KMFM Maidstone
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| Broadcast area | Maidstone, West Malling and Mid Kent |
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| Slogan | Kent's Biggest Hits |
| Frequency | 105.6 MHz RDS: KMFM____ |
| First air date | 18 October 2003 |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio |
| Audience share | 6.2% (RAJAR Q1 2008, [1]) |
| Owner | KM Group |
| Website | www.kmfm.co.uk |
KMFM Maidstone is an Independent Local Radio serving the town of Maidstone and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Maidstone 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 life as a public broadcast of Maidstone Hospital Radio, operated in the early 1990s under a Restricted Service Licence. Timed to coincide with the town's annual river festival, the service was known as Maidstone Festival Radio. Following a disagreement with the NHS Trust that operated the hospital radio station, Maidstone Festival Radio set up their own studio before later changing the station's name to CTR FM (County Town Radio). At the request of the Radio Authority, it was rebranded a second time to 20/20fm (after the A20 and M20 trunk roads that run through the area), following concerns that the station could be confused with the similarly named 106CTFM which had just launched a full-time service in Canterbury.
Six applications were filed for a new Maidstone and Mid-Kent licence by January 2003, with the winning application being declared as Maidstone Radio Ltd (20/20fm) in the spring. The station launched full-time on 18 October 2003, reverting to CTR 105.6 (the Canterbury station having by then rebranded as KMFM Canterbury), under the directorship of former TLR 107.2 programme controller Jon Maxfield and many former KM Radio employees. Mike Russell was the first voice on air in 2003; the first song to be played was "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones. CTR's launch line-up featured many of the members of the original RSLs.
The station was sold to the KM Group in November 2006 and then rebranded as KMFM Maidstone on 12 September 2007. The station moved its studios and presenters, along with those of KMFM West Kent, to the KMFM Medway studios in 2008, following Ofcom approval. The sales team are still based at the KM office in Maidstone.
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