Kiss 100 London

Infobox Radio station
name = Kiss 100 London


airdate = September 1 1990
share = 4.3%
share as of = March 2008
share source = [http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php]
frequency = 100.0 FM MHz (London Only)
Sky Digital: 0178
Virgin Media (Ex NTL): 894
Freeview: 713
Tiscali TV: 616
Virgin TV (Ex Telewest): 933 (London Only)
DAB Digital Radio:
UPC Ireland: 925
area = Across the UK
format = Contemporary R&B / Urban / Hip Hop / Electronic Dance
website = [http://www.kiss100.com www.Kiss100.com]
owner = Kiss Network, Bauer Radio

Kiss 100 is a radio station broadcasting to London on 100.0 MHz FM specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and dance music. It also broadcasts on digital radio in other parts of the UK on DAB and nationally on Freeview, Sky Digital and Tiscali TV. It is part of the Kiss Network, along with sister stations Kiss 101 (Severn Estuary) and Kiss 105-108 (East Anglia)

History

Kiss FM began in October 1985 as a pirate station, which broadcasted across London 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 Mac (later its Managing Director) 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, 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.

[
1990 to 1998]

Kiss was 'owned' by shareholders that included many of the DJs themselves, including Tim Westwood, Jonathan More, Norman Jay and others. Together with Mac, Wesker and Wingate they 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. [cite web|url=http://www.amfm.org.uk/amfmnews/newsletter1.html|title=AM/FM - Spring 1990|last=Hebditch|first=Stephen|year=1991|publisher=TQM Communications]

On September 1st, 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 Trevor Nelson, Judge Jules, Dave Pearce, Sarah HB, Steve Jackson, Colin Dale, Norman Jay, Nick Power, Richie Rich, Coldcut, Tony De Vit, Jazzie B, Gilles Peterson, Pete Wardman and DJ Vibes.

Kiss 100 Presenters

Kiss 100 presenters across the day include Rickie Haywood Williams and Melvin, Justin Wilkes, Neev and Australian born Simon Dale. Before the specialist output begins at 9pm, Jez Welham presents Evenings during the week, but Fridays are controlled by DJ EZ from 10pm - 12am the music at this time is mainly UK garage and the show is called "Destination Weekend". Weekends are very similar with added personality from James Merritt, Will Cozens, Steve Smart and the new urban and dance chart show, Fresh 40, hosted by Dynamite MC every Sunday 4pm-7pm, who also hosts the Smooth Grooves show on Kiss between 9pm and 11pm on Mondays.

Rickie and Melvin Breakfast Show

The weekday breakfast show is presented by Rickie Haywood Williams and Melvin Odoom, 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. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5098936.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Kiss FM handed record radio fine ] ] .

The show contains many regular features these include: "Charlie does" (When female presenter Charlie asks Rickie and Melvin a question which they have to answer truthfully)"The trainer game" (The studio's word association game) (the people in the studio go around and say a name of something in a particular topic until someone doesn't know or takes too long) "The 8:10 shoutout" (a one minute segment of the show when listeners get the chance to shout anything they want live on air)and finally "Riddle me this" (when the host that has won the previous round gets to ask the other a riddle. This continues until the next morning when the answer is revealed.)

The show also features Adam K (producer) and Charlie, and Lisa Snell reading the news.

The Londoners Rickie Haywood Williams and Melvin Odoom were plucked from obscurity to front the Kiss FM morning slot in a trial run in the summer of 2006. According to latest data, the duo had 688,001 listeners in the three months to June - up 105,000 from predecessor Robin Banks. [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23408604-details/Unknowns+give+the+Kiss+of+life+to+radio+ratings/article.do Unknowns give the Kiss of life to radio ratings| News | This is London ] ] .

Key DJs

Patrick Forge

Patrick Forge currently hosts a two hour show on Sunday nights from 0100-0300. He plays Soul Fusion, 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.

