KL.FM 96.7

KLFM 96.7
City King's Lynn
Broadcast area King's Lynn and West Norfolk: FM
Slogan Real Music Variety
Frequency FM: 96.7 MHz
First air date 1 July 1992
Format Contemporary Hit Radio, News, Entertainment, Speech, Showbiz
Language(s) English
Audience share 16.8% (March 2015, )
Transmitter coordinates 52°46′27″N 0°38′59″E / 52.7742°N 0.6498°E / 52.7742; 0.6498Coordinates: 52°46′27″N 0°38′59″E / 52.7742°N 0.6498°E / 52.7742; 0.6498
Owner UKRD Group
Website KLFM 96.7

KLFM 96.7 is an independent local radio station located in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. Its name is an abbreviation of King's Lynn FM, followed by its broadcasting frequency, 96.7.

It broadcasts from 18 Blackfriars Street in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, previously the location of a small bank. The station uses the former BBC Radio Norfolk frequency of 96.7 MHz FM. The station's current Managing Director is Darren Taylor.

The station broadcasts to approximately 135,000 people aged over 18 years old in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district.

History

Licence application

In 1987 Mid-Anglia Radio Limited identified King's Lynn and West Norfolk as an area poorly served by the broadcast media.

An application to the Independent Broadcasting Authority for a relay transmitter to serve this area was turned down. Discussions were then opened with the West Norfolk MP, Henry Bellingham, who then wrote to the Home Office and the IBA supporting the concept of a station serving the area.

On 4 October 1990 the IBA announce that King's Lynn is one of the areas to be advertised in the first phase of local radio licences by the new Radio Authority who take over responsibility for licensing and regulating commercial radio in the UK on 1 January 1991.

On 4 June 1991 the licence was formally advertised, with a closing date of 24 September 1991 at 2 pm. Potential applicants had 16 weeks to put their proposals on paper and send them back. On 25 September—they announced that three applicants had applied for the licence—King's Lynn FM (Mid-Anglia Radio plc), X-Cel FM (X-Cel FM Ltd) and one other.

The original licence was issued for a period of 8 years.

The original working title for KLFM was King's Lynn Radio.

In December (about 12 weeks after the closing date for application forms to be sent), it was announced that Mid-Anglia Radio plc (trading as King's Lynn FM) had won the licence to provide the area with its own independent local commercial radio station. Two weeks of test transmissions followed commencing on 16 June 1992. Two kilowatts of power was originally used to broadcast from a transmitter at the Great Massingham transmission site. It was later increased to 3 kilowatts.

Equipment

Studio equipment originally included DAT players, a computer playout system for jingles and commercials, Technics CD players and an Audionics mixing desk. The original audio processor was an Inovonics FM 250 model. In the Summer of 2004 the old studio equipment was taken apart after 12 years of continuous use and new equipment and furniture installed. This included a Sonifex Sovereign mixing desk and a new digital playout system (RCS Master Control).

Management

Stewart Francis was the first Managing Director of the station, with Peter Kingham holding the post of Station Manager and Dave King was Programme Controller. Other people on the Board Of Directors were Martin George (Chairman), Dr Mary Archer MA, David Ball, Jean Barker OBE, David Cocks, Tony Durham MA, William Gibbs, Harry Giltrap, Patrick Sharman & Richard Winfrey.

After Mid-Anglia Radio PLC was sold to the GWR Group in 1994 KLFM's on-air name was changed to "Greatest Hits 96.7 The New KLFM"! This 'new' service played more music and had less chat.

In November/December 1996, displeased with the new format, Dave King, Paul Baker and a number of other presenters left the station and set up a 28-day Restricted Service Licence trial service. They called the station "King's Lynn Radio 105.4" and the station's tag line was "All That LOCAL Radio Should Be".

In March 1997, GWR sold a number of local commercial stations, including KLFM, as part of a planned disposal programme following the acquisition of Classic FM. Dawe Media of Cambridge bought KLFM for £1.1 million. Stewart Francis once again became involved with the station by becoming the new Chairman. It was while Dawe Media owned the station that some equipment changes were made, including the installation of a computerised playout system (the Enco DAD).

In December 1999, Dawe Media sold KLFM to the UKRD Group, who still own the station today.

Branding

On air imaging has come from mainly Century 21 and Jam Creative Productions. The original jingles (July 1992-September 1993)[1] were re-sings of Century 21's 'Madison Avenue' package. Between September 1993 and August 1994 the station used TM Century re-sings of a WPLJ package.[2] The 1997-2002 jingle package was a re-sing of Jams 'Ultimate One' package (originally created for BBC Radio 1). A recent package (the '...And Now' package) was originally produced by Jam for KIMN in Denver, Colorado and re-sung for KLFM 96.7, although these were never used on air by KLFM.[3] Most of KLFM's on air branding (jingles, promotions, etc.) is now produced in-house at UKRD's production department in Bristol.

Presenters and staff

Tony West, formerly with Chiltern Radio and Atlantic 252 was the first official voice on KLFM. At 8am on Wednesday the 1 July 1992 he opened the station with the words "It's 8 o'clock on Wednesday the 1st of July 1992. This is your very first independent radio station, broadcasting from studios in Blackfriars Street, King's Lynn - KLFM!" The first song played was Bachman–Turner Overdrive's 1974 hit, "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet".

Paul Baker had originally been lined up for the job of weekday Breakfast presenter but management thought the West Norfolk area wouldn't understand his Scottish accent and so gave him a show at 8am on weekends.

Other presenters included Mandy Walker, Mervin J Futter, singer-songwriter Terry McKenna, Warren Davies, Steve Allen, Craig Morris, Mick & Sarah-Jane, Chris Brown and Harry Giltrap. 'Networked' shows on the station included programmes featuring Jimmy Savile, David Hamilton and Dave Lee Travis whose syndicated programme was broadcast from 10 am on Sunday mornings from October 1993 via satellite radio station 'Quality Europe FM'. Another former national radio presenter is Gary King, formerly of Atlantic 252 and BBC Radio 1, who presents 'Totally 80s' every Sunday, 2-4 pm until 25 February 2007.

Even Hospital Radio Lynn, the town's Hospital radio service, linked up for 2 hours of requests on a Saturday evening.

Other members of the original team included Peter Robinson (news) and Sasha Twining (news and presentation), Paul Gardner, Richard Tree and Sarah Harding (all 3 in sales), Jim Warwick (engineer based at Hereward Radio), and Amanda Wildman (on reception).

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "JingleMad.com". Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  2. ↑ "JingleMad.com". Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  3. ↑ "SteveEngland.com". Retrieved 2007-07-30.

External links

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