Timeline of Kiss

A timeline of notable events relating to Kiss, a British commercial radio station operated by Bauer Radio.

1980s
  • 1985
    • October – The first broadcasts of Kiss as a pirate station take place, initially broadcasting at the weekend across south London but is soon broadcasting across the capital on 94 FM.
  • 1987
    • No events.
  • 1988
    • November – The Department for Trade and Industry announces that a series of new stations in areas which already have an Independent Local Radio station will be licensed. Pirate stations are allowed to apply as long as they cease broadcasting and Kiss mounts a campaign to win one of the licenses.
    • 31 December – Kiss holds its 'coming off air' night at Dingwalls, Camden.
  • 1989
    • 12 July – Kiss is unsuccessful in its initial bid for a London-wide licence, losing out to Jazz FM.
    • December – A second batch of London-wide incremental licenses are awarded and this time Kiss is successful.[1]

1990s
  • 1990
    • 1 September – Kiss 100 starts broadcasting as a legal, licensed station. Gordon Mac leads a countdown in the studio, and the first official record played is 'Pirates Anthem' by Shabba Ranks and Cocoa Tea. Norman Jay hosts the first full show.
    • 9 September – Kiss holds its launch party at Highbury Fields.
  • 1991
    • No events.
  • 1992
    • Emap takes full control of Kiss 100.
  • 1994
  • 1996
    • Trevor Nelson, who had been involved with the station since its time as a pirate, is the latest presenter to join BBC Radio 1.
  • 1998
    • 28 March – Kiss' founder Gordon Mac presents his final show for the station.
    • 30 June – Kiss TV launches.
    • Gilles Peterson leaves to join BBC Radio 1.
    • 18 December – Original presenter Steve Jackson is sacked, resulting in a legal case the following August on grounds of racial discrimination.
  • 1999
    • January – Controversial changes are made to the station following Emap's decision to align the station with the rest of its operations. The on-air changes lead to criticisms from presenters and listeners who feel that the station is losing its musical direction.[2] The changes see Bam Bam take over as presenter of the breakfast show.

2000s
  • 2000
  • 2001
    • Steve Smart joins.
  • 2002
    • No events.
  • 2003
    • Graham Gold leaves, having presented a Friday night show for the past decade.
  • 2004
    • No events.
  • 2006
    • April – Bam Bam is fired shortly before the station is handed a then record fine of £175,000 for a series of breaches which include prank calls being broadcast on his show without the consent of the 'victims.'
    • Robin Banks replaces Bam Bam as host of the breakfast show.
    • 6 September –
      • Due to falling listener figures, Kiss is relaunched with a renewed focus on dance music.[4]
      • Vibe 101 and Vibe 105–108 are rebranded Kiss 101 and Kiss 105-108. Emap had become owners of the Vibe stations the previous year due to its purchase of Scottish Radio Holdings.
    • 22 October – The Kiss network becomes one of the broadcasters who air a new chart show called the Fresh 40 chart show. It counts down the top 40 r'n'b and dance songs and is broadcast against commercial radio's Hit40uk chart and the BBC Radio 1 Sunday afternoon chart show.
  • 2008
    • 29 January – Bauer completes the purchase of EMAP's radio, television and consumer media businesses, purchasing the assets for £1.14bn.[5]
  • 2009
    • 1 March – The final edition of the Fresh 40 chart is broadcast.

