BBC Radio Manchester


BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 193,000 listeners and a 2.3% share as of June 2025.

History

BBC Radio Manchester (1970–1988)

BBC Radio Manchester launched at 6 am on 10 September 1970 as the first local radio station in the city of Manchester. Initially broadcasting from studios at 33 Piccadilly overlooking Piccadilly Gardens in the city centre, the station's long-standing home was New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road. Radio Manchester originally broadcast only on 95.1 VHF ; the frequency of 206 metres, on the AM medium wave band was added approximately 2 years after the station first went on air. The first voice on air was Alan Sykes. Other presenters included Roy Cross, Sandra Chalmers, Mike Riddoch and Alex Greenhalgh. A very popular evening show developed from around 1973 to mid 1975 'the Baron from the BBC'.
In the mid-1970s, Radio Manchester was notable for the "Midway through the Day" programme which introduced strip programming and ran from lunchtime until 7 pm. Presenters changed throughout the day, and it was the precursor of the now common chat and music format. At the same time Radio Manchester began an evening programme from 10 pm to midnight which often repeated interviews from "Midway through the Day". By the 1980s, the late evening programming had ended, apart from on Sundays when local programming continued to be broadcast until midnight.

Opt-out stations

In late 1983 and throughout most of 1984, Radio Manchester ran a series of experimental community stations jointly funded by the BBC and the Greater Manchester County Council, each of which broadcast on 1296 kHz AM in turn. The stations were BBC Radio Bury, BBC Radio Oldham, BBC Radio Rochdale, BBC Radio Trafford and BBC Radio Wigan . The stations were part-time services which opted out from the main BBC Radio Manchester service. The experiments were never repeated.

BBC GMR (1988–2006)

Between 30 October 1988 until 3 April 2006, the station was named BBC GMR and, for a brief period in 1997, GMR Talk. Programmes included a phone-in with Allan Beswick, late-night music and comedy show Michelle Mullane around Midnight and GMR Brass, a brass band music programme. From 1991, GMR was part of the BBC Night Network.
In 1996, BBC GMR began broadcasting from a second transmitter from Saddleworth on 104.6 FM,. This meant areas of the Upper Tame Valley including Saddleworth and Tameside, down to Hyde saw improved coverage, which was poor at times from Holme Moss transmitting station, especially indoors.

BBC Radio Manchester relaunch (2006–present)

After 18 years the station reverted to its original name, Radio Manchester along with a new jingle package composed by IQ Beats. The first voice on the relaunched station was that of Tony Wilson followed by long-time local personality and breakfast presenter Terry Christian, the first song was Manchester by the Beautiful South.
At 6 am on Saturday 8 October 2011, the station ended its transmissions from its Oxford Road studios and began broadcasting from MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. The final show from Oxford Road was presented by Darryl Morris and the first from the new studios by Andy Crane.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's MediaCityUK studios in Salford. Local programming currently airs between 6am and 10pm.
In October 2023, Manchester became one of the host stations for the weeknight editions of the new England-wide BBC local radio late show, broadcast across all stations on the network, from Sunday to Thursday, being presented by Becky Want. Friday and Saturday evenings are broadcast from London. At 1am, the station hands over to BBC Radio 5 Live.

Technical

The main signal is broadcast from the Holme Moss transmitting station on 95.1 FM in West Yorkshire, near the border with Derbyshire in which covers Greater Manchester, north-east Cheshire and north-west Derbyshire. Another signal broadcast from the Saddleworth transmitter on 104.6 FM covering Tameside and Saddleworth.
The station also broadcasts on DAB from different transmitters such as Winter Hill transmitting station, Saddleworth, Sutton Common and Sunley Building.
The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 711 in the BBC North West region and streams online via BBC Sounds.

Presenters

Notable current presenters

  • Stacey Copeland
  • Mark Crossley
  • Natalie Pike
  • Mike Sweeney
  • Becky Want

    Notable former presenters

  • Allan Beswick
  • Gordon Burns
  • Sandra Chalmers
  • Terry Christian
  • Andy Crane
  • Victoria Derbyshire
  • Stephanie Hirst
  • Susie Mathis
  • Darryl Morris
  • Dianne Oxberry
  • Mike Shaft
  • Petroc Trelawny
  • Tony Wilson