the rebranded successor to the original station s fm service see key 103 . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message key 2 city manchester broadcast area greater manchester slogan the greatest hits for manchester frequency mw 1152 khz dab 11c first air date 2 april 1974 format oldies audience share 1.4 % june 2014 rajar owner bauer radio sister stations key 103 key 3 website www.key2radio.co.uk key 2 is a local radio station owned and operated by bauer radio as part of the city 2 network . it broadcasts to manchester from studios in castlefield . it began broadcasting in 1974 as piccadilly radio the first commercial radio station in manchester . the station was later renamed piccadilly magic 1152 and then key 2 . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 fm mw split 1.3 magic 1152 1.4 key 2 2 programming 2.1 news and sport 3 references 4 external links history edit early years edit piccadilly radio medium wave logos throughout the years . piccadilly magic 1152 logo used from 1998 to 2015 . the station began broadcasting on 2 april 1974 as piccadilly radio on 261m 1151 khz then am mw and on 97.0 mhz fm from the same transmitter in saddleworth that is used by key 103 today . the station is named after piccadilly gardens in manchester and piccadilly plaza was home to the station s first studios until 1996 when piccadilly 1152 and key 103 were relocated to the castlefield area of manchester . many of britain s best known presenters 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 nick robinson and karl pilkington . journalist paul lockitt joined piccadilly in 1979 and endures as the radio station s longest serving broadcaster after 30 plus years as a producer presenter and newscaster . fm mw split edit see also key 103 piccadilly radio split into two services in 1988 with key 103 broadcast on fm with a contemporary format while piccadilly gold broadcast on am with a gold format . 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 listened to talk show outside london whilst the dave ward and umberto breakfast show helped the station to become one of the biggest broadcasting on am . in 1994 a rival station fortune 1458 later renamed 1458 lite am today broadcasting as 1458 capital gold commenced on the old bbc gmr am frequency . despite heavy marketing and many ex piccadilly presenters on the new station piccadilly 1152 remained manchester s most popular station other than sister station key 103 until the late 1990s when new smaller fm stations in oldham warrington and bury began to erode away piccadilly s audience base . magic 1152 edit in 1994 piccadilly key 103 piccadilly 1152 were part of the transworld radio group which was bought by present owners bauer radio then emap . in 1999 2000 the parent company emap re branded the station as magic 1152 to fall in line with the other nine magic radio stations they owned across london and the north of england . the idea of a magic brand of stations was seen to be beneficial when selling air time to national advertisers . this change in name also coincided with the 25th birthday of piccadilly radio . the station was branded as piccadilly 1152 the magic of manchester during the transition except for a short spell in 2000 when key 103 was briefly renamed piccadilly key 103 the name piccadilly disappeared from the airwaves . in december 2001 emap decided that it was more economical for the magic network to share off peak programmes . magic 1152 in line with the other seven magic am stations in northern england began networking 10am 2pm and 7pm 6am with the london station magic 105.4 providing the programmes during these hours it was simply known as magic although there were local commercial breaks and local news on the hour . in january 2003 after a sharp decline in listening the station ceased networking with the london station magic 105.4 and a regional northern network was created with magic 1152 at the hub at the weekend and the newcastle station of the same name during the week . during networked hours local adverts were aired as well as a local news summary on the hour . from july 2006 more networking was introduced across the northern magic am network which meant only 4 hours a day was to be presented from the local studios between 06 00 and 10 00am . in april 2012 magic 1152 inline with the majority of other magic north stations dropped local weekend breakfast shows . between march 2013 and december 2014 weekday breakfast was syndicated with magic 1548 in liverpool and magic 999 in preston . 1 key 2 edit on 5 january 2015 magic 1152 was rebranded as key 2 as magic fm in london went national on dab . the station is now part of the bauer city 2 network . all programming is networked with the other bauer am stations in the north although local news weather and travel continue to be broadcast as opt outs during the day . programming edit the majority of key 2 s programming is taken from the bauer city 2 network although there are separate shows for northern england at peak times including weekday breakfast and drive time . 