The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
‘Celebrating Fife’ for 21 years
As Fife’s Kingdom FM celebrates its 21st anniversary today, Michael Alexander speaks to several of the station’s presenters about the secret of its success
Dave Connor was one of the first presenters when Kingdom FM launched at Haig House, Markinch, on October 5, 1998.
As a fresh-faced teenager straight from the then HNC in radio broadcasting course at Glenrothes College, the born and bred Fifer went on to work for radio stations including Dundee’s Wave and Tay FM, Forth FM and Original in Aberdeen.
However, since returning “home” to Kingdom FM where he is now station controller and one half of the awardwinning Dave and Vanessa breakfast show, the Markinch-raised former Auchmuty High School pupil has truly come to appreciate that where the station “wins” is through its localness at the heart of Fife’s communities.
“To me this is the big thing for Kingdom,” he said. “Because there’s so much networking in radio now – with stations like Tay and Northsound sharing programming – where we can really win is still having that local connection: local voices.
“Every day you hear people talk about the place where they live. I think that’s really important in radio because so many people are not doing it.”
Dave laughs when he thinks back to the early days when station founder George Macintosh insisted that everyone on air should wear a shirt and tie because, he claimed, listeners could “hear the tie”!
But while technology has changed dramatically through the rise of social media, Spotify and live web-streaming, radio continues to hold its own, with the public often regarding Kingdom presenters as being “like friends”.
Kingdom FM’S head of music Vanessa Motion, who was on the same college course as Dave and now hosts the breakfast show with him, remembers the “massive deal” of Fife getting its own station at a time when listeners were not represented.
The Markinch-raised DJ, who has also worked all over the country, got drafted in to work full time at Kingdom during the bad winter of 2010/11 because everyone else was snowed in.
Through engaging with Fifers on air and hosting the highly successful annual Kingdom FM Local Hero Awards, she has long since realised how important it is to “give a voice” to the people of Fife.
“With the breakfast show, it’s just about ‘bigging up’ Fife and ‘bigging up’ the people in Fife – where we can have a point in the morning to pick ourselves up and get on with the day really,” said Vanessa.
“I also love the annual awards ceremony. It’s humbling to highlight the things people have done, to give something back to the community.
“We just want to shout about the public, shout about Fife and say ‘you’re great’ and be proud of what we do!”
Kingdom FM head of commercial Barry Snedden grew up in Burntisland and moved to Glenrothes as a teenager. After establishing a chip shop in Ballingry aged 16, the young entrepreneur did work experience at Kingdom while studying radio at college before landing a job on the newsdesk doing traffic and travel. He started full time with Kingdom in 2002 and was on air for 15 years at various stations before embarking on his current role.
Fife was “screaming out” for its own radio representation, he said, and this has been borne out by the station’s popularity supporting community events in the decades since.
A highly significant development came in March 2019 when Kingdom FM, which had always been independent and now broadcasts from Kirkcaldy, was acquired by Dundee-based Courier publisher DC Thomson Media alongside Aberdeenshire-based Original 106. This added to existing DC Thomson Media radio interests following the purchase of Dundee’s Wave FM in 2017. The move means that DC Thomson Media’s radio reach now tops 150,000 listeners, stretching from Aberdeenshire to Fife.
Adam Findlay, 46, the former managing director and owner of Original who joined DCT Media as head of radio in April, said the “magic of radio” is the connectivity and the “mystery” of what’s going on behind the speakers.
“I think one of the exciting things about Kingdom FM is that it can absolutely own the area of Fife,” he said. “Anything else that can be heard in Fife does not have the same connections with Fife. Kingdom has the unique opportunity of engaging with its audiences on a local level that no one else can achieve. With the arrival of DC Thomson Media, it’s going to allow that station to achieve more and make more connectivity. It also allows DC Thomson to enjoy a relationship with its readers and audiences it’s not been able to do before through broadcast, print and digital platforms.”
John Murray, who helped found the station, is still the chairman of affiliated charity Kingdom Kids, and as they too celebrate their 21st birthday, he is delighted that dynamic new trustees will soon be announced under the guidance of DCT Media.