be re-branded as Real Radio XS, while the Glasgow-based sister station 96.3 Rock Radio would be sold. The decision was justified by the company on the grounds that the new Real Radio XS service would "benefit from the brand and scale of sister station Real Radio".