2010s
  • 2010
    • December – Ofcom approves a request from owners Bauer Radio to drop local programming from the three Kiss stations, creating a national service on the condition that Kiss becomes available on 35 DAB multiplexes on the day local information is dropped, rising to 38 within 3 months of the changes.[6]
  • 2011
    • January – John Digweed's show, called Transitions since the mid 2000s, is broadcast on Kiss for the final time.
  • 2012
    • November – David Rodigan leaves, having been with the station since it launched in 1990. He resigns following a decision to move his reggae show to a later slot.[7]
    • 27 December – Kiss 100 launches on the Digital One national DAB multiplex.[8]
  • 2013
    • 7 May – KissFresh launches. It is available on Freeview and online but not on any DAB multiplexes.
    • 12 May – Kisstory launches as a full-time station, again just on Freeview and online.
  • 2014
    • Logan Sama leaves for BBC 1Xtra.
    • September – DJ EZ leaves after presenting a UK garage show for the station for the past 14 years.
    • 12 December – Kisstory and KissFresh start broadcasting on DAB for the first time when the appear on the Greater London I DAB multiplex.
  • 2015
    • January – Kisstory launches on many local multiplexes across the UK.[9]
  • 2016
    • 26 February – Kiss is launched in Norway and Finland.[10] Content is managed by local teams. In Finland, Kiss is broadcast on FM and in Norway Kiss and Kisstory are broadcast on DAB.[11]
    • 29 February – Kisstory is one of the launch stations on the semi-national Sound Digital multiplex.
    • 1 May – KissFresh takes over some of the local slots vacated by Kisstory when it launched on Sound Digital.[12]
  • 2017
    • 10 July – KissFresh launches nationally on the Digital One multiplex. Its schedule and playlist is refreshed to differentiate it from the main Kiss station.[13] However the station's carriage on this multiplex lasts for less than months when it is replaced on 6 November by Magic Christmas.
  • 2018
    • January –
      • Kiss launches two new online on-demand stations – KISS Jams and KISS Grime.
      • Some changes to the late night schedules take place on the main station and new specialist shows launch on KissFresh.[14]
    • 26 November – Kiss breakfast presenters Rickie Haywood Williams, Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges will leave the station at the end of the year to succeed Charlie Sloth on the evening show on BBC Radio 1.[15]
  • 2019
    • 2 January – Tom Green and Daisy Maskell take over as co-presenters of the breakfast show.[16]
    • 11 February – Kisstory moves from the semi-national SDL multiplex to the more widely available Digital One multiplex.[17]
    • March – KissFresh is removed from the majority of local multiplexes resulting in DAB carriage for the station all-but coming to an end. The station does retain its carriage on Freeview.

2020s
  • 2020
    • 23 June – Tom Green and Daisy Maskell announce they will be leaving the breakfast show. With Daisy becoming the host of the new KissFresh breakfast show and Tom leaving the station all together. They will be replaced on 3rd August by Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely.
    • 31 October – For the first time, KISS FM, KISSTORY and KISS Fresh unite to broadcast the KISS Haunted House Party.[18]

References
  1. Hebditch, Stephen (1991). "AM/FM – Spring 1990". TQM Communications. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008.
  2. "News | The Big Kiss-Off". Nme.Com. 24 January 1999. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  3. Brook, Stephen (21 June 2005). "Emap snaps up Scottish Radio Holdings". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  4. Day, Julia (4 September 2006). "Kiss and shake up". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  5. "Emap sells magazines and radio divisions to Bauer for £1.14bn". Campaign Live. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  6. Today, Radio (2010). "Kiss allowed to go national". Radio Today. Archived from the original on 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  7. "Kiss FM DJ resigns over reggae 'marginalisation'". BBC News. 22 November 2012.
  8. "Kiss FM appears on national Digital One". 27 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  9. "The great DAB digital radio station reshuffle: what's changing?". a516digital.com. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  10. "Bauer launches KISS in Norway and Finland". 15 February 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  11. "DAB Ensembles Worldwide – Norway". www.wohnort.org. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  12. "DAB Update: D2 station migration completes". Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  13. "KISS Fresh goes national on DAB digital radio". 10 July 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  14. "New presenters and channels for KISS brand". 11 January 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  15. McIntosh, Steven (26 November 2018). "Rickie, Melvin and Charlie leave Kiss to replace Charlie Sloth on BBC Radio 1". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  16. "Kiss announces Tom Green and Daisy Maskell as new breakfast show hosts". BBC News. BBC. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  17. "Kisstory to replace Absolute 90s on Digital One", RadioToday.co.uk
  18. "KISS stations unite for the Haunted House Party". Oct 5, 2020. Retrieved Oct 5, 2020.
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