In 1990, Key 103’s breakfast show presenter was Spence Macdonald, in what would become the first of his two stints for Key 103. ‘Don’t Call Me Sunshine…’ – Wind-ups amidst the Corn Flakes In September, Piccadilly 1152 was renamed ‘Piccadilly Gold’. Key 103, though under the aegis of GMIR (later part of Trans World Entertainment) began to find an identity.Ī few names from the AM station joined Key 103 in the autumn of 1990, one of them being Spence Macdonald. One which turned out to be for the better. However, it was the former station which saw a change of fortune for Key 103. Sunset Radio, which began transmission in October, carved a niche in soul and reggae music. After being a pirate station from 1984, Stockport’s KFM went legit in 1989. The early Key 103 began to face competition by a wave of new independent radio stations. Key 103, aimed at upmarket listeners, had a business programme hosted by Anthony Schaeffer. For example, the phone-ins, live football coverage, The Bradshaws and Curly Shirley. The Medium Wave service held its own and had the better programmes. Its music output was mainly contemporary radio friendly Adult Orientated Rock and chart music. In its first two years, Key 103 got off to a slow and unsuccessful start. Piccadilly Radio’s existing programmes, on the AM band, would become plain ‘Piccadilly 1152’. So, on the 03 September 1988, Key 103 was born with the name so-called after its FM frequency. However, it was thought in Piccadilly Plaza that the yuppies needed a station to call their own. Greater Manchester Independent Radio were reluctant to do this at the time.
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In a bid to improve listener choice and competition, the UK’s Independent Local Radio stations were encouraged by HM Government to offer a different service on one frequency to another. You could listen to Umberto on Medium Wave, VHF, or by dialling ‘261’ anywhere in Greater Manchester. Before September of 1988, Piccadilly Radio had all its programmes on both its MW and FM frequencies (1152kHz and 103.0MHz).