A regional daily which closed last year is set to return online next week.

The Oldham Chronicle’s website will go live again on 14 February, less than six months after the newspaper ceased publication when its parent company, Hirst, Kidd and Rennie Ltd, went into administration.

New owner Credible Media, which owns local radio station Revolution 96.2, has declined to say whether the newspaper will be revived in print since announcing the digital revival, but a number of former Chronicle journalists have been taken on ahead of the web relaunch.

A total of 49 staff lost their jobs when the Chronicle closed in August.

The new site will be free to view, with no subscription required, and will go live at 10am next Wednesday.

Revolution 96.2 managing director Matt Ramsbottom said he was “delighted to bring the hugely respected and much missed title back to life digitally”.

He added: “Everyone has worked hard to get the Oldham Chronicle brand publishing local news again online. With the love the readers have for the Chronicle, Valentine’s day is fitting to relaunch the website and social media platforms.”

Simon Smedley has been announced as the journalist who will take the lead on the site’s breaking news coverage.

He spent five years with the Chronicle before its demise.

Said Simon. “It was a devastating blow what happened to the Chronicle so unexpectedly.

“But we’re back now, and I can’t wait to help feed the hunger there is out there for news and sport in our town. There’s lots of terrific things going on in and around Oldham, and I hope the people of the town will get right behind the much-anticipated return of the Chronicle.”

HTFP has asked for further details on who will edit the site and the number of staff involved.

Two new weekly print titles sprang up to cover Oldham following the closure of the Chronicle – Newsquest’s Oldham Times and Quest Media’s Oldham Reporter – while the Manchester Evening News launched a new daily Oldham edition.

Credible Media has also ventured into the print market in the town, reviving the Chronicle’s former Oldham Business Edge magazine in November and launching lifestyle publication Signature.