Broadcast area | United Kingdom: 100 FM in London, 101 FM in the Severn Estuary (97.2 FM in Bristol), 106.4, 106.1, 107.7, 105.6 FM in East Anglia; National (DAB) |
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Slogan | The Beat of the UK |
First air date | October 1985 |
Format | Rhythmic CHR |
Owner | Bauer Radio |
Sister stations |
Absolute Radio Heat Radio The Hits Kerrang Radio Magic Planet Rock |
Webcast | planetradio |
Website |
planetradio www www www |
Kiss is a UK radio station which broadcasts on 100 FM in London, 101 and 97.2 FM in the Severn Estuary, and 106.4, 106.1, 107.7 and 105.6 FM in East Anglia. Kiss specialises in garage, hip hop, pop, house, R&B, urban and electronic dance music. It also has specialist hour-long programs dedicated to grime, underground, D&B, slow jams and techno (these shows are now on its spin-off service KissFresh). It also broadcasts on DAB Digital Radio around the UK & nationally on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media. Owned by Hamburg based Bauer Media Group, Kiss forms part of Bauer's National portfolio of radio brands. Kiss spin-off brands include Kiss TV (playing non-stop music videos), Kisstory (playing classic Kiss tunes) and KissFresh (playing non-stop new music).
Kiss FM began in October 1985 as a pirate radio station, broadcasting first to South London then across the whole city, on 94FM. The station initially broadcast at the weekends and after a year of operation added a Friday line-up to the schedule taking the number of DJs on-air to just under 50.
The station had a cult following across Greater London, with a committed audience. It was suggested in the press at the time that the station had commanded almost 500,000 listeners while operating as an unlicensed pirate station. Kiss FM was established by Gordon 'Mac' McNamee (later its Managing Director until December 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 the Kiss FM profile. As a result, Wingate launched the very successful Kiss nights at the Wag Club (which included the first ever UK acid house party - an idea put forward by the late Colin Faver and Danny Rampling), both DJs on the station. These nights increased the station's credibility with its target audience and Wingate joined the Kiss team, followed shortly thereafter by Lindsay Wesker.