Galaxy Manchester

Capital Manchester

City	Manchester
Broadcast area	Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire
Branding	102 Capital
Slogan	Manchester's No.1 Hit Music Station
Frequency	FM: 102.0 MHz DAB: 11C (Manchester) 12A (Lancashire) RDS: Capital Manc
First air date	16 October 1994
Format	Contemporary hit radio
Audience share	5.5% (September 2016, RAJAR)
Owner	Global
Sister stations	Heart North West Smooth North West XFM Manchester
Website	Capital Manchester

Capital Manchester is a local radio station owned and operated by the Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcasts from studios at Exchange Quay, Salford.

The transmitter is on top of the City Tower (the former Sunley Building) in Piccadilly in Manchester, the same place as 106.1 Real Radio XS and Radio X's transmitter and all 3 services share the same broadcast antenna system which is located on the centre tower and is illuminated with red Aircraft warning lights at night.

The 102 MHz frequency in Manchester has a chequered background, initially it was occupied by Sunset 102 which included regular shows from house music innovators 808 State and a Saturday evening rave show from Sammy B; both were cited by Dave Haslam in City Life to have been instrumental in reflecting and developing the early rave culture in the city. However, due to occasional threats of violence on air and other breaches of the licence the station was closed.

The licence was readvertised and quickly won by Faze FM who launched Kiss 102 on 16 October 1994. The licence win was spearheaded by Eugene Perera's Level Broadcast, aided by Mike Powell's Infinity Radio consultancy, and included shareholders UKRD, Eastern Counties Newspaper Group and 3i.

The station became a victim of its own success when months after opening a second station, the Yorkshire regional Kiss 105, the station's board accepted a £17.6 million takeover bid from the Chrysalis Group for a company that had cost just £600k to set up three years earlier.

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