In the Granada TV archive is a device where you can type in any band and be presented with a list of references to shows on which they appeared. So while Joy Division crop up on So It Goes and The Stone Roses are all over The Other Side Of Midnight, try the Boo Radleys or Northern Uproar and you'll find diddly-nothing.

Manchester and Liverpool music might be suffering from the worst local radio drought during peacetime, but regional television carried a blind spot all through the '90s. It stops now.

Realising that both major cities and their satellite towns of Granadaland are in the thrall of the most potent local scenes for years, the station is recharging the tradition with the six-part series showcasing local artists.

Each show features two studio performances, plus interviews, live footage, archive material and some 'very exciting exclusives', which are being kept hush. Spookily, it's filmed in the same studio as So It Goes was all those years ago. And the man chosen to step into Mr Wilson's loafers? Enter Paperecordings honcho, Robodisco DJ and self-confessed 'loudmouth', Elliot Eastwick.

"I've never been a behind-the-scenesy person," he says of the career swerve, "even though the music that I've been involved in has never been something that's been that commercially viable. I've never been happy to sit back, and I'm not just interested in dance music."

Everybody involved agrees that the highlight so far (four episodes were complete at time of writing) has been Chorley three-piece Fi-Lo Radio. The adopted Mancs deliver an incendiary version of former single 'Pretty Bones', and surely edged closer to a deal.

"They were the ones that surprised me the most, just because I knew nothing about them," admits Eastwick. "They were just louder than anyone else as well, the lead singer Jon-Lee, he's got a really good snarl, he's like Lemmy sometimes when he's singing. And they just cranked it up really loud! And it wasn't like the things you'd see in a telly studio, it was like you'd see at a gig."

Throughout the series we'll see Alfie's loping take on Fat Larry's Band's 'Zoom', electro-people Superstring debuting a live-vocal version of last year's single 'I Feel Better', alongside sets from Jane Weaver's Misty Dixon, Moco, and Merseyside chancers The Coral and The Crescent.

And while the musical warfare between the two cities is briefly halted, there's a tangible feeling of one big family about the show, giving crucial breaks to bands championed in these very pages. What's more, it's a missing link between the thriving underbelly and people in the real world who aren't into tracking down limited edition vinyl pressings. Which just leaves the question, how will Elliot deal with the inevitable comparisons to Mr AHW?

"Well I'm not painting my toenails or anything!" he chuckles. "As much as it's a continuation of that kind of thing, if it was a genuine continuation then I'm sure they would have asked Tony to do it. There is a comparison to it because it's a local music programme on Granada, and we're trying to get new bands on the telly first."

This Is Music starts on Granada/ITV1 on Wednesday, July 3 at 10.50pm.

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