KMFM Maidstone 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 town of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

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 Maidstone 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

The station began life as a public broadcast of Maidstone Hospital Radio, operated in the early 1990s under a

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 ...

. Timed to coincide with the town's annual river festival, the service was known as Maidstone Festival Radio. Following a disagreement with the NHS Trust that operated the hospital radio station, Maidstone Festival Radio set up their own studio before later changing the station's name to CTR FM (County Town Radio). At the request of 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 ...

, it was rebranded a second time to 20/20fm (after the A20 and M20 trunk roads that run through the area), following concerns that the station could be confused with the similarly named 106CTFM which had just launched a full-time service in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. Six applications were filed for a new Maidstone and Mid-Kent licence by January 2003, with the winning application being declared as Maidstone Radio Ltd (20/20fm) in the spring. The station launched full-time on 18 October 2003, reverting to CTR 105.6 (the Canterbury station having by then rebranded as

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 ...

), under the directorship of former TLR 107.2 programme controller Jon Maxfield and many former KM Radio employees. Mike Russell was the first voice on air in 2003; the first song to be played was "

Start Me Up "Start Me Up" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album ''Tattoo You''. Released as the album's lead single, it reached number one on Australian Kent Music Report, number two in Canada, number two on the ''Bi ...

" by the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

. CTR's launch line-up featured many of the members of the original RSLs. The station was sold to the KM Group in November 2006 and then rebranded as KMFM Maidstone on 12 September 2007. The station moved its studios and presenters, along with those of

KMFM West Kent KMFM West Kent is an Independent Local Radio serving the towns of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells plus the surrounding areas of the South East of England. It is the West Kent region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Gr ...

, to the KMFM Medway studios in 2008, following

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 ...

approval. The sales team are still based at the KM office in Maidstone. The licence was extended for another four years in April 2010, taking it to 17 October 2015. 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 is now 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 Maidstone produced its own programmes during daytimes, before it joined up with KMFM West Kent to network all programmes other than breakfast. The stations joined together with KMFM Medway to create a West 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. In July 2010, Saturday breakfast and Sunday afternoons became networked. The breakfast show for Maidstone was merged with that of West Kent in January 2011. 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.

References

External links

KMFM Maidstone
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Radio stations established in 2003 Radio stations in Kent Borough of Maidstone Tonbridge and Malling Contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom