The Kiss Academy

Top station Kiss FM was started by a group of musicians, DJs and listeners who all wanted to create something new in radio, to reflect their passion for music and the way they lived their lives. Things haven’t changed and Kiss today is still run by a group of people who are passionate about the radio they create. Xcel’s Editor, Emma Salt, stopped by at the Kiss Academy to meet the team, both on air and behind the scenes, to find out more about what it takes to do their jobs and to discover how you too can become Kissalicious with a diploma in radio.

So, you fancy a career in radio? Well, who better to ask advice from, and to uncover the hidden paths of, than the guys behind the scenes who make it all seamlessly come together. We’re talking of course about the Producers at Kiss whose individual roles have helped to maintain the stations ongoing success. XCEL investigates…

ChIristian Smith
Group Head of Music

Christian Smith is the Group Head of Music at Kiss and is responsible for the daytime (3am-9pm daily) music output on all three kiss stations.

 Originally from Manchester, Christian got a foot in the door at a local radio station and was offered a placement there on an adult training scheme. “I was taught basics there, like how to edit interviews, how to work some of the studio equipment and how the radio station was run” explains Christian. “Fast forward a few months and I’d decided I wanted to work on the music side of the station. My boss at the time helped me to learn how to master the software that was used to schedule the music and not long after I was offered a job working as an assistant in the music team and managing the record library. A few different roles and years later I was offered the job as Head of Music and since then I’ve worked as Head of Music at various radio stations and as a music consultant at many more, including some in Europe.”

His role at Kiss, as the Group Head of Music, means that he spends much of his day listening to new music, listening to some of the specialist music shows that were on Kiss the night before and compiling the weekly Kiss playlist. Christian also spends his week liaising with record companies, making sure that Kiss are ahead of the game on any new and upcoming tracks. He receives nearly 40 CD’s and mp3’s A DAY because of this! However, securing exclusive tracks for airplay and the Kiss compilation albums is a pivotal part in guaranteeing that Kiss always plays the big tunes first. Christian also gets to spends a lot of time at gigs and club nights across London, checking out new bands, artists and DJ’s as well as compiling a regular newsletter for the presenters, so they know all about the new songs we add to the playlist.

So what does he love the most about his job? “My mates would probably say the free CD’s and concert tickets. But for me it’s the discovery of new music. There’s nothing more satisfying than finding a song, championing it on Kiss and then seeing it in the Top 10 months later and being played on every other station months after we first played it on Kiss”. So, no down-sides then?  “Record companies are under a lot of pressure to get their latest songs played on Kiss, so in turn they put me under a lot of pressure to add them to the playlist. It can get a bit much at times, text messages at 2am to say “the track has just gone down at storm when it was played in Fabric” for example, but it’s all part and parcel of the job. Also, everyone who works in the station thinks they’d do a better job at picking the music you play on the station. Especially the presenters! So, I occasionally get stick of people about some choices, but it’s not too bad and they’re usually saying, “I really like this song now” just a couple of days later.”

What advice then would he offer then to the Xcel readers who would kills to have his job? “Just get yourself a work experience placement in a radio station and when you’re there, be willing to do anything. Be willing to work for nothing to begin with. I worked for nothing for ages before I got a paid role in a station and even then it was so little that I also worked nights stacking shelves in a supermarket. I was knackered, but I knew it was going to be worth it because I was being taught skills that I knew would be of benefit to me in my career.”

“Everyone who works at Kiss, loves Kiss, lives Kiss and is committed to making it a success. We’re a small team and it’s really hard work, but the feedback we get from listeners makes it worthwhile!”
                                                   Christian Smith, Head Of Group Music

 

Chris Blackley
Executive Specialist Producer

• Chris Blackley has been the Executive Specialist Producer at Kiss Radio for over three years. Originally he hadn’t enough experience to work in radio. So, determined to break through into his field he hijacked a gap year scheme in Ghana where he worked on their radio station for three months. Soon after 1Extra offered him a position and just a year he landed the position at Kiss.

