Kiss (radio station)
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| City of license | London, Severn Estuary and East Anglia |
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| Broadcast area | United Kingdom: London, Severn Estuary, East Anglia (FM); Local (DAB) |
| Frequency | FM 100.0 MHz, 101.0 MHz, 105.6 MHz, 106.1 MHz, 106.4 MHz, 95.8 MHz, 97.2 MHz & 107.7 MHz DAB - 12C (London) - 11C (Birmingham, Exeter & Torbay, Cambridge, Manchester, South Yorkshire, Swindon, Tyne & Wear) - 12D (Berkshire & North Hampshire, Coventry, Essex, Leeds, Peterborough, Stoke & Stafford) - 11B (Cornwall, Humberside, Liverpool, Norwich, Teesside, West Yorkshire, Wolverhampton) Sky: 0178 Virgin Media: 963 Freeview: 713 |
| First air date | 1 September 1990 |
| Format | Rhythmic CHR |
| Audience share | 4.0% (September 2011, [1]) |
| Owner | Bauer Radio |
| Sister stations | Magic 105.4 Heat Radio Kerrang! Radio Key 103 |
| Website | www.totalkiss.com |
Kiss is a UK radio station broadcasting on FM and Digital Radio, specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and electronic dance music. It also broadcasts on DAB Digital Radio around the UK & nationally on Freeview, Sky and TalkTalk TV. The Station forms part of the Bauer Passion Portfolio.
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[edit] History
Kiss FM began in October 1985 as a pirate radio station, which broadcast across South London and subsequently across the whole city on 94FM. It attracted a huge following before finally acquiring a legitimate licence in 1990 - it was thought to have commanded in the region of 500,000 listeners even as a pirate station. It was first set up by Gordon McNamee (later its Managing Director till Dec 1997) and his friends; Tosca, Pyers Easton and George Power. Gordon Mac approached a successful London club promoter, Guy Wingate, to discuss ways of improving Kiss' profile and Wingate then launched the hugely successful Kiss nights at the Wag Club (which included the first ever Acid House party[citation needed], an idea put forward by Kiss DJs Colin Faver and Danny Rampling). These nights gave the station a credibility boost and Wingate joined the Kiss team, followed shortly thereafter by Lindsay Wesker.
Kiss was 'owned' by Gordon Mac who in 1986 sold shares to 10 of the DJs, including Tim Westwood, Jonathan More, Norman Jay, Trevor Nelson and others. Gordon Mac, Wesker and Wingate, the team of DJ's and an army of helpers took the station forward through a combination of grim determination and clever marketing and in 1988, the Department of Trade And Industry advertised the first new radio licence in London for many years. Kiss pitched hard but despite colossal public support, the licence was awarded to Jazz FM (now Smooth Radio). In the weekend that followed, the Kiss team roamed London building up an enormous petition that was delivered on the Monday morning to then Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd.
A short time thereafter, new licences were advertised and this time Kiss, and its loyal army of listeners, were rewarded.[1]
On 1 September 1990 Kiss relaunched as a legal station, its studio and offices located on the Holloway Road, and was supported financially by EMAP. Its many past influential DJs include Paul 'Trouble' Anderson, Trevor Nelson, Judge Jules, Chris Philips, Dave Pearce, Sarah HB, Steve Jackson, Colin Dale, Norman Jay, Nick Power, Richie Rich, Coldcut, Tony De Vit, Jazzie B, Gilles Peterson, Pete Wardman, Hixxy & Sharkey, Slipmatt, Squirrel and DJ Vibes.
[edit] 1999 rebranding and criticism
Whilst EMAP took full control of Kiss 100 as early as 1992, a rebranding of Kiss 100 and the Kiss brand started to take place during 1998, resulting in a new logo being adopted in 1999. In order to bring Kiss 100 into line with EMAP's other radio operations, Mark Story (previously of Magic 105.4) was installed in January 1999 as the new Director of Music Programming. This led to criticism from both former presenters and listeners alike, concerned that Kiss 100 was losing its musical direction. At the same time, the Kiss studios and offices was moved from its original roots to EMAP's main premises in Central London.
