Winning the right to broadcast on the new frequency will be seen as a major coup for the Xfm brand and will see it tap into a highly lucrative market.
Ofcom has estimated that the total number of adult listeners available in the area included in the frequency could reach 1.3 million.
Xfm鈥檚 joy at securing the licence will be matched with despair at the other leading bidders for the licence, which have included stations backed by some of the biggest group鈥檚 in the UK radio market.
Speculation has soared in recent weeks that the licence would be awarded to a rock music-based station, but the win for Xfm will see the likes of The Arrow (Chrysalis), The Storm (GWR), Kerrang 97.7 (Emap) and Virgin Classic Rock all miss out.
Graham Bryce, managing director of Xfm, said: 鈥淚 think it's not understating that it's the best application that Capital, now the GCap Group, has ever put in.
鈥淚t's a bit of recognition for the fantastic work that Xfm has done in UK radio and it's pioneering in terms of creativity and innovation.
鈥淚t's clear that Manchester is the home for the type of music we play.鈥
Other bids losing out include AllTalk FM (The Wireless Group), Kismat Radio (Sunrise Radio), Manchester 97.7 (SRH), 97.7 The City (Celedaor) and Alice 97.7FM (Atlantic Radio).
Meanwhile, media regulator Ofcom has also unveiled winning bids for new FM stations in Norwich and Ballymena in Northern Ireland.
The Norwich licence has been awarded to Crown FM, which is owned by Provincial Radio and part of the Tindle Radio group.
Crown FM, which said it would target the over-25s as part of its bid, beat off four other bids for the licence, which is expected have the potential to attract around 250,000 adult listeners.
The Ballymena licence, covering 56,000 adult listeners, was awarded to Seven Towers FM.
The bid was one of four sent to Ofcom in April and has been backed in part by the Alpha Newspaper Group and Irish News Group.
By Kevin May
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