Back in July, the idea of the Sounds of Salford radio was born on the back of some late night fag packet as a response to other stations that creator Simon Williams felt weren't representing Salford people (see previous Salford Star article click here).
The new online station hit the netwaves in late July with one presenter and a couple of shows per week. Now, over the last two months, it's clocked up over 14,000 listeners on its Spreaker platform alone and has topped the world charts on the Podomatic.com platform.
"It's been a phenomenal success, I never thought it would go this big" says Simon "I started it as a laugh but through word of mouth and Facebook it's just grown. We've done it by keeping it real and keeping it raw..."
Real and raw it certainly is raw, unsigned Salford bands getting airplay alongside established oldies, and real because each show is like going down the pub and gegging in on someone's conversation... `I'm not into politics but I am political' is a regular refrain on Coey's Rants, before he usually launches into, well, rants, that veer between the right-on and politically right off the scale... "Whatever he says I disagree with, and people seem to buzz off that" laughs Simon.
Meanwhile, Shazza's Sunday Night Special last week discussed shaving her `cat's head' in the bath...It's all proper Salford stories, from appealing to an end to gun wars, to winding up Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash mercilessly, with exclusive team stories from the inside days before the media get them.
Most of the time the banter is very funny and very, very Salford. Which is why so many of the city's ex-pats listen in. Indeed, listeners have been sending in photos of themselves wearing Sounds of Salford `Keep The Faith' t-shirts from all over the world. And the station has now re-branded with the logo chosen from around a half a dozen by its audience.
As well as the banter and the tunes, there's occasional documentaries (the last one on George Best), poetry from Little Hulton's JB Barrington and others, news, views and anything else that Simon reckons will tickle people's fancy, as well as Shazza's `cat's head'.
The station was set up as a D.I.Y. alternative to what was out there...to support local bands, to let local people have shows, and, well, to say stuff that no-one else would dare say on air...
Whatever it is, this station is definitely the Sounds of Salford - radio doesn't come any more raw or any more real...
* The Sounds of Salford has shows every night including Coey's Rants on a Friday night around 8pm; Ian Cullen's Rock n Roll Years on Mondays around 8pm, Shazza's Sunday Special around 8pm and Simon Williams himself most nights.
The station can be heard on Primcast when it's live click here
Individual shows can be heard on Spreaker.com click here
For more details on the station and to get involved see the Sounds of Salford Facebook page - click here
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