One of Kiss 100's former legendary DJs, Steve Jackson, was sacked in December 1998, and this resulted in a high profile court case.[2] At the same time, a number of other founding DJs decided to quit the station in protest at the changes being implemented,[3] whilst others were lured away by the increasingly dance-oriented BBC Radio 1. Many listeners equate Gordon Mac's final show on the 28th March 1998 and subsequent departure from the station as the spiritual end of the original Kiss.
[edit] Ofcom record fine
In June 2006, Kiss 100 was fined a record fee for any UK commercial radio station of £175,000 by media regulator Ofcom. Ofcom punished Kiss 100 for "numerous and serious breaches" of broadcasting codes after receiving 10 complaints from April to November 2005. They involved prank calls on the Bam Bam breakfast show where consent was not sought from the "victims" and inappropriate material aired when children were likely to be listening. Kiss 100 said it accepted the findings and apologised for any offence [4]
[edit] September 2006 relaunch
Emap introduced a major revamp of the Kiss brand on September 6 2006.[5] This included a new logo designed by ODD, a renewed focus on dance music, more specialist shows and a new website for all 3 Kiss stations at totalkiss.com replacing the previous website at kiss100.com.
The relaunch was implemented simultaneously with the rebranding of Kiss 100's sister dance stations, Vibe 101 and Vibe 105-108 as Kiss 101 and Kiss 105-108 respectively.
The changes at Kiss 100 are being introduced in an attempt to address falling listener figures in recent years in order to ensure that the station remains competitive in the highly-contested London market.
[edit] Recent Times
In December 2010, Ofcom approved the request from Bauer Radio to drop local programming content from the three Kiss stations, creating a national service.[6] On the condition that Kiss would be available on 35 DAB multiplexes around the UK on the day local information is dropped and rising to 38 within 3 months of the changes.
[edit] Programming
The Kiss schedule at present is:[7]
[edit] Monday–Friday
| Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0000 – 0100 | Midnight Mix (Mon), Logan Sama (Tue), The Kiss Dubstep Show (Wed), DJ Hype (Thu), The Kiss Hip Hop Show (Fri) | London |
| 0100 – 0200 | Sinden (Mon), Kiss Ibiza (Tue–Fri) | |
| 0200 – 0600 | Freddie (Mon), Michael Lewis (Tue-Fri) | |
| 0600 - 1000 | Rickie, Charlie and Melvin in the Morning: Rickie Haywood Williams, Charlie Hedges and Melvin Odoom | |
| 0900 – 1200 | Justin Wilkes (including Kisstory from 1100) | |
| 1200 – 1500 | Neev Ranu | |
| 1500 – 1900 | Jez Welham | |
| 1900 – 2200 | Martin Archer (Mon-Thu), FNK with Steve Smart (Fri) | |
| 2200 – 0000 | AJ King (Mon–Thu), DJ EZ (Fri) |
[edit] Saturday
| Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0000 – 0200 | DJ Piooner | London |
| 0200 – 0400 | Kiss Ibiza | |
| 0400 – 0600 | Neev Ranu | |
| 0600 – 1000 | Clara | |
| 1000 – 1100 | Kiss 10 O'Clock Takeover | |
| 1100 – 1400 | Jez Welham | |
| 1400 – 1700 | Martin Archer | |
| 1700 – 2000 | Kissalicious | |
| 2000 – 2300 | Saturday Night Kiss | |
| 2300 – 0000 | Kiss Presents Hed Kandi: Hed Kandi |
[edit] Sunday
| Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0000 – 0200 | The Kiss Mixblock | London |
| 0200 – 0400 | Armin van Buuren's State of Trance | |
| 0400 – 0600 | The Rehab | |
| 0600 – 1000 | Freddie | |
| 1000 – 1100 | Kiss 10 O'Clock Takeover | |
| 1100 – 1400 | Martin Archer | |
| 1400 – 1700 | Michael Lewis | |
| 1700 – 1900 | Kiss UK Hot40 Big Beats Chart: Rickie Haywood Williams and Melvin Odoom | |
| 1900 – 2200 | Kiss Never End Weekend | |
| 2200 – 2300 | The Kiss Bass Mix | |
| 2300 – 0000 | David Rodigan |
[edit] Presenters
Kiss 100 presenters across the day include Rickie Haywood Williams & Melvin, Justin Wilkes, Neev, Jez Welham, Martin Archer and James Merritt. Specialist output begins at 10pm, AJ King presents Evenings during the week, but Fridays are controlled by Steve Smart from 10pm - 12am the music at this time is mainly UK garage and weekend shows include Hed Kandi Mix & The KISS Hip Hop Show.
