KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of

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 ...

, 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 Yattendon Group plc (formerly Yattendon Investment Trust) is a British-based private company owned by the Iliffe family. It has interests in Vancouver, Seattle, agriculture, marinas and local newspaper printing and publishing. Property Yattend ...

acquired KM Media Group in April 2017.

History

KM Media Group can trace its roots back to 1859, when the ''Maidstone Telegraph'' (now the ''

Kent Messenger The ''Kent Messenger'' is a weekly newspaper serving the mid-Kent area. It is published in three editions - Maidstone, Malling, and the Weald. It is owned by the KM Group and is published on Thursdays. History The ''Kent Messenger'' grew from ...

'') was first published in Kent's county 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 ...

. The newspaper was taken over by Barham Pratt Boorman in 1890, after its owners, the Masters brothers, were jailed and forced to sell up. Boorman had already started his own newspapers in Ashford. Barham was succeeded by his son, Henry Pratt Boorman, in the late 1920s. He realised that people would be keen to buy the paper if it included their picture or pictures of their own towns and villages. Henry's son Edwin joined the firm in the late 1950s and was managing director from 1962 until 1986. That was when his father stepped down as chairman and became President of what had developed into the Kent Messenger Group. Edwin took the Chair and remained at the helm until the end of 2005 when he was succeeded by his oldest daughter, Geraldine Allinson.

Cancelled acquisition of further titles

In July 2011, it was announced Northcliffe Media intended to sell nine of its titles to KM Media Group. The newspapers involved included the '' Dover Express'', '' East Kent Gazette'', ''Folkestone Herald'', ''Herne Bay and Whitstable Times'', ''Isle of Thanet Gazette'', ''

Medway News The ''Medway News'' was a weekly newspaper covering the Medway Towns in Kent, England. Established in 1855 as the ''Military Chronicle'' and ''Naval Spectator'', it relaunched as the ''Chatham News and Rochester, Strood, Brompton & Gillingham Adv ...

'' and ''Thanet Times''. KM Media Group referred the acquisition to the Office of Fair Trading. The Office of Fair Trading then referred the matter to the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

, because of the possible monopoly it might create. This meant the cost of the deal and process of takeover would have increased. Due to this interest by the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission, the take-over of the papers was scrapped. Since then several of the affected newspapers closed including the Medway News and Isle of Thanet Gazette.

Acquisition

Iliffe Media Ltd acquired the entire shareholding of KM Media Group in April 2017.

Newspapers

Paid-for newspapers

KM Media Group operates a number of weekly newspapers for different parts of Kent which have been acquired over the years. * ''

'', with three editions ** Maidstone ** Malling ** Weald * '' Dartford Messenger'' * '' Gravesend Messenger'' * '' Medway Messenger'' * ''

Faversham News Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

'' * '' Sheerness Times Guardian'' * Sittingbourne Messenger * Sittingbourne News Extra * ''

Kentish Gazette The ''Kentish Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper serving the city of Canterbury, Kent. It is owned by KM Group and published on Thursdays. It's Canterbury and Whitstable editions are the only local papers covering that area. History The newspaper ...

'' (

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. ...

) * ''

Whitstable Gazette Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of 3 ...

'' * ''

Herne Bay Gazette Herne may refer to: Places Australia * Herne Hill, Victoria * Herne Hill, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth * Riverwood, New South Wales, formerly known as Herne Bay England * Herne, Kent, near the town of Herne Bay * Herne Bay, seaside tow ...

'' * '' East Kent Mercury'' (

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

and

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

) * '' Dover Mercury'' * ''Folkestone & Hythe Express'' * ''

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 ...

'', with three editions ** Ashford ** Hythe and Romney Marsh ** Tenterden Apart from the ''Medway Messenger'', which is published twice-weekly on Monday and Thursday all titles are published weekly. Also published is ''Kent Business'', a monthly publication which has been going since 1993.

Free newspapers

In 1981 KM Media Group launched its Extra series, beginning with the ''

Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...

Extra''. There are currently 4 ''Extra'' newspapers around the county that are distributed through letterboxes and available at pick-up points.

Radio

KM Media Group owns and operates seven commercial FM radio stations in Kent. Six of them were previously independent stations, acquired by the Group between 1999 and 2006 and collectively rebranded KMFM. The programming is networked across the stations, however, there is also unique content on each station including; what's on, local advertisements and sponsorship and when relevant other content e.g. traffic reports and school closures. The network also includes a DAB station.

Internet

KM Media Group's main consumer website is KentOnline.co.uk, launched in 1998.http://www.kentonline.co.uk/km_group/km_group/history/over_150_years_of_history.aspx History of the KM The website offers local news, travel, jobs, motors, holidays and other features. As of 2017 the site attracts over 2.7 million monthly unique browsers.

Offices

KM Media Group has offices in Ashford, Canterbury, Deal, Gravesend, Maidstone, Medway, Ramsgate and Sheerness.List of KM Offices
It previously had offices in Dover, Faversham, Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells (which were closed in 2008);http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7630372.stm Newspaper publisher cuts 61 jobs Folkestone (which closed in April 2009); and London (which closed in 2011).

References

{{Reflist

External links

KentOnlineKMFMMore information about KM Media Group
Newspaper companies of the United Kingdom Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Mass media in Kent Mass media companies established in 1890 Companies based in Kent 1890 establishments in England