KMFM Canterbury
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| Broadcast area | Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay |
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| Slogan | Kent's Biggest Hits |
| Frequency | 106 MHz RDS: __KMFM__ |
| First air date | 21 September 1997 |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio |
| Audience share | 6.5% (RAJAR Q1 2008, [1]) |
| Owner | KM Group |
| Website | www.kmfm.co.uk |
KMFM Canterbury is an Independent Local Radio serving the City of Canterbury and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Canterbury region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements and sponsorships for the area amongst a countywide schedule of programming.
The station began broadcasting in 1997 as 106 CTFM to Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay. It originally broadcast from studios on Lower Bridge Street in Canterbury.
The KM Group increased their involvement in the station's day-to-day running in October 2000 with a re-launch and programming re-direction. The station became the fastest growing in the UK in terms of listenership with a 48% increase in listening in Q4 RAJAR 2000 (in part due to highly successful sponsorship deal with the University of Kent Cricket Club) and a 500% increase in peak listening, during the Ian St James breakfast show. The KM Group took full control of the station in 2001, following a "public interest test" due to laws preventing a newspaper group owning a radio station in the same area unless it was found not to be against the public interest. The station was rebranded to KMFM Canterbury the following year, moving the studios to the Kentish Gazette offices.
In 2001 programme sharing initially began on Saturday nights with Brian Jones presenting his show across TLR and CTFM. The KM Group later took control of Neptune Radio, after which programme sharing began across all three neighbouring East Kent stations.
In 2008, following Ofcom approval, the studios and presenters were allowed to move to the KMFM Ashford building, although the sales teams continue to be based in Canterbury. Following the arrival of the county-wide breakfast, all KMFM programming is now broadcast from Medway.
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