Yorkshire DJ Chris Moyles returns to the radio and admits... ‘That’s right, the money finally ran out.’

Moyles, who grew up in Temple Newsam, Leeds, is hosting a new daily breakfast show on Radio X, a rebranded version of London-based station XFM.

It will see the former Mount St Mary’s RC High School pupil going head to head with Nick Grimshaw, who succeeded him in the same slot on Radio 1.

Moyles kicked off the programme by telling listeners: “Hello again Great Britain – this is a bit weird isn’t it?

“I’ve been waiting for three years for this, sitting on my backside doing nothing, and now I’m back on the radio. That’s right, the money finally ran out.”

Moyles also made a typically irreverent attempt to play down Radio X’s pre-launch hype as a “male-focused” station by picking Girls Aloud’s Love Machine as the morning’s first record.

He said: “I don’t care if you’re male, female, gay, straight, white, black.

“It was just a marketing thing – it should never have gone out in the press release. It’s not a radio version of a Yorkie bar, it’s just a radio station.”

As part of the rebranded station’s efforts to make a big splash, Moyles will be hosting a number of live music events later this year – including a gig by indie rockers Courteeners at the O2 Academy Leeds on November 23.

Radio X is available across the UK on the digital radio platform D1 as well as on 104.9FM in London and 97.7FM in Manchester.