Kiss FM Radio is a contemporary dance music station founded in 1985 as a pirate radio station broadcasting illegally to meet demand for music not played on legal stations. It was set up offshore to avoid breaking UK laws. In 1992, it was taken over by EMAP and underwent changes to its logo, staff, and music due to a DJ being fired. It still plays the same genre of music despite logo changes. The station plays drum n bass and grime shows on certain days and purchases licenses to avoid copyright issues. It is mainstream with non-music talk segments and ads. It introduced new genres but stayed popular due to its music and informal presenter style preferred by listeners. A presenter chooses songs and non-music sections based

1. Kiss FM Radio
Kiss 100 is a contemporary dance music station founded in 1985 as a pirate radio station.
These stations illegally broadcasted unlicensed music to meet the demand of music, which
was not played by legal stations frequently. It was not shut down because these stations
were set up offshore; therefore they were in international waters and did not actually break
any UK laws. In 1992 it was taken over by EMAP and was subject to several changes in 1999
such as the logo, staff and even the music programming due to the show’s favourite DJ
being sacked. Since then it has experienced another logo change in 2006 but throughout all
these changes, it still plays the same genre of music.
On this station, they play a Drum n Bass show from 11pm to 1am on Wednesdays and a
grime show from 12pm to 1am every other day. They purchase their licenses to avoid
infringing copyright laws. The station has also played other genres of music (which were
somewhat different from the genres stations such as BBC Radio 1 play), however it does not
play those genres because the presenter determined this factor of the station and the
presenters change every few years.
This station is mainstream; therefore it does have parts of the show where there is no music
and just talking or adverts. This station runs solely for the sake of profit, however it did start
out with the goal of introducing new genres of music to mainstream radio. It has stayed
popular due to the different music that it plays and the informal theme from the presenter,
which is preferable to the station’s audience.
The show is made by having a presenter choose the next song or whether to start a section
without music. The order of the songs is determined by what the presenter thinks should
play next as well as the presenter’s chosen genre. Factors such as setting up the station,
putting it on air and maintenance are complete by employees who work for the station.
This station’s owners names are not given, however it is clear that the station has a party in
charge of the lower valued presenters and employees. Based on the history of the station,
there is a large contrast between the value of the presenters and owners, as the presenters
as well as likely the staff get fired and replaced frequently. This also suggests a significant
difference in how much each party of the station earns, which is unfair considering the
employees doing most of the work.