Ok, here we go again. I needed a sandwich…and I’ve missed the first 15 minutes. Shoot me, I’m human.

Not much to pick up on here, but Coogan saying that perhaps we shouldn’t forget the roots of Manchester creativity. The grime, the industry and picking itself up by it’s bootstraps has defined how Manchester looks nowadays. But hey that’s progress and to echo his second thought we shouldn’t get too reminiscent about 1970’s Manchester.

Paul Robinson (sat next to me) was just chatting about how Tony Wilson was villified, almost hated around the place for most of his broadcast life. As we mentioned earlier, it was cool to bash Wilson when we were younger. But, I don’t think we really knew much about the guy…after all, I was a kid in Lytham. I never went to the Hacienda, only picked up on New order and Joy Division late in the day and rarely visited Manchester.

I often say that when I did come to this fair city, that I was taken aback that everyone knew my name. “alright pal”, they;d say and I’d mistake it for Paul. Yeah, yeah…small town kid, funny Manc accents and all that.

Yet, I still would say that Tony Wilson was an idiot. A weird fashion, granted, but it was almost fashionable.

14:30 - whoah, we’re 30 minutes in. Maconie prompts “What would Wilson think of this event?” A series of contradictions…anti-establishment…so how do you create something that fits in with that ethos?

And how does Manchester remember him? Statue…

Again, not much to pick up on that hasn’t been said before. So, I’m going to return to the thread above.

After his death, there’s almost a deification of Tony Wilson in the city. Obviously, people couldn’t see the impact he was having, whilst he was doing it, but after the fact it’s been clear to see. I’m not going to go over it again, but I’ll share this photograph with you.

I took this at the exhibition at Urbis last year. It sums up the very real effect that Tony Wilson had on ordinary peoples lives. ‘Nuff said.

14:55 - Amazing interjection from the floor recalling how in the ‘jolson era’ there was a pub on Mill St that use to have Al Jolson competitions. Now, it seems to have little relevance to the proceedings but what a fantastic comment. Did anyone out there catch what that was all about?

I have to take a break now else my head will explode. Will be back at 4pm. Sharp.

-pc.

I wonder what Wilson would have made of social media? I’d bet he’d be there, right in the centre of what’s happening in Manchester and getting his hands dirty. Embrace it? Of course. Feel threatened by it? Unlikely.

I also think he’d be right there at the beginning of i4SM and driving it forward.

13:10 - Stuart Maconie is late…and Mark Radcliffe is 50. He’s also telling porkies about the press rooms screens not working. Elliot Rashman stepping in for Maconie.

Getting into small radio stations was a better route into the industry than being a researcher at the BBC. Recalling how you could just get stuff done, by weedling your way around the organisation. Piccadilly Radio back in the day reflected this - Mancunia music just wasn’t being played. But Radcliffe was able to get into the playlist after pestering to get on the air. Eventually they got two hours one day to play A Certain Ratio, followed by the local cricket scores!

Rashman asking how the radio nowadays can get by without even having human DJ’s during the day! It’s an interesting one. Technology has replaced the old style DJ’s because after all, XFM etc are commercial stations - the bottom line is king, and replacing DJ’s with pre-recorded ‘junk’ helps the bottom line.

Even I’ve been one of XFM’s DJ’s. I kid not. Link to follow.

13:15 - here’s an echo for i4SM’s ideals. Tony and Mark Radcliffe both massive proponents of the North and Manchester in particular. You shouldn’t have to go to London - there’s a massive pool of talent, creativity and drive up here and Manchester needs to stick it’s head above the parapet a bit more.

That’s me speaking. But Radcliffe, Wilson and i4SM have the same goal at heart.

13:20 - Maconie: Wilson felt that if you didn’t have people who thought you were wrong, then you weren’t doing something right! Radcliffe…”Yeah, I lost 2million listeners from the Radio 1 breakfast show.” Applause…and just because it didn’t work, doesn’t mean you were wrong. That’s the spirit. That’s the kind of attitude we need more around the country…its a trait that Americans have in spades.

Indeed, business schools will tell you…fail twice to succeed in business.

Radcliffe is eminently entertaining. Effortless in his northern-ness and a genuine nature that justsmakes you want to go out for a pint with him. That’s a digression.

13:25 - Wilson saw Factory Records as being in the lineage of great northern creations. The canals, industrial revolution and the new Joy Division album. Hey and why not? Manchester needed a leap of faith and Wilson was keen on ensuring that it took the leap.

Look around you. Perhaps Wilson had a profound effect on what has been the Manchester renaissance, giving us a peek at the “bright lights of possibility into a bleak landscape”. Manchester has a wonderful history of invention…yet we could argue that it doesn’t capitalise. Baby (the first memory capable computer) is an interesting case in point. The first computer music (early MP3 here)…let’s break that down - Manchester invents the computerand ends up with a massive music industry. This is Manchester.

The US takes the computer and forms a huge new industrial and service sector for the rest of the world. They get Silicon Valley. We get Factory Records. Which is better? The world would always have had the computer…but perhaps not Factory Records.

13:35 - Lovely story from Radcliffe about Wilson bringing Blue Monday into Piccadilly Radio and demanding he played it immediately. Not the A-sde though…the instrumental B-side! After 7 or 8 minutes…well, you get the picture.

Interesting Wilson theory. His cycle was 13 years…1963, 1976, 1989 - seismic ripples in the music industry. Wilson takes on  Schumpeter anyone?

13:50 - Lovely comment on the mogulus channel. “Wilson - the author of Manchester”. I’ve had a lingering thought for a while that Manchester Business School should have a case study on Tony Wilson and the Factory. We should do that…it’s a small way that MBS could bring his ‘experience’ to the MBA’s. It may be how not to run a business, but it would be about life. Let’s discuss that.

13:55 - Summing up the last five minutes - the media industry is disconnected with their audiences. The demographics that radio stations base their audience on are flawed. There are changes happening out amongst the listeners/viewers that are not understood by the controllers. Go figure.

14:00 - and relax.