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 2003, ...

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 an ...

and the surrounding areas in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

. It is the Thanet region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), 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 (Thanet) __NOTOC__ Academy FM (Thanet) is a Charity community 24-hour local radio station based in Ramsgate, Kent, England, which broadcasts to the Isle of Thanet. It launched on 5 April 2010, Easter Monday. The licence for the station was granted by O ...

), and launching in January 1998 from studios at

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significant m ...

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 sin ...

's " Back For Good", with reggae star Pato Banton recording a special version of his duet with

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop 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 ...

, " 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 the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

. 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 (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

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 KMFM Canterbury is an Independent Local Radio serving the City of Canterbury and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Canterbury region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements ...

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 (district), Dover and Folkestone and Hythe (District), Folkestone and Hythe (previously known as Shepway) and the surrounding areas in Ken ...

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 ...

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 TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC ...

, 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 played Kip "Half-Sack" Epps in the first two seasons of the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'', and o ...

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

Melanie Sykes Melanie Ann Sykes (born 7 August 1970) is an English 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 ...

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 Canal, ...

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