2 much of the networked output is produced by the station with other programming originating from clyde 2 in clydebank forth 2 in edinburgh metro radio 2 in newcastle tay 2 in dundee and bauer s headquarters at golden square soho . news and sport edit key 2 broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays from 9am to 1pm on saturdays and from 9am to 12pm on sundays . headlines are broadcast on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows alongside sport and traffic bulletins . the manchester newsroom also produces bespoke networked bulletins for northern england at weekends with sky news radio bulletins carried overnight . extended sports coverage is featured in the network s game on programme on saturday afternoons . references edit magic am starts networking at breakfast radio today 15 february 2013 schedule released for bauer city 2 stations radiotoday 19 december 2014 external links edit official website listen live to magic 1152 v t e bauer media group publishing consumer titles australia apc australian geographic the australian women s weekly cleo cosmopolitan dolly empire fhm grazia harper s bazaar motor nw ok people the picture qantas the australian way rolling stone rugby league week street machine take 5 techlife top gear tv week wheels woman s day zoo weekly consumer titles germany auf einen blick autozeitung bravo joy das neue blatt neue post volksstimme consumer titles new zealand metro north & south consumer titles united kingdom angling times bella bike bird watching car classic bike closer empire fhm first golf world grazia heat kerrang match model rail mojo more motor cycle news mcn parker s performance bikes pop practical classics practical fishkeeping practical photography pregnancy & birth q rail take a break that s life today s golfer tv choice tv quick zoo consumer titles united states astrogirl first for women in touch weekly ideas and discoveries j 14 life & style weekly m quizfest soap opera update defunct soaps in depth twist woman s world bauer radio bauer city 1 cfm clyde 1 forth 1 hallam fm key 103 metro radio mfr northsound 1 radio aire radio borders radio city rock fm tay fm tfm viking fm west fm bauer city 2 clyde 2 forth 2 hallam 2 key 2 metro 2 radio mfr 2 northsound 2 radio aire 2 radio city 2 rock fm 2 tay 2 tfm 2 viking 2 west sound ayrshire west sound dumfries and galloway bauer city 3 clyde 3 forth 3 hallam 3 key 3 metro 3 radio mfr 3 radio aire 3 radio city 3 rock fm 3 tay 3 tfm 3 viking 3 free radio free radio 80s free radio birmingham free radio coventry & warwickshire free radio herefordshire & worcestershire free radio shropshire & black country bauer national absolute radio absolute classic rock absolute radio extra absolute radio 60s absolute radio 70s absolute radio 80s absolute radio 90s absolute radio 00s kiss network kiss 100 kiss 101 kiss 105 108 kissfresh kisstory digital radio heat the hits kerrang radio other magic regional fm in london & national dab planet rock national dab cool fm downtown radio gem 106 radio city talk wave 105 the box plus network 50 % 4music run by channel 4 box upfront the box box hits kerrang tv kiss tv magic category v t e radio stations in greater manchester england longwave am stations 198 bbc radio 4 252 rt radio 1 medium wave am stations 909 693 bbc radio 5 live 1089 1053 talksport 1152 key 2 1215 absolute radio 1350 radio cavell 1377 asian sound radio 1458 gold fm stations 88.4 gaydio 89.3 89.8 bbc radio 2 90.1 legacy fm 91.5 91.9 bbc radio 3 92.8 unity radio 93.7 94.1 bbc radio 4 94.4 salford city radio 95.1 104.6 bbc radio manchester 96.2 96.2 the revolution 96.5 bolton fm 96.9 all fm 97.0 crescent radio 97.2 wythenshawe fm 97.7 radio x 98.9 99.3 bbc radio 1 99.7 oldham community radio 100.4 smooth radio 101.1 classic fm 102.0 capital 102.4 wish fm 103.0 key 103 103.6 tameside radio 104.9 imagine fm 105.4 heart 106.1 xs manchester 106.6 north manchester fm 107.4 tower fm 107.8 pure radio . the fm bbc radio stations are broadcast from two transmitters holme moss and saddleworth . dab stations absolute radio absolute radio 80s absolute radio 90s asian sound radio bbc radio 1 bbc radio 2 bbc radio 3 bbc radio 4 bbc radio 4 extra bbc radio 5 live bbc radio 5 live sports extra bbc radio 6 music bbc asian network bbc world service bbc radio manchester bfbs radio classic fm capital capital xtra heart north west heat radio key 103 key 2 key 3 kiss lbc magic uk planet rock premier christian radio radio x smooth extra smooth radio north west talksport ucb uk christian multiplexes ce manchester local united kingdom radio markets aberdeen glasgow london liverpool manchester northern ireland south west england west midlands west yorkshire worcester see also list of radio stations in the united kingdom retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title key 2 & oldid 743911288 categories bauer radioradio stations in manchesterradio stations established in 1974bauer city networkhidden categories use dmy dates from february 2016use british english from february 2016articles needing additional references from september 2014all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 00 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers