KMFM Thanet 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 2 ...

serving the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in a ...

and the surrounding areas in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

. It is the Thanet 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, TV and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquire ...

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

History

KMFM Thanet began life as Thanet Local Radio (TLR 107.2), founded by Alan Mackay, Ken Wills and Pete Willson (now station manager at Academy FM), and launching in January 1998 from studios at

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

harbour. The launch was not without drama – four months prior, the Radio Authority gave the station the green light on the licence after some alleged internal legal wrangles between the company's directors. Aircheck UK: Kent
/ref> Pete Willson was the first voice on-air; the first song to be played was

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

's " Back For Good", with reggae star

Pato Banton Pato Banton (born Patrick Murray; 28 January 1961) is a reggae singer and toaster from Birmingham, England. He received the nickname Pato Banton from his stepfather: its first name derives from the sound of a Jamaican owl calling "patoo, patoo", ...

recording a special version of his duet with

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

, " Baby Come Back", for the station's launch. The station's line-up was largely unchanged for five years. TLR was originally owned by a consortium of local investors, with local businessman Ken Wills being the majority shareholder. The KM Group took control of TLR in 1999, and subsequently bought out the other investors in March 2003; rebranding the station to KMFM ThanetTLR Thanet
/ref> and relocating it to their own premises in

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

. Following the arrival of the county-wide breakfast, all KMFM programming is now broadcast from Medway. It was the first station to be fully owned by the KM Group. The licence was readvertised in September 2008, with the KM Group reawarded it. 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 (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

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 Thanet produced its own programmes during daytimes, before it joined up with KMFM Canterbury to network all programmes other than breakfast. The stations joined with KMFM Ashford and

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 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 are provide by KMFM News Centre in the Medway studios, and national news by

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 aro ...

at other times.

Notable presenters

Former presenters include Doc Atherton,

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

, Nigel Harris, Dominic King.

Johnny Lewis Jonathan Kendrick Lewis (October 29, 1983 – September 26, 2012), also credited as Johnny K. Lewis, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for playing Kip "Half-Sack" Epps in the first two seasons of the FX series ''Sons ...

, Tom Lowe, Dave Pearce, Myma Seldon, Benedict Smith and

Melanie Sykes Melanie Ann Sykes (born 1970) is an English former 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 Ala ...

References

External links

KMFM Thanet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kmfm Thanet

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 Ca ...

Radio stations established in 1998 Radio stations in Kent Thanet Contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom