KMFM Ashford is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

serving the

borough of Ashford The Borough of Ashford is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. It borders five other Kent districts, as well as East Sussex to the south-west. Ashford Borough Council's main offices are in the town of Ashford. The bo ...

and the surrounding areas in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

. It is the Ashford region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the

KM Group KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...

), containing local advertisements and sponsorships for the area amongst a countywide schedule of programming.

History

A radio station for Ashford was considered in 2001 by the

Radio Authority Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

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 The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

until July 2004, with six companies making the final shortlist. Aircheck UK: Kent
/ref>

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...

s were broadcast by some of these companies, including Ashford FM between 1996 and 2002 on 106.5 FM, and Ashford Local Radio in 2003. The licence 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. 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 "

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". This challenge was subsequently lost. After the station's launch, it achieved a 42% reach in its first

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...

sweep It shared offices with sister paper the ''

Kentish Express The ''Kentish Express'' is a weekly newspaper serving southern Kent. It is published in four editions - Ashford, Folkestone, Hythe and the Romney Marsh, and Tenterden. It is owned by the KM Group KM Media Group is a multimedia company in ...

'', before being moved to the Medway studios following the arrival of the county-wide breakfast show. 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 KMFM network switched to a

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

format in 2012 following the merging of KMFM Extra with KMFM. The music now focuses mainly on Top 40 hits, and contains a lot more dance and R&B than before.

Programming

All programming across the KMFM network was shared across all seven stations following OFCOM approval in February 2012. The local breakfast show, by then the only local show on the station, was replaced by a county-wide show on 12 March 2012. Until 2007 KMFM Ashford produced its own programmes during daytimes, before it joined up with

KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country is an Independent Local Radio station serving the districts of Dover and Folkestone and Hythe (previously known as Shepway) and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the South Kent region ...

to network all programmes other than breakfast. The stations joined together with

KMFM Canterbury KMFM Canterbury is an Independent Local Radio serving the City of Canterbury and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Canterbury region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements ...

and

KMFM Thanet KMFM Thanet is an Independent Local Radio serving the Isle of Thanet and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Thanet region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements and sponsorsh ...

to create an East Kent network in April 2009, before all programmes apart from weekday/Saturday breakfast and Sunday afternoons were networked across all KMFM stations in September 2009.KMFM to share more programming
/ref> In July 2010, Saturday breakfast and Sunday afternoons became networked. News bulletins come from the KMFM News Centre in the Medway studios on the hour from 6am - 6pm on weekdays, and 8am - 1pm on weekends. National news bulletins come from

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations ar ...

outside these times. Traffic and travel updates are broadcast just before the hour, and every 20 minutes between 7am - 9am and 4pm - 7pm.

Presenters

Current presenters

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

Dave Pearce David Alistair Pearce (born 14 June 1963) is an English dance DJ, EDM producer and broadcaster, who has performed across the United Kingdom and the world. He previously presented ''Dance Anthems'' on BBC Radio 1 for ten years. He is renowned f ...

Former presenters

Myma Seldon Myma Seldon (born 9 August 1979) is a British television and radio presenter and voiceover artist. Background Seldon was born Jemima Seldon on 9 August 1979 in Farnborough, London, England. She has a 2:1 English/Philosophy B.A. (Hons) from Leed ...

Benedict Smith Benedict Smith is a disc jockey who presented ''The Saturday Show'' on the KMFM network and breakfast on KMFM Maidstone and KMFM West Kent before being made redundant in March 2012 following the arrival of the county-wide KMFM networked breakfas ...

Melanie Sykes Melanie Ann Sykes (born 7 August 1970) is an English television and radio presenter. She is best known for co-hosting ''Today with Des and Mel'' with Des O'Connor and '' Let's Do Lunch'' with Gino D'Acampo. She also co-hosted ''Going Out with Al ...

References

External links

KMFM Ashford
{{Ashford Ashford Radio stations established in 2005 Radio stations in Kent Borough of Ashford Folkestone and Hythe District Contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom