Community / Music
Brunswick radio station fighting to stay on air
Fundraiser launched to pay for equipment and transmitter upgrades
Poppy Searle
Monday, July 14, 2025
MANY of the world’s leading electronic and dance music DJs and musicians have made their way up the narrow staircase to the studios of KISS FM on Sydney Road over the years.
The station is globally renowned for its specialised dance format and innovative programming, particularly showcasing underground artists and frequently including live mixes and performances in its tiny studio space.
But KISS is now facing a threat to its future existence after Australia’s communications regulator issued an ultimatum to upgrade its transmission equipment or lose its broadcasting licence.
At a time when it should be celebrating 20 years of broadcasting, the station has launched a fundraising campaign for $85,000 so it can carry out the necessary upgrades and stay on air.
Most pressing, it needs to replace six transmitters that have been stolen over the years. If it fails to do so, it could be shut down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
“They [ACMA] basically said get your house in order or surrender your licence,” said station manager and co-owner Tim Byrne.
“This is an existential crisis for us … It’s important to protect that long heritage of KISS FM in Australia which has always championed electronic music so we can continue to support local music and DJs.”
After launching the GoFundMe campaign, KISS Needs You!, in July, they have raised $19,000 towards their target.
A state of crisis is not new for KISS. A decade ago, it took on the nationwide Australian Radio Network when it sought to “borrow” its name to rebrand the Mix and Gold FM stations in Sydney and Melbourne as KIIS. That case was eventually settled out of court and KISS FM has gone from strength to strength since then.
But the urgent need to update its transmission equipment has knocked Byrne and his co-owner, Kate Wignell, sideways.
Byrne and Wignell, who are partners in life as well as business, are dance music fanatics who met at Kiss 90 FM, a forerunner of the current station, that first broadcast under a temporary community licence in 1994 but folded in 2001.
The current KISS FM relaunched as a Low Powered Open Narrowcast (LPON) station in 2005, meaning they have limited transmission power and can only broadcast to a defined geography.
The station operates down the far left end of the FM dial at the frequencies of 87.6 and 87.8, which is mainly home to religious and ethnic stations.
It moved to Brunswick five years ago, broadcasting 24/7 from its two rooms above a shop in Sydney Road to an average weekly audience of 99,000 listeners in Melbourne. It also streams online with an average of 30,000 streams a day and has gained a global reputation that has DJs and musicians from around the world popping into its studios when they are touring Australia.
Partly due to the pioneering work of Kiss 90 FM in the 1990s, dance music has become one of the most popular music genres in Australia.
“This is the only way you can get quality dance music outside of a club, and that’s why so many people listen,” said Wignell, who looks after the station’s membership and website. “It’s so important to be able to feel together… I think KISS listeners know that they’re listening with other like-minded people, and it’s a special thing”.
Kiss FM is the only Australian station that has been to the International Radio Festival where it has represented Australia three times.
The station is an integral part of the Brunswick community. They have participated in the Sydney Road Street Party for the last four years, hosting street raves in a laneway off Barkly Street that were so popular they had to change to a bigger space outside the Cornish Arms Hotel. The station has also supported myriad local musicians including Sabutai and DJ Mike Steva and prides itself on introducing underground dance, electronica and hip hop music to a larger audience.
“That’s our mission,” said Byrne. “We support local DJs and local artists, to give them a platform.”
At the heart of the current crisis is the urgent need to boost the station’s signal so it can be heard by a larger audience over a wider area. If it cannot do this, it will lose its broadcast licence.
Over the years, the station has suffered the theft of six of its transmitters. Others have been damaged or broken down.
In addition to installing new transmitters at key locations around Melbourne, the station needs to upgrade other equipment including antennas and computers to provide a stronger signal and better listening experience. It is also dealing with higher rents for its studios and transmitter sites.
Some good news arrived late last week when a new transmitter was switched on meaning the station was once again broadcast to a large area in Melbourne’s west. But only three of its 12 sites are currently operating.
“We have a lot more to do but making KISS available to all is very important,” Wignell said.
Currently KISS is mainly funded by advertising and memberships, but Byrne and Wignell want to obtain a community broadcasting licence which would open up potential new revenue streams.
Byrne is on the executive of the Australian Narrowcast Radio Association (ANRA) and has been lobbying ACMA and the Department of Communications to modernise the field.
“This system was set up in the early 90s, and there’s basically been no change in the legislation or the requirements,” Byrne said.
Unlike community or public broadcasters, the narrowcasting sector receives no government funding. “You’re on your own,” Byrne said.
Their efforts have been backed up by other LPON radio stations who, like KISS FM, have been trying to become community radio stations for a long time.
If KISS FM’s fundraising campaign is successful, the station has big plans to bring in new DJs, producers and shows, and keep fighting for change.
Byrne and Wignell are determined to make that happen.
“We will raise this money by hook or by crook,” says Wignell.
Additional reporting by Mark Phillips
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