Kiss launches music chart on radio, TV

Bauer Media has launched a new UK-wide dance, hip hop and R&B chart on the Kiss radio and TV networks, going head-to-head with BBC Radio 1.

The first Kiss UKHot40 Big Beats Chart aired on April 3 on Kiss Radio between 5pm and 7pm, recapping the 40 biggest dance, hip hop and R&B tracks of the moment. The chart programme is hosted each week by an artist whose tunes feature in the chart.

The programme provides competition for Radio 1's The Chart Show, which recaps the singles Top 40 every Sunday from 4pm to 7pm.

In a joint initiative with Box TV, the music channel operator that is a joint venture between Bauer Media and Channel 4, the chart will also air on the Kiss TV channel.

Bauer Media has poached Rickie Haywood-Williams and Melvin O'Doom from their long-running MTV programme to front the chart show, which will air on Kiss TV every fortnight, starting tomorrow at 10am.

Haywood-Williams and O'Doom already appear on Kiss Radio's flagship national breakfast show, Rickie, Melvin & Charlie In The Morning.

Last December, Bauer Media took the Kiss radio stations nationwide on analogue FM, DAB, Freeview, online and mobile. According to RAJAR data for the fourth quarter of 2010, the Kiss network reaches more than 3.9m listeners every week.

Andy Roberts, group programme director at 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 and 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 and commissioning at Box TV, added: "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."