History
The station grew out of aspirant community licenseKiss 90 FM
Kiss 90 was an aspirant dance radio station based in Melbourne, Australia. Kiss was the first 100% dance format radio station in Melbourne. The station broadcast sporadically to the Greater Melbourne area between 1994 and 2001 on 89.9 FM. The station was at the center of nightclub and rave culture trends. The music format was designed to unite dance music lovers and showcase a broad range of dance music, featuring most of Melbourne's DJs live on air. The station continually broke new songs and gave airplay to many artists for the first time on Australian radio, pushing many into the mainstream charts. This resulted in mainstream commercial radio stations introducing more dance music into their playlists and Fox FM dropping classic rock for a Rhythmic CHR format in the late '90s.February 1994
Michael Hughes and Nigel Slater, both presenters of dance shows on local metro stations, discussed the opportunity of a 100% dance format radio station. At the time, Melbourne’s commercial radio stations were playing classic rock, hits and memories, easy music and rock. None of stations were running a top 40 format during the day, let alone dance music. A few dance shows existed on local community stations, but they were often limited to small broadcast areas, obscure timeslots and for limited periods. Despite the challenges of finding these shows, many had strong and loyal audience bases. At the time, the mainstream media didn’t see the potential for a dance format station and were more interested in focusing on getting the biggest slice of the more traditional baby boomers.March 1994
Michael Hughes and Nigel Slater joined forces with renowned night club promotions and event managers Jake Kogakis, Peter Raff and Eric Pipersberg (aka The Gingerbread Men). Together, they worked to form a broadcasting organization, gain support from the dance music industry, nightclubs and Melbourne’s best DJs.June 1994
A non-profit organization, called Dance Club Broadcasters was formed with Michael, Nigel, Jake, Peter and Eric as well as representatives of the industry. A submission for a temporary license was then put to the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA). The committee discussed various options on what to call the new station including D-FM (for Dance FM) as well as GBM FM (initials of Jake, Raff and Eric’s company, GingerBread Men). Eventually, the name Kiss was agreed on due to the awareness and reputation leading dance stations in other big cities including London and New York.July 1994
Kiss debuts on Melbourne airwaves with a pre-recorded 24-hour broadcast. This was a low power (200 watts) broadcast from the top of Swinburne University in Hawthorn reaching the surrounding eastern suburbs and inner city. Contrary to expectations, with no publicity, the station received 50 phone calls from excited listeners and support steadily grew for the station.October 1994 – The first Melbourne-wide broadcast
Officially, the 2nd broadcast, but for most it was the first time they experienced Kiss in Melbourne. The station was on air for six weeks, broadcasting live from studios above Chapel St in South Yarra. The transmitter (as with all future broadcasts) was high-power and located at the top of Mt Dandenong (along with the rest of Melbourne’s high power commercial and national FM and television stations) which enabled the station to cover all of Melbourne, Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula. By 1996 and the 5th Broadcast the Board that ran Kiss was virtually non existent. The Station had been moved from Prahran to Collins Street in the Melbourne CBD and was close to folding. Timmy Byrne who copresented along with Paul Main and Mark Neil the most popular show on Kiss FM ''Beautiful Saturdays'' approached what was left of the board to lobby joining the board and offered his services as station manager. Timmy had extensive experience in the media both in radio and audio production as well as television production. He had held DJ residencies in Melbourne's major clubs - The Underground, Redhead and Saratoga to name but a few plus he also had a degree in Media and Japanese. At the AGM held at the new Collins Street address he was voted onto the board and made station manager. Timmy then set about building Kiss into the highly successful station it became. A new Board was gradually recruited and volunteers appointed in various departments. By the eighth broadcast the station was forced to relocate and moved to St.Kilda. It was here that it really hit its mark. There were now some 20 volunteers, eight paid staff and 50 plus DJs. The station was continuing to do intermittent broadcasts of four to six weeks but each broadcast saw it go from strength to strength. To keep the whole thing going between broadcasts Go Magazine was launched to great critical acclaim - it was Australia's first dance music magazine. The station ventured outside the studio on numerous occasions broadcasting live from street raves, The Big Day Out, The Apollo Festival and the St. Kilda Festival. Marketing efforts saw bill boards promote each broadcast, Kiss cruisers were on the road facilitating live crosses from clubs and events and a Kiss emblazoned tram sponsored by Telstra spread the Kiss message across the wider metropolitan area. Every international DJ that visited Melbourne when the station was on air graced the Kiss studio. The likes of John Digweed, Frankie Knuckles, Paul Oakenfold, Derek May, Juan Atkins and more.Licensing
Kiss 90 was licensed as an 'aspirant' community broadcaster and created to foster Melbourne's dance music culture. The station's mission was to achieve a full-time Melbourne-wide community license. Kiss conducted 21 broadcasts to gain listen support and convince the Australian Broadcasting Authority(ABA) to grant a permanent Melbourne wide license. The station was one of many aspirant community groups who shared the 89.9FM frequency in Melbourne. Kiss, like the other aspirants was only allowed to broadcast for a limited amount of time, usually for 4–8 weeks at any one time. After many delays, the ABA finally made a decision on the license and Kiss was not successful. The ABA awarded the available high-power FM frequencies to theTest broadcasts
Programming
The programming format had consistent shows across the weekdays with familiar breakfast, morning, afternoon, drive and evening request shows but the music and the presentation style was like nothing else on Melbourne radio at the time. During the evenings and over the weekends, Kiss had specialist nightclub DJs doing niche dance shows with an emphasis on a different dance genre each night. Although some of the DJs changed during the broadcasts, this format remained and enabled Kiss to reach a wide audience during the day but also build strong niche audience followings in the evenings and over the weekend.First Program Grid: October/November 1994
Weekdays Weekends Specialist shows, weeknights Kiss FM currently has active transmitters at Flemington,Kiss and KIIS
In late 2013, Kiss FM had unsuccessfully attempted to prevent commercial radio networkReferences
External links
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