Kiss History

CHRISTIAN SMITH 11 May 2010

Christian Smith is Kiss' Head of Music, he's taken some time out to tell us about working for Kiss, jaw dropping performances and why Rod Stewart is the reason he got into radio.

How old are you?

31 (showbiz age) 

How long have you worked at Kiss?

Just over 8 years.

What do you do at Kiss?

My job title is Kiss Network Head Of Music. In a very basic description, I look after the music output of Kiss between 2am and 10pm Monday – Friday and across the daytime on a weekend.

A more in depth description is that I decide which songs we play and in which order, meaning all the presenter has to worry about is what he says in between those songs. That way there’s control and consistency across the daytime hours.

How did you get into it?

Before I started at Kiss I was Head Of Music for the Galaxy Network, but I started in radio a long, long time ago by answering phones and making tea at Key 103 in Manchester.

I worked for free in the day at the radio station and at night I stacked shelves in the Tesco in East Didsbury – the one made famous by Richard Madeley!

I got invaluable experience shadowing people around the station learning how things worked both on air and behind the scenes. I was rewarded with a full time placement after it was decided the current intern wasn’t up to much after he posted 20 Rod Stewart CD’s to 20 different prize winners but all addressed to Rod himself. So you could say that Rod Stewart is the reason I work in radio!

What makes a good Head of Music?

You have to remember that you’re not programming your own radio station and that you shouldn’t compile the playlist based on your own opinion of a song or artist, but what you think is right for the station and the audience. Although you might be fed up to the back teeth of a song, the audience won’t have been exposed to it as much as you and are hopefully only just starting to love it. Listening to what the audience are telling you is really important. I have a daily look through which songs listeners are requesting via text, email and our Facebook page and infact a lot of the Kisstory hour is compiled with requests through our specific Kisstory Facebook page. Research is an incredibly useful tool to let you know when you should be playing some songs more and when people are tired of hearing a song, but it can’t tell you which new songs to add, that has to be down to gut feel and expertise.

What is a 'typical' day for you?

We play on average 16 or 17 songs each hour and of those songs, 14 are songs taken from the current Kiss Playlist, which is a list of about 50 current, new and upfront songs. 

Myself and the Kiss Group Programme Director compile the list each week, deciding which new and upfront songs we want to add to the list, which of the list we want to play more and those on the list we want to play less or rest. We do this by listening to all the tracks I’ve been sent recently and decide which of these tracks are worthy of inclusion.

I put aside a whole day a week for meetings with people from Major labels, independent labels, managers and artists both signed and unsigned. Those tracks along with the ones which are sent to me by post, by email or are passed on to me by our Specialist producers and presenters are what we listen to in this weekly playlist meeting.

After we’ve compiled the playlist, each day I have to schedule a daily music log for each of the presenters. As well as the current playlist, the rest of each hour is made up of songs which are up to a year or two old and a Kisstory song - which is an old Skool song which Kiss made famous all those years ago.

My job is to make sure we play the best current songs, play the best new music first and to choose the best classic songs that people still want to hear. I also have to make sure we don't play the same songs too often, in the same place as the day before or too close to other songs by that artist.

I also build each hour making sure that there are not too many slow songs back to back, too many new or unknown songs back to back and that we don't play pockets of Dance, Hip Hop, Pop or R&B songs close to each other. The idea is that in each 15 minute period we play a good spread of songs which fall in to each of those genres - all of which we champion on Kiss.

The rest of my day can include such things as sourcing acts for station events, liaising with artists to arrange for them to come in for interviews, record takeover shows etc, reporting what we’ve played to the Performing Rights Society - so that the artists that we play get paid, compiling info for the presenters, working on making sure the rotation of songs we’re playing is as precise as it can be and like most jobs having meetings about meetings about meetings!

What is the best thing about the job?

Too many to mention them all, adding a song before any other station and then seeing it top the national charts weeks later is a good feeling. But one of the best is to get nominated for and to win industry awards. Just last month we won the Station of the year Award at the Music Week awards and last night we won the Gold Award for the Station of the Year at the Sony Awards, which is the radio equivalent of the Oscars. We’re a small team here at Kiss and we all put in the work, so for it to be recognised like that is an amazing feeling.

 What is the hardest thing about the job?

As I mentioned in the best thing about the job section, there’s not a lot of us that make up the Kiss team and so the hours are long and it’s not easy trying to constantly improve the listening figures, which is how the success of all radio stations is judged.

Apart from that it’s a great job and one of the hardest things is remembering that it is a job! It’s hard work in parts, but I still have one of the best jobs in the world and I never forget that.

What is your favourite song we're currently playing on Kiss in the daytime/specialist shows?

I love the Armand Van Helden remix of the Uffie featuring Pharrell single.

Which artist are you tipping for big things in 2010?

Although it’s now May and he’s possibly about to have his second number one, I feel I’m cheating by saying Tinie Tempah, but I did tip him for big things at this time last year!

What's the best gig/concert/club that you have ever been to and why?

That’s a toughie, I’ve been fortunate enough to go some absolutely brilliant gigs, but anyone who went to see Beyonce’s last tour will know that it was such a flawless and spectacular production. I went as a Beyonce fan, but left with my jaw on the floor. Stunning.

Who's your favourite artist of all time?

Again, impossible to answer. You could ask me tomorrow and it would be a completely different answer, but I’ve just been discussing how much I’m looking forward to this years Wireless festival and so I’m gonna have to say Jay-Z.

At Kiss we believe we should Never Stand Still meaning we’re always striving to do things bigger and better and there’s a verse in the track On to The Next One, in which he attacks the people who want him to just replicate the stuff he’s done in the past and I think that it answers them perfectly - I’ve edited some of the words for family reading!!

“I'm on that new stuff, folks asking how come, if you want my old stuff, buy my old album!”

Who's your favourite club DJ of all time?

It would be unfair of me to single out just one of the great DJ’s that work for Kiss, so I’ll have to say Graeme Park. He provided the soundtrack to so many nights out back when I lived in Manchester, plus I had the pleasure of working with him a few years back and he’s a top bloke too.