I'm not going to hijack the other recent Kiss 100 post with a different topic. So I'll start a new one.

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2024/08/hits-r ... from-kiss/

I never thought I'd see the day that Kiss gave up 100fm in London plus the west of England and Norwich frequencies. But they have!

I never thought we'd see the day that they kiss the FM dial goodnight. What a sellout.
R.I.P Kiss FM

I read else where people prefer Capital to Kiss, they might be similar in away, kiss is owned by bauer, capital by global, apparently two groups own most radio stations, suppose a lot of people don't like it. It has lasted longer than in other parts of the country, it follows pattern Jazz fm long since gone, x fm is still on air in Manchester and London…the listeners weren’t there for kiss on fm, flipping to hits away of keeping the transmitter going, suppose the other transmitters else were, which I suppose used to be independents like Hallam, Viking etc.

It's still going to be o on 97.2 near Bristol and to be honest kiss bears little resembles to how it used to but it is still amazing all the pop stations are all the same with the same shitty adverts every 12 minutes just crap

Looks like Radionecks will have to change the entry question

radionortheast wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 9:58 am I read else where people prefer Capital to Kiss, they might be similar in away, kiss is owned by bauer, capital by global, apparently two groups own most radio stations, suppose a lot of people don't like it. It has lasted longer than in other parts of the country, it follows pattern Jazz fm long since gone, x fm is still on air in Manchester and London…the listeners weren’t there for kiss on fm, flipping to hits away of keeping the transmitter going, suppose the other transmitters else were, which I suppose used to be independents like Hallam, Viking etc.

Vibe FM frequencies in East Anglia was also dance-based, but the original Kiss FM diluted its underground dance format way back in 1990s (before EMAP sold them to Bauer). When I listened to them in 2000s it was mostly pop-dance in daytime with the odd specialist DJ-led shows for more underground genres in the evening.

I think Bauer's suits are too PC to say it openly, but they have likely done listener research and discovered folk into electronic dance music are now an ageing population - of which many are in lower income/socio-economic groups (and even those who are not tend to shun excessive consumerism), so not attractive to advertisers.

From what I've heard on commercial radio nowadays, advertisers seem to be trying to sell big ticket items such as home improvements, new cars, financial services, with stations all chasing after the same demographic of "stable affluent middle class extended families", hence the bland stuff they play nowadays!

Also a lot more mainstream pop is club/dance inspired nowadays - if Hits Radio mostly plays modern pop, it might even go unnoticed as a major format change by many daytime listeners..

Culture change to internet. Homogenization of commercial music, hard to differentiate. What are people even looking for in a commercial station these days ? Is it just pop hits, there is just so much to pull your attention in 2024 and if it is not interesting enough it dies off.

I liked Kiss a lot when it was a pirate they had great audio, probably London's best stereo signal back in the day.

No sympathy for it falling based on recent years but I am sad the origins of this station will be lost as well. Iit started as a interesting, vibe-y, good sounding station back in the pirate day. Great audio in mono or stereo and strong as I recall it. Maybe a bit hissy at times is something I recall but not short on signal strength.

It meant something back then. Radio and maybe there is not much underground music these days that people are inventing, the late 80's and 90's were very explosive with new music style, something for all. Not how it is today, fresh and new things happening back then culturally.





Things was when they were legal sounded great in the early times.

I think quite a few people reading this now are too young to remember the pirate kiss and they were not my favourite I thought Horizon and solar who both had 102.5 were the best 1980s signal and went miles and miles 70 miles in a few places as 102.5 was totally vacant then as for kiss even in the beginning starting the legal station in 1990 with a dj like Dave Pierce it was always going to become slowly more commercial so what it means is non of the black music stations that got the earliest license in London are gone

There on DAB in those areas, so you can still listen using a radio.. The original Kiss is still around in 2024 (Misoul) DAB - same founder

Lordunderground wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 5:21 pm There on DAB in those areas, so you can still listen using a radio.. The original Kiss is still around in 2024 (Misoul) DAB - same founder

That's actually know already by most people and it's not the same station as it's a different name Gordon Mac sold kiss many years before mi soul so to me it was his new station and how many people know he actually joined choice fm just after he left kiss and for our younger readers choice became capital extra a few years ago

Rinse will be next

Very good maybe a station calling it' self smaller hits fm could come on 106.8 as rinse isn't very powerful compared to 100 fm? The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous

Will they still brand as KISS FM or will it be KISS DAB or even KISS COFDM ?

Alex728 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 11:45 pm
Vibe FM frequencies in East Anglia was also dance-based

I do remember the dancing baby song on vibe fm, those stations were a novelty, we moved to hill back in that time, I could hear Crash fm too. They had only just started clearing frequencies above 106, the band was a lot clearer, often new stations coming along all the time making it interesting, often tune to the Sheffield pirates they disappeared when kiss 105 came along maybe they had no frequencies to broadcast on, I could often hear them on a horizontal folded dipole outside, they did seem to make kiss 105 sound abit like a pirate at the start, maybe they were trying to get rid of them I don't know.

I do remember one afternoon tuning about in 1998, I came across Energy 106, pirate station broadcasting near Monaghan, ireland, the signal was clear in stereo then faded back, I thought it was a joke at first someone messing about in Halifax, I didn't think it could be coming from so far away. I would often listen to it fading in out during the day a lot more vibe, I thought it was licensed the radio authority had done something right, with vibe and crash it was easy to think that way, pirates often broadcasted from towerblocks. it was only when we got internet I found it was a pirate, it made me mad when they started putting local radio stations around it!, last the station I listened to on fm, quite hard to go back to other pirates with them not been there, I suppose I always preferred Energy it seemed more nice, was really professional, maybe the other pirate radio is abit more on a niche, i've been driven away from it abit, i'm not sure about it.

The lady on Anglia news used do vibe FM I am sure she remembers it well.

Hits Radio takes over from Monday 23rd.

34 years and 23 days come to an end of kiss 100 London then although it's really been about 16 years since djs like Patrick Fordge with his excellent cosmic jam show on Sunday nights came to an end and the pop rubbish started in Ernest. Yes London really needs hits radio going to be completely different from the rest. Yeah right,

Looks like a last minute decision to ditch 97.2fm from Pur Down, Bristol and relay Hits, even though it's already on 106.5fm in the city.

The big boys take over of everything is complete let's all surrender listen online only to the remaining good stuff absolutely bloody ridiculous

So it's official. Hits FM is now on 100.0FM coming through loud and clear