How did Manchester’s Piccadilly change the UK’s radio landscape?

While his future colleagues were helping to build the remaining studios, across the city a young Mike Shaft was listening to Andy Peebles’ soul show.

“All I wanted to do was the soul show,” he said.

“I said to my missus ‘I’ll never work at Piccadilly whilst Andy’s there because his soul show was just excellent'”.

Shaft, who eventually took the reins of the ‘Taking Care of Business’ soul show until 1986, remembered the day he realised a window may be open.

“I opened up the Daily Mail, it read ‘Andy Peebles Goes To Radio 1’ – I was down there within 30 minutes!”

The aspiring presenter soon received a letter, inviting him in for a chat.

“Me and my missus were both jumping around in our flat, it was great times,” he remembered.

After Piccadilly, Shaft worked at BBC Radio Manchester for 20 years, presenting his final Sunday Breakfast show in 2022.