WPMU - new widget area(S) ?

Playing with this great framework on a test site with wpmu. Using Atahualpa 3.4.2 w/wpmu 2.8.2.

I'd like to add an RSS feed from all blogs site wide and probably a forum too I but don't want to have it in the sidebar....I'd like to have a page dedicated to this instead and have the rss display in the center column (like a post).

I've tried the Add New Widget Area function but can't seem to get a new widget area to "stick". Its not showing up in the admin backend under widgets. 1st I tried by adding the code into the center column as per the excellent instructions, then tried hard coding it into index.php above the loop. No luck either way.

I did manage, previously, to add a new footer widget by hardcoding the php into the footer file.

Is this a wpmu problem ?
Is there a limit to the number of new widget areas you can add maybe ?
Or am I just doing something wrong ?

Assuming no simple solution does anyone know another way, aside from using a widget, to add RSS feeds into posts/pages ?

Tia