Capital FM Manchester plays today's biggest pop and chart hits at 102 FM, broadcasting live from Manchester as part of the UK's national Capital network. Press play above and it streams instantly, free, with no account or app download required.
Before Capital, There Was Acid House
The 102.0 MHz frequency Capital Manchester broadcasts on today has a genuinely unexpected past. Before it carried pop hits, the same frequency belonged to Sunset 102, a station that gave airtime to Manchester house music pioneers like 808 State, one of the acts that helped define the city's acid house sound during the Haçienda era.
From Kiss 102 to Galaxy to Capital
When Sunset 102 closed, the frequency was re-advertised and relaunched as Kiss 102 on October 16, 1994, built by Level Broadcast under Eugene Perera with consultancy support from Mike Powell's Infinity Radio, and fronted at breakfast by first presenter Gary Burton. Chrysalis Group's £17.6 million takeover in 1996 turned the station into Galaxy 102 the following year, a brand it carried until 2011, when Global Radio's merger of its Galaxy and Hit Music networks rebranded it as Capital Manchester. In April 2019 it merged again, this time with Lancashire's 2BR, to become Capital Manchester and Lancashire.
Voices Behind the Mic
The station's breakfast show has passed through several well known names over three decades, from Gary Burton's original run through Simon "Nicksy" Nicks from 2000 to 2005 and Wes Butters from 2005 to 2007, before Rob Ellis took the chair in 2007 and held it for twelve years, the longest breakfast tenure in the station's history.
Listen to Capital FM Manchester Free on Radio Shuffle
Capital FM Manchester streams around the clock, and Radio Shuffle carries the feed live with nothing to install and no subscription required. Press play for today's hit music from a frequency with roots in Manchester's acid house scene.