Chris is involved in the pre-production for the night shows on kiss. Kiss has more hours of specialist shows than any other radio station in the UK ranging from Hip-Hip through to Gime and Bashment. Therefore, pre-production to these shows are a key to its success. “A DJ will turn up for his two hour show with just half an hour each side. My team do all the pre-production stuff like scripts, competitions, make them sound good, tell them when to talk etc”, explains Chris.

So, what does he love the most about his job? “I love that I get to listen to music all day and I get to hand out with some of my heroes. They are all lovely guys and I also get paid for it which is really cool! I also get to go into clubs and tell everyone its part of my job!” And what personal qualities do you need to work in radio? “Most definitely the ability to think on your feet! It’s not rocket science radio things go wrong and you have to deal with them. If you can’t deal with panicky situations don’t do it!”

So, what advice would he pass onto students who want to follow in his footsteps “I’d just say get into a radio station as early as you can” says Chris “Even if its just work experience in the holidays. Go and try it out. It’s all about building up a CV. Courses are only as good as you are and the most important thing is that you can actually go and experience it first hand.” 

“Get into a radio station as early as you can, even if its just work experience in the holidays. Go and try it out. It’s all about building up a CV”.

 

Matt Lomax
Station Sound Producer

Matt Lomax has been at Kiss for 7 years and is responsible for the station sound imaging. Matt and his team create the overall personality of the station through the jingles, idents and promos that you hear through the day on Kiss. He has an apple approved logic course and an NVQ in Sound Engineering.

Matt started out hanging around at Kiss 102 in Manchester on work experience in 1994 “I hung around long enough to get a job!” laughed Matt  “I then worked at  Galaxy 105, Galaxy North East but ended up at my spiritual home Kiss 100”. So, what does the Station Sound Producer love about his job? “Radio is about people and I work with some great guys. I worked at a lot of the festivals last summer which was great fun – it’s good to get paid for listening to music all day in the sun!”

Matt enjoys his time at Kiss and wishes it had been around when he first started. “You need to get involved ‘cos you’ll learn loads!” urges Matt “If students want to work as a sound producer for a station like Kiss, I would encourage them to learn how to play the play the piano, absorb a lot of different genres of music, know your popular culture and most importantly get to learn a Sequencer such as Pro Tools, Logic etc!” 

“I worked at a lot of the festivals last summer which was great fun – it’s good to get paid for listening to music all day in the sun!”

www.totalkiss.com

The Diploma
Whether you’ve got a career in mind, hope to go university or just want to see what’s out there, a Diploma is the perfect way to explore your options. It’s a new qualification for 14-19 year olds and offers a mix of classroom learning, creative thinking and hands on experience all designed to prepare you for wherever you want to go in life.

Levels Of Learning
A diploma helps you develop personal, learning and thinking skills, such as team working and communiction, which are vital for both life and work.A Diploma can be studied at three different levels. These include Foundation, Higher and Advanced, as well as Progression Diploma for those who can’t complete a whole Advanced course. As well as work-relevant learning you will also study core subjects such as English, maths and ICT as part of your Diploma

What can I expect?
You can expect to gain a range of essential skills and knowledge, both general and work specific, with a diploma. And you’ll develop those skills in a fun, exciting and creative way.Above all, a Diploma is designed to give you a feel for different work and study environments. You get the opportunity to apply what you’ve learnt in real situations and also get a taste of what college style learning can offer you.

What’s really good about a Diploma is that you can use your experiences to make future career or study choices. At the end you’ll have a better idea of what you want to do next and how a Diploma can help you get there- whether that’s employment, university college or another route.

A Higher Diploma counts as 7 GCSE’s and an Advanced Diploma is the equivalent of 3.5 A Levels.

Find out more about  the Creative & Media
Diplomas at: www.direct.gov.uk/diplomas