John Digweed

John Digweed currently hosts a two hour long show on Saturday featuring progressive house and trance. The first hour consists of a set by John himself, either mixed live or recorded from one of his past gigs. The second hour is 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.

DJ Hype

DJ Hype currently hosts a two hour drum and bass show every Wednesday from 2300 GMT. The show features the latest promo releases and also interviews and guest mixes.

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. He has another show on Saturday nights from 10pm-11pm called 'The Bassline Mix', focusing predominantly on Bassline. DJ EZ is a highly respected DJ in the UK garage scene and has released several garage compilation CDs entitled Pure Garage.

Logan Sama

Logan Sama currently hosts the first dedicated Grime show on legal radio every Monday night between the hours of 11pm-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.

Current DJs

Current DJs on Kiss 100 include

Armin Van Buuren
- "A State of Trance"

Big Ted
- With Shortee Blitz

Carl Cox
- Global

Crazy D
- Dubstep Show

Dangerous Minds
- Grime

David Rodigan
- Reggae

Dynamite MC
- "Smooth Grooves" and "The Fresh 40 Chart"

EZ
- Garage and Bassline

DJ Hype
- Drum and Bass

DJ Swerve
RNB hip hop and Sunday Selecta

James Merritt
- Saturday Breakfast

Jay Cunning
- Breakbeat Show

Jez Welham
- Evening show

Joe Ransom
Broken Beats

John Digweed
- Progressive House

Justin Wilkes
- Weekday Mornings and "The Rehab"

Logan Sama
- Grime

Loose Cannons
- Eclectic

Manny Norte
- Power Mix

Martin Archer
- Weekday early hours and Sunday breakfast

Melvin and Rickie
- Kiss Breakfast

MK
- Hip Hop

Neev
- Weekday Lunchtimes, Saturday early hours and Sunday afternoon

Patrick Forge
- "The Cosmic Jam" - Soul Fusion

Shortee Blitz
with Big Ted

Simon Dale
- weekday drivetime

Sinden
- Eclectic

Steve Smart
- "Friday Night Kiss", "Floor Fillers" and "Kisstory"

Will Cozens
- "Total Kiss" and main holiday cover

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 lead 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 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/aug/18/race.world The Guardian | UK News | Kiss DJ sacked 'for being black' ] ] . At the same time, a number of other founding DJs decided to quit the station in protest at the changes being implemented [http://www.nme.com/news/coldcut/1007 NME.COM | News | THE BIG KISS-OFF ] ] , 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.

Ofcom record fine

In June 2006, Kiss 100 FM 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 FM said it accepted the findings and apologised for any offence

eptember 2006 relaunch

Emap introduced a major revamp of the Kiss brand on September 6th 2006 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/sep/04/emap.radio The Guardian | Media | Kiss and shake up ] ] . This included a new logo designed by [http://www.thankodd.com ODD] , a renewed focus on dance music, more specialist shows and a new website for all 3 Kiss stations at [http://www.totalkiss.com totalkiss.com] replacing the previous website at [http://www.kiss100.com 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.

Notes

ee also

*Kiss Network
*Kiss 101
*Kiss 105-108
*Kiss TV

External links

* [http://www.totalkiss.com/ Kiss 100]
* [http://www.kisskube.com/ KissKube.com: New Beta Kiss 100 Live Stream & Radio Player]
* [http://www.whatson.com/kiss100 WhatsOn.com: Old Kiss 100 Live Stream & Radio Player]
* [http://www.kissbreakfast.com/ Kiss 100 Breakfast]
* [http://www.fnk107.co.uk/ Friday Night Kiss]
* [http://www.myspace.com/kiss100fm Kiss 100 MySpace page]
* [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kiss-100/9983916011 Kiss 100 Facebook page]
* [http://www.bebo.com/keepitkiss Kiss 100 Bebo page]
* [http://funkin.com/the_band/kiss_fm/ History of Kiss 100 and its involvement with the UK group Jamiroquai]
* [http://www.kiss-tv.co.uk/ Kiss TV]