KISS fm

[midas]

to clear an argument with my UK friend.
Where was the first KISS fm stadion?

I say its U.S.
he says , its a London thang...

[HustleBaby]

From what I've been told, KISS FM started (NYC) in the mid to late 70's.

*DISCO DELIGHT*

[02tranzam]

i have a kiss fm (98.7 here in new york) 4 record compilation from the early seventies with rock and roll songs in it before they went to disco and soul in the late seventies i dont know when they started though.
carmine

[thenycbadboy]

98.7 Kiss FM [WRKS FM] New York was a format change for WXLO in the fall of 1981 [September] which was a Top 40 station from 1974 to 1980 or so..

Kiss FM in the 80's had Shep Pettibone doing live mixes on Saturday nites , [Mastermixes].. and played songs he mixed for Kiss during the regular rotation ...
It was one of my favorite radio stations in the 80s
thenycbadboy....

[billywho]

Kiss FM in the 80's had Shep Pettibone doing live mixes on Saturday nites , [Mastermixes].. and played songs he mixed for Kiss during the regular rotation ...

You can still download some KISS mastermixes, including those from Shep Pettibone and Tony Humphries, on the following web site

<DEAD LINK REMOVED>

Not great sound quality, but well worth a listen. I heard the instrumental of T C Curtis's "You Should Have Known Better" for the first time at the start of one of these mixes, and spent ages searching the net trying to find out what it was. Top tune.

[maarten]

Hey, I just bought that 'Should have known better' 12" with the instrumental version on the flip side for € 1 at a record fair. Love that tune, too.

[HustleBaby]

BadBoy

Do you remember Chuck Leonard?

*DELIGHTFUL*

[paul]

Hey Delight.
I remember Chuck Leonard but this was way back when, when I lived in the Bronx and he was on WABC. I wonder what he's doing now?

[HustleBaby]

You know what Paul, it's a small world. Where in The Bronx did you lived? South Bronx, Soundview/CastleHill, Kingsbridge, Baychester, Mott Haven, Tremont, Parkchester?????????

I used to live in The South Bronx 161st near the #2, #5,& #6 trains.

The last time I'd heard of Chuck was the early 80's.

*DISCO DELIGHT*

[thenycbadboy]

Hustle:
Yes , I rememeber Chuck Leonard , he was one the afternoon/evening dj's for KISS FM in the 80's , he then went to another station here in NYC called WBLS [107.5] ... "Home of the Chief Rocker" Frankie Crocker
[who sadly passed away a few years ago]
In the 90's he went to a AM station called WNJR but they sold the station and changed the format
Chuck was always one of my favorite DJ's on KISS FM...

[Freeze]

I heard through a friend in Boston that there was a KISS FM playing disco and soul there just a couple months before the 98.7 KISS NYC station came about, but I've no proof of this.:icon_question:

[paul]

Yes Freeze, there was a KISS 108 FM in Boston. I was in Boston and it started around late '78 early 1979. Initially they were heavily into disco. In fact they were the #1 disco station in the city. There was a another commercial FM station I can't remember that was disco as well.

[Freeze]

Thanks for that information Paul. Its good to get details from people who were there. I'm curious as to whether stations in other cities were doing the DJ mix shows in the early days or was that specific to just NYC in the late 70's/early 80s.

[qdearl]

Hey Delight.
I remember Chuck Leonard but this was way back when, when I lived in the Bronx and he was on WABC. I wonder what he's doing now?

Chuck past away in 2004 after losing his battle with Lung Cancer

[Freeze]

Chuck past away in 2004 after losing his battle with Lung Cancer

aw man...I didnt know that.:icon_sad:

[darrens]

To answer the original station, Kiss in London started in 1985 as a pirate station, so there's no doubt that the USA versions preceded it. In fact, the name is not coincidental, I believe it was inspired by the New York station of the same name.

Kiss in London no doubt helped the rise of house music in the second half of the 80s, being a format that Radio 1 (the only national pop radio station at the time) and Capital Radio (London's only Independent pop radio station at the time) wouldn't touch.

Kiss won a licence and launched legally as Kiss 100 FM in 1990, and continued its promotion of dance music, again no doubt helping the rise of rave music in the early 90s, again a format which Radio 1 / Capital avoided.

I used to listen to Kiss FM as my main station throughout the 90s. As well as modern dance music, they often played 70s and 80s dance music as well. As the 90s became the 00s, their format tended to shift away from dance music, and towards Garage/R&B/Rap music (the primary choice of London's black population), formats I can't stand. Consequently I switched off and have hardly been back since!

Last week I happened to be working in a London office where Kiss FM was playing, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the station was revamped last year and now plays much more in the way of old and new dance music, and less Garage/R&B/Rap music.

However the station is hardly the phenomenon it was between 1985 and about 1995, when it really helped to promote those types of music that I see as being the children of disco.