| Broadcast area | Ashford and Tenterden |
|---|---|
| Slogan | The Music You Want, The News You Need Kent's Music Station |
| Frequency | 107.6 MHz RDS: KMFM_ASH |
| First air date | 3 October 2005 |
| Format | Adult contemporary music |
| Audience share | 6.5% (RAJAR Q1 2008, [1]) |
| Owner | KM Group |
| Website | www.kmfm.co.uk/ashford |
KMFM Ashford is an Independent Local Radio serving the borough of Ashford and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is part of the KMFM group of radio stations in the county, which are part of the KM Group.
Contents |
A radio station for Ashford was considered in 2001 by the Radio Authority as Ashford was the only borough in East Kent not to be granted a licence in the mid-1990s, but the applications for the Ashford licence were not advertised by Ofcom until July 2004, with six companies making the final shortlist[1]. Restricted Service Licences were broadcast by some of these companies, including Ashford FM between 1996 and 2002 on 106.5 FM, and Ashford Local Radio in 2003[1].
The license was awarded to an organisation called LARK FM (Local Ashford Radio Kent) in which the KM Group had a majority stake, with the station broadcasting under the KMFM brand already used by five other stations in Kent[1]. KMFM Ashford officially launched on 3 October 2005. This decision caused a High Court Challenge by rival bidder A-Ten FM, with the chairman claiming "Ofcom have failed in their principal duty to encourage competition and diversity of choice for listeners. They have ignored what Parliament intended and more importantly what the people of Ashford wanted. Although I believe some local people supported the trial broadcasts of Lark FM, what KM are now offering bears no resemblance. Even the local news bulletins will be piped in from elsewhere in Kent"[2]. This challenge was subsequently lost [3].
After the station's launch, it achieved a 42% reach in its first RAJAR sweep[4]
It shares offices with sister paper the Kentish Express.
Like the rest of the KMFM network, the station was relaunched in September 2010 with new jingles, schedule changes and more emphasis on music.
The station currently broadcasts locally from Ashford during weekday breakfast. All other output is networked across the KMFM network.
Until 2007 KMFM Ashford produced its own programmes during daytimes, before it joined up with KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country to network all programmes other than breakfast. The stations joined together with KMFM Canterbury and KMFM Thanet to create an East Kent network in April 2009[5], before all programmes apart from weekday/Saturday breakfast and Sunday afternoons were networked across all KMFM stations in September 2009[6]. In July 2010, Saturday breakfast and Sunday afternoons became networked.
News bulletins come from the KMFM News Centre during peak times, on the hour and every half-hour between 7am - 9am and 4pm - 6pm. Traffic and travel updates are broadcast just before the hour, and every 15 minutes between 7am - 9am and 4pm - 7pm.
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||