KMFM Medway 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

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

Towns 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 Medway 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 Medway launched on 1 September 1997 as Medway FM, broadcasting on 100.4 and 107.9 FM, following a four-year campaign. The station was fined £5,000 during its first year of operation by the Radio Authority after it intentionally adjusted the power of its transmitter on two separate occasions, which was against the terms set out in the licence. Aircheck UK: Kent
/ref> The station was later purchased by

DMG Radio NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. NOVA Entertainment is owned by Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Lt ...

in 2000 and subsequently re-branded to Medway's Mercury FM, as the firm wished to brand all its local stations by the same name. A year later DMG sold their radio assets to GWR who, in 2002, sold the station to the Kent Messenger Group following the problem of the group's "station ownership point" as stipulated by the Radio Authority. The station was re-branded to KMFM Medway in September that year. In 2004, KMFM Medway was relocated from premises on Rochester High Street to Medway House on Medway City Estate in

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. Strood forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It ...

, where it shares an office with the KM-owned ''Medway Messenger''. 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 Medway produced its own programmes during daytimes. It joined up with KMFM West Kent and KMFM Maidstone to create a West 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. In July 2010, Saturday breakfast and Sunday afternoons became networked. News bulletins come from the KMFM News Centre in the Medway studios on the hour from 6 am - 6 pm on weekdays, and 8 am - 1 pm on weekends. National news bulletins come from

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 ...

outside these times. Traffic and travel updates are broadcast just before the hour, and every 20 minutes between 7 am - 9 am and 4 pm - 7 pm.

Presenters

Current presenters

* Emma Adams * Olivia Jones * Aaron Matthews * Ed Matthews * Ben Pearce * Emma Scott * Andy Walker * Rob Wills * Garry Wilson

Former presenters

;A few former presenters *

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 ...

* Johnny Lewis * Dave Pearce * Myma Seldon * Benedict Smith *

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 Medway
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Radio stations established in 1997 Radio stations in Kent Medway Contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom