Bauer Media has officially marked the elevation of its youth media brand, KISS, to a national level by today launching the UK's first ever dance, hip hop and R&B chart, KISS's UKHot40 Big Beats Chart. Available on both KISS Radio and KISS TV nationally from this week, the chart highlights both Bauer's scale and national ambitions for the brand in 2011.
In a joint initiative with Box TV, Bauer Media has also brought double-act Rickie Haywood-Williams and Melvin O'doom across from their long-running MTV show to front KISS's UKHot40 Big Beats Chart on KISS TV. The pair will become synonymous with the dedicated dance and urban music channel, in a move that echoes their growing success on KISS Radio's flagship national breakfast show, Rickie, Melvin & Charlie in the Morning.
KISS's UKHot40 Big Beats chart kicks off this week on KISS Radio and will deliver the 40 biggest selling, most wanted dance, hip hop and R&B tracks in the UK every Sunday, 5-7pm. The fast-paced, non-stop weekly show will be hosted by the artist's whose tunes feature within the chart. On KISS TV the chart will be hosted daily by Rickie & Melvin, starting Thursday 7 April at 10am. KISS TV is available on Sky Channel 361 and Virgin 336.
In December 2010, Bauer Media took its youth radio station, KISS, to a national level, making it available on FM, DAB, Freeview, online and mobile. The move took popular breakfast show, Rickie, Melvin & Charlie in the Morning, to a national audience for the first time, with the trio already no.1 in London for 15-24yos. KISS Radio reaches over 3.9m listeners (Q4 Rajar).
Andy Roberts, group programme director, KISS said: "This is one hell of a big chart - Rickie and Melvin will present the Official Biggest tunes in the UK each fortnight on Kiss TV & Box TV and with the weekly show on KISS radio - that's over 4.7 million viewers and listeners who will get a chance to hear and see the most wanted 40 tunes each week."
Simon Sadler, director of music & commissioning at Box TV, said: "We're hugely excited about KISS's UKHot40 Big Beats Chart - it's another great example of a highly productive cross-platform partnership for Box TV. Rickie and Melvin have been well-known, and well-liked, personalities to the audience of KISS radio for a while now and we know that they will bring that popularity, energy and music knowledge to KISS TV. The countdown is guaranteed to give viewers the biggest dance, hip-hop and R&B music videos in the UK."
Dedicated to music and lifestyle, the KISS Radio and TV brands are designed to unite listeners around their passions. KISS audiences are characterised by the emotional connection they make with the music, presenters and everyday life. A mobile audience, research shows they use every platform available to engage, from FM to DAB, online, social media, mobile and TV, creating unique and powerful ways for advertisers to emotionally engage with listeners.
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