Kiss 100 London

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Kiss 100 London
image: Kiss_100_current_logo.png
Broadcast area Across the UK
First air date September 1, 1990
Frequency 97.2 (West/South Wales), 101.0, 100.0, 105.6, 106.1, 106.4, 107.7 FM MHz (London Only)
Sky Digital: 0178
Virgin TV (Ex NTL): 894
Freeview: 713
HomeChoice: 616
Virgin TV (Ex Telewest): 933 (London Only)
DAB Digital Radio
Format RnB / Urban / Hip Hop
Owner Kiss Network, EMAP Radio
Website www.Kiss100.com

Kiss 100 is a radio station broadcasting to London on 100.0 MHz, the East of England on 105.6 MHz, 106.1 MHz, 106.4 MHz, 107.7 MHz, and South Wales, South West England & the West of England on 101.0 MHz and 97.2 MHz and specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and dance music. It also broadcasts in other parts of the UK on DAB and nationally on Freeview and Sky Digital television.

Contents

[edit] History

Kiss 100's logo 1999 to 2006
Kiss 100's logo 1999 to 2006

Kiss FM began in October 1985 as a pirate station, which broadcast 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 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.

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 FM). 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.

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, who now control the station - and recently moved its studio to Central London. Its many past influential DJs include Trevor Nelson, Judge Jules, Dave Pearce, Steve Jackson, Norman Jay, Craig Charles, DJ Richie Rich UK, Coldcut, Jazzie B, Gilles Peterson and Pete Wardman.

[edit] Kiss 100 Presenters


Kiss 100 presenters across the day include Robin Banks, Justin Wilkes, Toni Phillips 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 Ricky & Melvin, Wec, 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.

[edit] Robin Banks Breakfast Show

In June 2006 long serving Breakfast host Bam Bam (real name Peter Poulton) was terminated by the station and was replaced by drive time presenter Robin Banks. Early audience results for the new Breakfast show have been the highest since 2004. Robin Banks presents the breakfast show (6am to 9am) with Adam K (producer), Charlie, and Postboy, with Lisa Snell reading the news.

[edit] Key DJs

[edit] John Digweed

John Digweed hosts a popular two hour long show on Saturday nights at 0300 GMT. Being an internationally known electronic dance music DJ himself, the show exclusively features music of that genre. 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.

[edit] DJ Hype

DJ Hype hosts the popular drum and bass radio show every Wednesday from 2300 GMT. He does a 2 hour show packed with the latest in promo releases. His show often features guests from the drum and bass scene, whether for interview or to DJ a guest set.

[edit] DJ EZ

DJ EZ hosts the popular UK Garage radio show every Friday Night from 2200 GMT. He does a 2 hour show packed with the latest tunes from the UK Garage world. With him always is his sidekick Winston.

[edit] Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds consists of DJ Nasher, MC Kid-Ivee, MC Tense & MC Goojhamin. After hearing about the Kiss 100 Pirate Soundclosh they entered and went on to win the competition in December 2005. Dangerous Minds currently hosts a one hour Grime, Bashment & UK Hip Hop show every Monday night / Tuesday morning from 0100 GMT

[edit] Current DJ's

Current DJ's on Kiss 100 include
Armin Van Buuren
Big Ted and Shortee Blitz
Carl Cox
Crazy D
Dangerous Minds
David Rodigan
Dynamite MC
DJ EZ
DJ Swerve
Jay Cunning
Jez Welham
Joe Ransom
John Digweed
Justin Wilkes
Logan Sama
Loose Cannons
Manny Norte
Melvin and Rickie
MK
Neev
Patrick Forge
Robin Banks
Shortee Blitz
Simon Dale
Sinden
Steve Smart
Toni Phillips
Wec

[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 BamBam 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 [1]

[edit] September 2006 Relaunch

Emap introduced a major revamp of the Kiss brand on September 6th 2006. 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 West and Kiss 105-108 East 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] See also

[edit] External links