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Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West
Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West England.
As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 341,000 listeners, according to RAJAR.
The station began broadcasting at 5am on Tuesday 2 April 1974 as Piccadilly Radio on 261 m (1151 kHz then) AM/MW and on 97.0 MHz FM (from the same transmitter in Saddleworth that is now used by Hits Radio Manchester). The medium wave frequency moved to 1152 kHz on 23 November 1978 with the implementation of the Geneva 1975 plan. The station was named after Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, and Piccadilly Plaza was home to the station's first studios until 1996, when it relocated to the Castlefield area of Manchester.
Piccadilly's founding managing director was Philip Birch, who previously ran the highly influential pirate station Radio London until it closed down ahead of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 in August 1967. The first presenter on air was Roger Day – himself an ex-pirate radio presenter – and the first song played on air was "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys.
Many of Britain's best-known broadcasters started their careers at Piccadilly, including Chris Evans, Mike Sweeney, Steve Penk, James H. Reeve, Andy Peebles, Gary Davies, Tim Grundy, Timmy Mallett, Pete Mitchell, Geoff Lloyd, Mark Radcliffe, James Stannage, Stu Allan, Nick Robinson and Karl Pilkington.
Journalist Paul Lockitt joined Piccadilly in 1979 and became the station's longest serving on-air employee, working as a producer, presenter and newscaster until his departure in 2017.
Piccadilly Radio split into two services in 1988, with Key 103 broadcast on FM with a contemporary music format, while Piccadilly continued on AM, initially under its full service format, gradually adopting a 'golden oldies' music playlist as Piccadilly Gold.
In the mid-1990s, Piccadilly Gold became Piccadilly 1152 as the playlist moved away from "golden oldies" to a mix of classic and current easy-listening music. The late-night phone-in with James Stannage became the most popular radio talk show outside London, whilst the Dave Ward and Umberto breakfast show helped the station to become one of the biggest AM stations.
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Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West
Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West England.
As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 341,000 listeners, according to RAJAR.
The station began broadcasting at 5am on Tuesday 2 April 1974 as Piccadilly Radio on 261 m (1151 kHz then) AM/MW and on 97.0 MHz FM (from the same transmitter in Saddleworth that is now used by Hits Radio Manchester). The medium wave frequency moved to 1152 kHz on 23 November 1978 with the implementation of the Geneva 1975 plan. The station was named after Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, and Piccadilly Plaza was home to the station's first studios until 1996, when it relocated to the Castlefield area of Manchester.
Piccadilly's founding managing director was Philip Birch, who previously ran the highly influential pirate station Radio London until it closed down ahead of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 in August 1967. The first presenter on air was Roger Day – himself an ex-pirate radio presenter – and the first song played on air was "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys.
Many of Britain's best-known broadcasters started their careers at Piccadilly, including Chris Evans, Mike Sweeney, Steve Penk, James H. Reeve, Andy Peebles, Gary Davies, Tim Grundy, Timmy Mallett, Pete Mitchell, Geoff Lloyd, Mark Radcliffe, James Stannage, Stu Allan, Nick Robinson and Karl Pilkington.
Journalist Paul Lockitt joined Piccadilly in 1979 and became the station's longest serving on-air employee, working as a producer, presenter and newscaster until his departure in 2017.
Piccadilly Radio split into two services in 1988, with Key 103 broadcast on FM with a contemporary music format, while Piccadilly continued on AM, initially under its full service format, gradually adopting a 'golden oldies' music playlist as Piccadilly Gold.
In the mid-1990s, Piccadilly Gold became Piccadilly 1152 as the playlist moved away from "golden oldies" to a mix of classic and current easy-listening music. The late-night phone-in with James Stannage became the most popular radio talk show outside London, whilst the Dave Ward and Umberto breakfast show helped the station to become one of the biggest AM stations.