Kiss XTRA (formerly Kiss Fresh), is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

digital radio station owned and operated by

Bauer Media Audio UK Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of Bauer Media Group owning brands; Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, Jazz FM, Hits Radio, KISS, Planet Rock, Magic, Kerrang! Radio and Heat Radio. History In early 2008, German ma ...

as part of the

Kiss Network Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network. Kiss broadcasts nationally to the UK via DAB digital radio, as well as on Bauer's Rayo platform. The station started in 1985 a ...

. As of May 2025, the station has a weekly audience of 209,000 listeners, according to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR; ) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and Radiocentre. RAJAR's predecessor was c ...

History

Initially provided over Freeview (replacing

Smash Hits Radio Smash Hits Radio was a UK-based digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio based in Manchester. It was available throughout the UK on Freeview channel 712. The format was based on the now defunct Smash Hits Magazine. It was a Conte ...

) and online, the station was made available via digital radio in the London area, alongside sister station

Kisstory Kisstory is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network. Playing "old skool and anthems", it is a sister station to Kiss. As of March 2025, the station has a weekly audience of 2 mill ...

, from 12 December 2014. The DAB availability of Kiss Fresh extended beyond London from 1 May 2016, with the station being made available in some (but not all) of the areas previously served by Kisstory on local DAB, this capacity having been released following the migration of Kisstory to

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

National DAB expansion

From 10 July 2017, Kiss Fresh itself expanded to national DAB availability, joining the lineup of services on

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 ...

alongside the parent Kiss FM UK service; as part of the move the Kiss Fresh schedule and playlist was revised to better differentiate Kiss Fresh from its sibling. On 6 November 2017 it was removed from Digital One and replaced by pop-up station Magic Christmas, and subsequently

Absolute Radio 90s Absolute Radio 90s is a semi-national digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. Its output is non-stop 1990s hits. The station launched on DAB in London in June 2010 and on the Digital One pla ...

used the slot during 2018: a reshuffle of DAB capacity in February 2019 ahead of the launch of

Scala Radio Magic Classical (formerly Scala Radio) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The station was launched in March 2019 as Scala Radio and broadcasts nationally on DAB Digital Radio, via Smart speaker, app, a ...

ultimately put Kisstory in this slot on D1. Kiss Fresh reverted to transmitting solely on local-level DAB, remaining nationally available via Freeview.

Reduction in DAB carriage and loss of Freeview slot

Most DAB carriage of Kiss Fresh ended at the end of March 2019 when the local-tier DAB slots were largely turned over to the new Country Hits Radio. (In Northern Ireland, where Bauer already operated Downtown Country, the Kiss Fresh slot went to

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

). Kiss Fresh continued to broadcast nationally via Freeview and online. In March 2024 it was announced that Kiss Fresh, and other Bauer-owned stations including Kiss and Kisstory, would be removed from the Freeview TV platform from 2 April 2024; this followed the exit of Kiss and other Bauer services from the satellite and cable TV platforms in late 2023. Kiss Fresh is available on DAB+ in London and Cumbria, as well as via Bauer's streaming app, Rayo.

Kiss XTRA Rebrand

On 10 March 2025, station owners Bauer announced that Kiss Fresh would rebrand as Kiss XTRA from 31 March 2025. The station relaunched at 8am on Monday 31st March.

Programming

Programming is produced and broadcast from Bauer's London headquarters at The Lantern.

Technical

Kiss Xtra broadcasts on DAB+ in London on the 12C London 1 multiplex. It also broadcasts in Cumbria on channel 11B.

References

External links

* {{coord, 51.51598, N, 0.13844, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Bauer Radio Radio stations in London Radio stations established in 2013 2013 establishments in England Kiss Network