Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closes both existing National and Regional radio programmes to replace them with a single channel known as the BBC Home Service. The transmitter network is synchronised on 668 kHz and 767 kHz in order to use the other frequencies for propaganda broadcasts in foreign languages.
1945
29 July – The BBC reactivates the Regional Programme but keeps the name "Home Service" (until 30 September 1967, when the station becomes BBC Radio 4).
1970s and 1980s
1970
10 September – BBC Radio Manchester launches at 6am. The station initially only broadcasts on VHF.
November – Pirate radio station KFM begins broadcasting to Stockport.
12 December – BBC Radio Bury launches as a trial community radio station. It opt outs on MW from BBC Radio Manchester for a few hours each day. It is the first of five such trial stations, each operating in various parts of the Manchester area. Each station is on air for a few weeks[2] and uses the 1296 kHz AM frequency in turn.
1984
During the first half of 1984, the other community radio station trials take place. The station airdates are BBC Radio Bury (late 1983/early 1984), BBC Radio Oldham, BBC Radio Rochdale (eight weeks from 14 May 1984), BBC Radio Trafford and BBC Radio Skelmersdale (summer 1984).[3]
1 September – The Radio 1 FM 'switch on' day sees three new transmitters brought into service, one of which, at Holme Moss, covers the Manchester area.[4]
3 September – Key 103 and Piccadilly Gold launch. Piccadilly Gold is a continuation of Piccadilly Radio whereas Key 103 is a new chart station aimed at younger listeners.
Evening programmes begin on BBC GMR but the programming is regional as it is broadcast on all four of BBC North West's local radio stations. Local programming ends at 7.30pm with the regional output, broadcasting under the banner of Network North West, continuing until 12midnight.
22 October – Sunset Radio begins broadcasting in central Manchester.
1990s
1990
17 February – KFM begins transmitting legally to Stockport and the wider south Manchester area having been granted an Incremental Radio licence by the IBA.
1991
May – Network North West is subsumed into the BBC Night Network. Consequently, the evening programming heard on BBC GMR is the same across all ten of the BBC's local stations in northern England. Also, local programming ends slightly earlier, at 7.05pm (7pm at the weekend), although BBC GMR occasionally opts out to provide local evening sports coverage.
KFM is bought by Signal Radio and its new owners merge the station with Echo 96, resulting in the station being relaunched as Signal Cheshire with a coverage area which includes much of the county of Cheshire.
1992
Soul Nation Radio and The Super Station broadcast across Manchester on 104.6 FM and 97.7 FM.
August – Sunset 102 stops broadcasting and two months later the station goes into liquidation. The liquidator reapplies for the licence but loses to Faze FM which launches a dance station on the frequency the following year.
1 September – 100.4 Jazz FM begins broadcasting. It covers all of north west England and is one of the first five regional stations to be licensed across the UK.
May – A second FM transmitter is launched for BBC GMR. Radiating from Saddleworth on 104.6 FM, it provides better coverage to the Upper Tame Valley.
3 June – Asian Sound begins broadcasting on MW across the north west. The station's official broadcast area is east Lancashire but it can be heard across most of Greater Manchester.
9 September – Following a change in ownership, Manchester station Fortune 1458 is relaunched as Lite AM.
Signal Cheshire is relaunched as 104.9 Imagine FM and once again focusses on the South Manchester area.
Radio Regan operates a four-day station called Radio Longsight and on the back of the susccessul broadcast, ALL FM is created to broadcast to the neighbouring areas of Ardwick and Levenshulme, hence the acronym ALL.[6][7]
2 May – Lite AM is replaced by BIG 1458 AM.
4 June – Manchester's local DAB multiplex, operated by CE Digital, goes on the air.
ALL FM launches on a more permanent basis as part of the government's Access Radio trial of community radio.[7]
2004
13 February – 100.4 Jazz FM is closed down as research concluded that, any people were dissuaded by the name ‘jazz’.
1 March – Jazz is replaced by 100.4 Smooth FM which adopts a mainstream mix of easy listening music although jazz music continues to be broadcast at night.[9]
2005
Wythenshawe FM and ALL FM begin full-time broadcasting later they are awarded full-time community radio licenses.
