Fun Kids is a national children's and pop digital radio station in the United Kingdom with associated websites, YouTube and podcast channels. It has previously been the winner of the Sony and Arqiva Digital Radio Stations of the year. It is operated by Children's Radio UK Ltd. It broadcasts on

DAB Digital Radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...

across the UK as well as online and mobile.

Background

Fun Kids (formerly Fun Radio) was created by

GCap Media GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. O ...

Hit Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sop ...

and the children's radio campaigner

Susan Stranks Susan Stranks (born 2 December 1938) is a British actress and TV presenter. Career Born in London, Stranks was ten years old when she played the role of the younger Emmeline Foster in the romantic adventure film '' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949). S ...

. It went on-air in May 2005 and then was acquired in September 2008 by Folder Media. Fun Radio was initially launched on DAB digital radio in London and some areas of the South East alongside being broadcast on digital television. In January 2008, the line ups of a number of local digital multiplexes changed, with Fun Radio being removed as a service from those outside London.

Broadcasting Nationwide

In the summer of 2009, Fun Kids launched temporarily on the national

Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It conta ...

multiplex from 27 June until 3 October. Fun Kids was removed from

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

channel 926 on 1 December 2009 and also from Sky channel 0171 on 16 December 2009. In February 2016 it was announced that the station would start broadcasting nationwide by joining

Sound Digital Sound Digital is a semi-national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva, Bauer Media Group and Wireless Group. The multiplex covers 73% of the population from a total of 45 transmitters. History Following t ...

's national DAB digital radio multiplex. It launched, alongside the multiplex's other radio stations on 29 February.

Presenters

Fun Kids has been a training ground for many young radio presenters including James Barr, Tim Dixon, James Beckingham, Frankie Vu, Matt Kot, Luke Franks, Anna Louise-Walter and Sean Thorne. Its current presenter line-up includes: George Butler, Dan Simpson, Bex Lindsay, Conor Knight, Robyn Richford, Josh Divney, and Emma-Louise Amanshia.

Fun Kids Junior

On 22 July 2019, Fun Kids launched Fun Kids Junior, its sister radio station for preschool children and parents. The station plays songs for preschool children to sing and dance to during the day and bedtime stories and lullabies during the evening and overnight. Fun Kids Junior is currently available on DAB+ Digital Radio in London, South East, Liverpool and Cheshire. It also broadcasts on the Fun Kids website, on the Fun Kids app and on smart speakers, for example, saying "Alexa, play Fun Kids Junior!" turns on the station.

Other stations

In January 2020, Fun Kids launched eight new stations - Fun Kids Animals, Fun Kids Classics, Fun Kids Classical, Fun Kids Party, Fun Kids Pop Hits, Fun Kids Naps, Fun Kids Silly and Fun Kids Soundtracks. Its classical music station, Fun Kids Classical, has concert pianist

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...

as its ambassador.

External links

References

Radio stations in London Digital-only radio stations Children's radio stations in the United Kingdom Children's websites {{UK-radio-station-stub