Global Kiss of Success

Michael Hedges April 2003

Found in more than 25 countries, the Kiss radio brand is everywhere. Station names may vary – Kiss Radio, Kiss FM, Kiss Kiss, just Kiss – but the name is ubiquitous, perhaps the most frequently used radio brand name in the world.

Dance music is common on Kiss stations. Nearly all play some variety of contemporary music. Several Kiss stations are well-researched, highly professional operations. Some are networks, some are independent and a few are pirates.

Media brands

On the French Riviera, Kiss FM is a top-rated station, closely connected with the local market. General Manager Patrice Sidrac, who worked in US radio, renamed the station Kiss DFM in 1988. Each day, people hear disc jockeys talking about their towns – they can call us, come and visit us,” said Program Director Olivier Cordier. “It’s not like a national network.”

In Spain, Kiss FM is a network broadcast distributed in 50 cities. The dance-music program, originating from Madrid, launched in spring 2002.

Eight different stations in the Czech Republic carry the Kiss Fm brand name, all owned and operated by Radio Investments Ltd. The Kiss formats in the Czech Republic range from adult contemporary (AC) to contemporary hit radio (CHR). The latest was added in March 2003 as Kiss Delta.

The name, according to General Manager Andrew Dower, was chosen in a marketing study before the 1992 launch of Kiss 98fm, the company’s first station in Prague.

“The Kiss name was never intended to represent a particular format,” said Dower. “The name suggests that we are young, vibrant, energetic and innovative.”

All modern brands are symbolic. Media brands are designed to by symbolic. Radio brands, with the possible exception of a single channel, broadcasting in isolation, are filled with symbolism.

Speech-stream visibility

Market research in several markets suggests the Kiss name carries useful symbolic value for stations appealing to young audiences. Quoting their research, Rolf Mothil – a consultant with Alan Burns & Associates, which works with 98.8 Kiss FM in Berlin – said “Kiss” stands for a “young, hip and hot” format.

Colleague Frank Wilkat added that the station capitalizes on its “trendy image.”  He said that, after less than two years on the air, the station leads the 14 to 24yge category with its R&B music format.

A station name carries special importance. The essential functions of a radio channel or station – music, information, or entertainment – are only meaningful once a media consumer has tuned in.

In competitive markets, differences between stations are often clearer to broadcasters than listeners. Competing for the attention of listeners who have more and more media choices requires broadcasters to use every possible tool.

Marketing scientists believe that brand-name is second only to price when consumers choose a product or service. With radio free-to-air, a station name conveys both information and emotion. “The name Kiss is easily worth an extra percentage point,” Mothil said.

Brand name specialists have many criteria for memorable and meaningful names. The sound, understood well by radio broadcasters, is all important. The name must stand out in normal speech, called “speech-stream visibility” by specialists. Brand names containing plosives – speech sounds that are produced by a stop and burst of air, such as the din dog of the k in kiss – are proven to make a difference.

Clear and simple indentifiers are essential for music brands. Typically, Kiss radio brands are music brands. Kiss is a one-syllable name, beginning with the plosive k. In Italy, stations of the Radio Kiss Kiss network use it twice.

Specialists also suggest a winning brand name must have intrinsic meaning of lasting significance. From Nairobi, Kenya, and Melbourne, Austrialia, to Guatemala cits and Helsinki, Finland, Kiss brand stations suggest something young, hip, edgy, and, sometimes, slightly forbidden.

Kiss FM in London, a top-rated dance station, stated as a pirate in the mid-1980s. Two well-known Irish pirate stations and dance stations using the Kiss name. The Monrovia station owned by Liberian President Charles Taylor is called Kiss FM.

Sounds international

Paul Buick, owner of Kiss FM in the Algarve region of Portugal, chose the Kiss name because it “sounds international,” fitting for the large tourist and expatriate populations there.

“The name comes from the United States,” said Cordier. “It sounds good and who does not know about French kissing.”

Most stations in North America are identified by their callsigns, three of four letters beginning with aW or K in the United States or a Cin most of Canada.

The original KISS-FM was, and remains, in San Antonio, Texas. According to US consultant Randy Kabrich, the use of Kiss as a brand name originated with an AM station and grew to popularity because of a jingle package.

Three beats

In the early 1970s, KRKD(AM) changed owners and callsigns becoming KIIS, which DJ Chuck Blore persuaded the owners to pronounce as “kiss.” The AM station was later joined by KIIS-FM, which is now the home station of DJ Rick Dees.

In the late 19780s, WXKS-FM in Boston went on the air as KISS 108. “It was actually on 107.9 MHz,2 said Kabrich, “but very few radio had digital displays.It was the forst ratings success using the Kiss name.”

In 1982, the ownership of KIIS-FM in Los Angeles changed and the new managers commissioned a jingle package for station identification. The syndicated jingles had previously been used by WLS(AM) in Chicago.

“These jingles were chosen for KIIS-FM because the music-beds for “W-L-S” had three beats instead of the standard four – to emphasize Kiss-F-M – and its cheaper to use music-beds that singers could sing over instead of creating a completely new package.

“The station ratings climbed into double digits and the radio industry piled on – clones were rolled out with a top 40 format and the Kiss name in San Siego and Dallas,” said Kabrich.

Competitive advantage

Currently, 133 US radio stations use the Kiss name, along with 15 in Canafa. Not all are top40 or CHR music formats. Many are dance or urban stations, and several play country music.

The cause of identity has gone to the US courts, according to Kabraich. “Clear Channel communications (the largest radio group owner in the United States) eventually ended up with WXKS-FM in Boston, KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and KHKS-FM in Dallas. Clear Channel has rolled out versions of Kiss to many of its markets.”

Kabrich said Clear Channel continues to sue unaffiliated Kiss stations in the US markets where they own and operate competing stations, claiming ownership of the Kiss brand name for a radio station.

In several cases, existing Kiss stations have been legally forced to change their identity.

The Kiss radio brand is also found in Latin America. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Kiss FM is a classic rock station. In Ecuador, Kiss FM, popular among university students, serving the Quito region with a mix of CHR and classic rock, according to General manager Bernardo Nussbaum.

In Asia, stations broadcasting with the Kiss name are on the air in Kaaohsiung, Taiwan, and in Cebu City, Philippines.

Becoming a personality radio brand takes time as well as investment. Many Kiss branded stations have moved to this stage for the essential competitive advantage over other music-only brands.

Of the 1,200 radio stations in turkey, Kiss FM Istanbul is one of fewer than 20 with national coverage. Originally an oldies station when launched in 19993, the format changed to CHR a year later and coverage extended to every major city.

“The personality of Kiss FM Istanbul is a happy mood and always knowing what it wants,” said station Music Director Alper Cobanoglu. “Everybody listens to radio for happiness – every DJ uses their imagination to make fans happy.”

Written by Michael Hedges and previously published in Radio World International April 2003