Kiss Insight
FROM UNDERGROUND TO MAINSTREAM 27 October 2010
Christian Smith explains Kiss' role in bringing new music to the eager ears of the UK.
In a world where the Internet allows you to locate and listen to a song within seconds, radio acts as a valuable guide to rate and recommend great content for listeners. Broadening formats and removing specialist programming from the output can diminish a station’s credibility and the connection between that brand and specific audiences. At Kiss, we believe our role as a station is to alert our audience what’s new and fresh – and for our listeners, that means giving them the heads-up on the next big thing in urban music.
We have over 30 hours a week of specialist music programming at Kiss. Every week you can hear Specialist DJs and presenters playing the best Hip Hop, Grime, Funky, Dubstep, UKG, Drum & Bass, Electro, Chill out, Roots & Reggae and loads more. They’re the elite in their field, tastemakers in their specific genre and are ‘appointment to listen’ shows either live or via the Kiss Kube radio player. Most of these shows are also market leaders, proving not everyone wants to hear love songs after 9pm.
As Head of Music for the Kiss Network, I’m fed, sent, given, plugged, emailed, posted, presented, pestered and inundated with hundreds of new tracks every week. And it seems that more and more, it’s not by pluggers, labels, artists or managers, but by one of our specialist presenters.
If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard a future Top 10 single for the first time on Friday Night Kiss with Steve Smart, or as an exclusive that DJ Swerve had been handed personally by the artist, I'd be typing this on board my private yacht in St Tropez!
Just one example of how this journey from underground to mainstream has been copybook is the following. After a tip-off by a couple of our specialist presenters we added this then unsigned artists debut single to the playlist. He has since gone on to have two U.S. number ones and is about to release his first greatest hits collection. Taio Cruz: The Rockstarr Collection is available from all good records stores now.
Specialist music programming on radio is a great platform for new music, artists, DJs, presenters and music genres. U.K. Hip Hop artists like Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah & Tinchy Stryder are regular chart toppers, Grime collective Roll Deep have recently had 2 number ones and Dubstep tunes are sitting in the Top 10 alongside reality TV contestants and manufactured boybands. I’m 100% sure this wouldn’t be the case without initial support from these radio presenters!
What I'm saying is this specialist programming I believe is the essential start point to the journey of certain tracks and some of the biggest artists of recent years. No matter how big or small the audience is, you need this outlet for talent and these DJs and shows to give a radio station/brand its flavour, kudos and connection to all the different tribes within music. Without that you're just a.n.other station on the dial.
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