Real Radio XS

Real Radio XS

Broadcast area	North East England, Yorkshire, Severn Estuary, North West England, West Midlands, Central Scotland & Greater London
Frequency	FM 106.1 MHz (Manchester) & DAB (North East, Yorkshire, Severn Estuary, North West, West Midlands, London (i) and Central Scotland)
Programming
Format	Classic Rock
Ownership
Owner	GMG Radio
History
First air date	5th September 2011 (All Platforms)
Links
Website	Real Radio XS

106.1 Real Radio XS is a radio station based in Salford, Manchester, broadcasting a variety of peak-time news, rock music and talk output.

History

The station began test transmissions as 106.1 Rock Radio on FM on 10 April 2008. The transmitter is on top of the City Tower (the former Sunley Building) in Piccadilly in Manchester, the same place as 102 Capital FM and Xfm's transmitter and all 3 services share the same broadcast antenna system which is located on the centre transmission tower and is illuminated with red Aircraft warning lights at night.

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.

Due to the mix of output, the original application was made under the name Rock Talk. The license 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.

Following the award, a decision has been made to position the station as a sister to the newly-relaunched Scottish station 96.3 Rock Radio.

The parent company GMG owns the local newspaper Manchester Evening News, a series of local newspapers, a city-wide terrestrial and national satellite TV station Channel M and the two regional licences for North West - Real Radio and Smooth Radio.

In the bid document the company promoted its capacity to operate a "quad-media" newsroom in the new headquarters of the Evening News, which would provide Rock Talk's news but be editorially independent.

Rebrand

On July 28, 2011, Rock Radio owner GMG Radio announced that they were selling the Glasgow-based 96.3 Rock Radio station, and that the Manchester based service would be re-branded as Real Radio XS. In a press release, they said it was so that the service would 'benefit from the brand and scale of sister station Real Radio'.

At the end of August 2011, a further announcement came that the service would launch on September 5, 2011 and would be available over a much larger area, replacing Jazz FM, which had launched nationally via the Digital One DAB platform.

Alongside the name change, the relaunch also meant the end of networking with the Scottish 96.3 Rock Radio service.

Availability

BAND	Frequency	AREA	Platform	NOTES
FM	106.1	Manchester	FM	Was 106.1 Rock Radio
DAB	11D	Central Scotland	Switch Central Scotland
DAB	12A	Yorkshire & Humberside	MXR Yorkshire	Replaces Rock Radio
DAB	12A	West Midlands	MXR West Midlands	ReplacesJazz FM
DAB	12C	North East England	MXR North East	Replaces Rock Radio
DAB	12C	North West England	MXR North West	Replaces Jazz FM
DAB	12C	Greater London (i)	CE London	Replaces Jazz FM
DAB	12C	South Wales & Severn Estuary	MXR Severn Estuary	Replaces Rock Radio

Schedule

WEEKDAYS

Time	Programme	Presenter(s)
0600 - 1000	Breakfast	Sweens & Dewsbury
1000 - 1400		Rachel Houghton
1400 - 1800	Drivetime	Moose & Rachel
1800 - 0600	Non-Stop Rock	Automation

External links

• 106.1 Real Radio XS official Website [1]