Touch FM (Coventry)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (December 2006)

Touch FM
Broadcast area	Coventry
Frequency	96.2 MHz
First air date	August 28, 1990
Format	Contemporary
Owner	CN Group

Touch FM is a radio station broadcasting to Coventry in the United Kingdom. It was recently acquired by the CN Group and is aimed primarily at the 15-35 age group, playing contemporary music.

1 History
2 CN Group acquisition
3 Past Presenters
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

The station originally launched as Radio Harmony on 28 August 1990 on 102.6 MHz FM. In 1995, it rebranded as Kix 96 and changed frequency to 96.2 MHz FM. Under the management of Muff Murfin Kix earned a reputation as a training ground for some of the UK radio industry's up-and-coming talents (Chris Brooks, Dave Kelly and Perry Spillar amongst others). Nic Tuff was the station's launch programme controller and breakfast presenter, who is probably best remembered for a 1998 April Fool's joke in which he called Nelson Mandela at home, pretending to be Tony Blair. The stunt attracted some attention from the international press.

The station was allegedly financially supported entirely by the Murfin family until the station's advertising and sponsorship budget became sufficient to sustain the operation and to allow its expansion; its studios later moving from the site of a former hospital in Spon Street to their current location in Watch Close, a complex designed by Nic Tuff.

[edit] CN Group acquisition

The CN Group lobbied government regulatory body Ofcom in 2005 to amend the station's format in order to bring it closer to the adult-contemporary formats of its sister stations in the South Midlands (all later rebranded as Touch FM). One of the proposed changes included a request for the removal of the obligation to provide a weekly programme of Irish music. An objection from Coventry rivals Mercia FM contributed towards Ofcom rejecting the request. As a result, the station's format obligations dictate a different playlist to that of the other members of the Touch network, but nonetheless the station now has a more adult sound than that prior to CN ownership. The station was issued a 'yellow card' by Ofcom in April 2006 for a violation of the 'spirit of its format' following a decision to move the Irish music programme to an 'inaccessible' overnight time slot. [1]