[edit] Rickie, Melvin and Charlie Breakfast Show
The weekday breakfast show is presented by Rickie Haywood Williams, Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges (b. 18 July 1987), with Adam K (born c. 9 September 1967) as producer, who took over the slot from Robin Banks in May 2007. He in turn replaced the previous long serving breakfast host Bam Bam (real name Peter Poulton) in April 2006, moving from the drivetime slot. Bam Bam left shortly after the station received a record fine from the industry regulator, Ofcom after a series of breaches of the broadcasting code.[4]
The Londoners were plucked from obscurity to front the Kiss 100 morning slot in a trial run in the summer of 2006. According to latest data, the duo had 776,000 listeners each week.[8] Overall the station now has 1.71 million listeners, and a 4.6 percent share, in the first three months of 2009.[9]
[edit] Patrick Forge
Patrick Forge hosted a two hour show on Sunday nights from 0100-0300. He played Soul Fusion, Acid jazz and associated forms, along with more modern records with underground jazzy, soulful sounds. He is one of the longest serving hosts of a show on the station, as he joined near the time Kiss turned from a pirate radio station into a commercial operator and left in 2010
[edit] John Digweed
From September 2000 to January 2011, John Digweed hosted a two-hour show featuring progressive house and trance. The first hour featured music played by Digweed, either mixed live or recorded from one of his past gigs. The second hour was a guest mix by a different artist each week. Guests on the show often include other world-famous DJs and new talents, such as Sasha, Sander Kleinenberg, Desyn Masiello, and James Zabiela.
[edit] DJ Hype
DJ Hype currently hosts a one hour drum and bass show every Wednesday from 2300 GMT. The show features the latest promo releases and also interviews and guest mixes.
[edit] DJ EZ
DJ EZ currently hosts a two hour UK garage show every Friday night from 10pm called 'Destination Weekend', including current and classic tracks from the UKG scene. Another show, airing on Saturday nights from 10pm-11pm called 'The Bassline Mix', focusing predominantly on Bassline came to an end on 1 November 2008. DJ EZ is a highly respected DJ in the UK garage scene and has released several garage compilation CDs entitled Pure Garage.
[edit] Logan Sama
Logan Sama currently hosts the first dedicated Grime show on legal radio every Monday night between the hours of 12pm-1am. Acting as a platform for some of the most exciting British underground MCing talent, the show has seen artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Wiley, Lethal B and Roll Deep all make several appearances. As a vital source of new music from the British grime scene, the show has regularly pulled in a large and dedicated listenership over its 3 year history.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hebditch, Stephen (1991). "AM/FM - Spring 1990". TQM Communications. http://www.amfm.org.uk/amfmnews/newsletter1.html.
- ^ Hartley-Brewer, Julia (18 August 1999). "Kiss DJ sacked 'for being black'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/aug/18/race.world. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ NME.COM | News | THE BIG KISS-OFF
- ^ a b "Kiss FM handed record radio fine". BBC News. 20 June 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5098936.stm. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Day, Julia (4 September 2006). "Kiss and shake up". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/sep/04/emap.radio. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Today, Radio (2010). "Kiss allowed to go national". Radio Today. http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6567.
- ^ Schedule KISS
- ^ http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/903859/
- ^ Plunkett, John (7 May 2009). "Rajars: Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon extend London breakfast lead". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/07/rajars-johnny-vaughan-lisa-snowdon. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
[edit] External links
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