Emap’s all-speech radio station, City Talk 105.9, has moved a step closer to launch after signing up daytime TV icon Trisha Goddard as a presenter.

Goddard will host ‘Talk to Trisha’ every Sunday from 8pm - 10pm, bringing with her the kind of real-life debate forum that she successfully peddled on daytime television.

Goddard, commenting from Liverpool’s Town Hall, said: “I am so excited about joining City Talk. Every time I meet a ‘scouser’ I\'m impressed by how open, articulate and opinionated they are. Liverpool is a city that loves to talk.”

Emap will certainly be hoping Liverpool “loves to talk” after previously hedging rough estimates that the speech-only format could be worth £20million in revenue.

The station’s launch date has yet to be confirmed but City Talk’s commercial director, Mike Sarath, had previously told The Drum that it would fall roughly in-line with the city’s Capital of Culture launch, this weekend.

Fellow new arrival Michael Brandon, famed for his role in 80s TV series Dempsey & Makepeace, joins Goddard in the station’s line-up alongside Dean Sullivan, Margi Clarke and Simon O’Brien.