Back in 2002 during the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, I was working at BBC 2002 Commonwealth Games Radio. I got a phone call from the Manager of BBC GMR asking if I was available to present their Sunday Breakfast programme as holiday cover.

On April 2nd 1974, a new ILR station began broadcasting to Greater Manchester from Piccadilly Plaza. One of its original team of presenters was Londoner Andy Peebles, formerly of BBC Radio Manchester, whose weekly ‘Soul Train’ programme on a Sunday would quickly establish itself as essential listening for black music fans throughout the region. Over a quarter of a century later Stu Allan would play his final record on Piccadilly offshoot, Key 103, bringing the shutters down on an entire era, which started with Peebles, was nurtured by Mike Shaft, and saw Lee Browne take a bit part along the way. This is the story of how a Manchester radio station played a key role in shaping the city’s celebrated club culture.

On Saturday August 30th 2008, Manchester District Music Archive (www.mdmarchive.co.uk) present a very special event at Islington Mill in Salford, to celebrate Manchester’s Electro-Funk and B Boy heritage. Through a mixture of talks, Q and A’s, screenings, and, of course, dancing, this event will attempt to tell the story of the city’s early ‘80s Electro-Funk scene, explaining how it sowed the seeds for subsequent developments as the decade unfolded.

This article is being reprinted as part of our celebrations first published when mikeshaft.com achieved 1 million hits. We were delighted to pass this milestone and other articles in the series will be added in coming months.

Piccadilly Radio was probably the best radio station on air in the UK through the 1970s and 80s. These were the early years of Independent Radio in this country and many of the stations on air were experiencing difficulties, financial and otherwise. Piccadilly, under the stewardship of Managing Director Philip Birch and Programme Controller Colin Walters, somehow managed to keep problems away from the station and when there were problems, they were managed in a way which always showed the station in an excellent light.

Looking back to the 70s, it's hard to believe some of the things I was involved with. My mate Louis Emerick was starring in the Stage production of Hair at Altrincham and asked me if I was interested in being a cast member. After much persuading I said yes. The rest as they say is history.