18 June – Gaydio begins broadcasting to the central area of Manchester on a permanent basis, two years after being granted a full-time community radio license.[13]
2011
3 January – 95.8 Capital FM London launches nationally and becomes available in Manchester when it replaces Galaxy 102.[14] Other than daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows, the majority of Capital's London-based output will be networked.[15]
17 December – Ahead of cutbacks to BBC Radio Manchester, its weekly Citizen Manchester strand is aired for the final time, thereby ending its programmes for the Jewish, Irish and LGBT communities.
2013
7 January – Due to the cutbacks within BBC Local Radio, BBC Radio Manchester no longer broadcasts its own early evening programming. Instead it broadcasts the BBC's networked evening programme.[16]
24 September – The north west's regional DAB multiplex MXR North West closes.[17]
5 January – Magic 1152 is renamed Key 2 when it becomes part of the newly launched fully networked Bauer City 2 network.[19] The revamped station is fully networked with the only local content being daytime news, weather and travel bulletins.
30 August – As part of a trial of small-scale digital multiplexes, a small-scale multiplex in Manchester, operated by Niocast Digital, goes on air. Initially a nine-month trial, the multiplexes are now licensed until March 2020.[20]
28 August – A small-scale trial multiplex covering central Manchester, operated by Niocast Digital, begins operating. This multiplex is one of 10 trial multiplexes across the UK which cover areas much smaller than the county-wide local DAB multiplexes. Initially a nine-month trial, the multiplexes are now licensed until March 2020.[21]
12 October – Sunset 102 returns after 22 years as The New Sunset Radio. Programming is similar to the original station and the relaunched station features many of the original DJs.
Manchester station Key 103 is rebranded as Hits Radio Manchester. The station is a localised version of The Hits Radio with seven hours of local programming on weekdays - 6am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm - and a single four hour local programme at the weekend.[24]
2 September – Hits Radio Manchester's local programming is further reduced following the decision by owners Bauer Radio to broadcast Hits Radio Manchester's Drivetime show across all of Bauer's English Hits Radio stations. Consequently, the one remaining local programme is the weekday breakfast show.[28]
2020s
2020
23 March – BBC Radio Manchester, along with all other BBC Local Radio stations, adopt a generic schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic. All specialist shows being taken off the air. Each station broadcasts between 6am and 1am and overnight they simulcast BBC Radio London following a decision to suspend overnight programmes on BBC Radio 5 Live so that the BBC can broadcast a single UK-wide overnight programme.[29][30] The BBC subsequently announces that these changes would become permanent as part of a bid to save £25m by 2022.[31]
26 April – Bauer switches off its Greater Manchester mediumwave frequency following the launch of Greatest Hits Radio on FM in many parts of the region.[33]
1 September – Stockport-based Imagine FM becomes part of the Greatest Hits Radio network following Bauer's purchasing of the three Imagine stations.[34] Consequently, Greatest Hits Radio is now heard on FM in the southern parts of Greater Manchester.
2022
No events.
2023
No events.
2024
22 April – Asian Sound is renamed Lyca Radio Greater Manchester following Lyca's acquisition of the station in 2023.[35]
April – Just before the end of April 2024, Gold stops broadcasting on MW.[36]
^"ALL FM". Retrieved 24 December 2011. Contact: Dave Lenaghan
^ ab"ALL FM launches in Manchester inner-city as part of Access Radio Pilot Scheme". Retrieved 24 December 2011. ALL FM has a licence to broadcast for one year as part of the experiment which aims to explore how Access Radio - a new tier of not-for-profit radio which will have social and educational benefits - might work in practice.