Manchester Lit&Phil in association with Salford University present Airwaves to Algorithms: How broadcasting and media is changing in Manchester.

Greater Manchester has long been home to some of the most famous broadcasters and programmes in the country, from the birth of commercial television at Granada Studios, to the BBC’s first regional television and radio site being based in Rusholme. Now, Salford hosts MediaCity, one of the largest hubs for the creative and broadcast industries in Europe.

So many of the most iconic and influential television and radio programmes in the world have Manchester running through their DNA – and the media and creative industries have long run through Manchester’s DNA too.

Now, though, things are changing. Viewing and listening habits have shifted, the media ecosystem has fragmented, traditional platforms have given way to, or been forced to join, an array of new and thriving digital platforms.

In a world where everyone is a content creator, and everyone is a publisher, where does this leave Manchester and its creative industries? What role does the region play in this new world order? And is traditional broadcast media as we knew it… dead?

Join us for a drinks reception and an interactive panel discussion, chaired by Times Radio’s Darryl Morris.

Our Panel

Darryl Morris – Times Radio – Chair
Seamus Simpson – Prof Media Policy, Salford University
Stuart Morgan – Founder of Audio Always
Matty White – TV & Radio Producer/Presenter

On The Night…

18.00 – 18.30 Venue opens for ticket holders to arrive for a welcome drink in the foyer (Included in ticket)
18.30 – 19.15 Panel discussion/speakers
19.15 – 19.45 Q&A
20.00 Event Closes

Venue

University of Salford, Plot B4, Orange Tower, Media City, Salford M50 2HE.

Plan Your Visit

Full details for Parking, Active travel (walking/cycling), access via Tram, Car and Bus, plus information regarding EV Car Charging can be found at https://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/visit-us/

Accessibility

The venue is fully accessible.

Manchester was the ‘shock city’ of the Industrial Revolution. Has it lived up to its early promise and can it now be a model for urban living in the 21^st century?

Brian Groom returns to the Lit & Phil to tell Manchester’s story from the earliest times, based on his new book Made in Manchester: A people’s history of the city that shaped the modern world.

Roman soldiers who came to build a castle in this rainy spot on the Empire’s edge probably little imagined that, centuries later, Manchester would be at the centre of an Industrial Revolution regarded by many as the most transformative period in human history. It was a turbulent time, leading to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819.

No one knew whether these upheavals would lead to prosperity or starvation, but the city became the centre of the global cotton industry and a pioneer in engineering. It was a hotbed for radical movements such as Chartism, yet also spawned the employer-led Anti-Corn Law League, which made free trade Britain’s economic orthodoxy.

Manchester Lit & Phil Trustee Charlotte Lanigan will interview Brian, and their discussion will cover the sweep of Manchester’s history. This will include pioneering figures such as scientist John Dalton (former Manchester Lit & Phil President), novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, the team who produced the world’s first stored-program computer, politician Ellen Wilkinson and singer Gracie Fields. It will tell the story of the city’s late 20^th-century decline and recent rebirth, including the role of sport, music and architecture – and the controversy over its skyscrapers and property-driven economic model.

Join us to explore what Manchester’s past can tell us about the city’s – and the world’s – future. Brian has quickly established himself as the leading authority on the history of northern England, and so too Manchester. Born and raised in Stretford, there’s no one better than him to peel back the layers of this ancient but very, very modern city.