City Ottawa, Ontario Frequency 105.3 MHz (FM) | Branding Kiss 105.3 | |
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Broadcast area National Capital Region
(Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, Upstate New York) Slogan The Most Variety from the 90's to Now First air date 1972 (CKBY), 2004 (CISS) | ||
CISS-FM is a Canadian radio station in broadcasting at 105.3 FM in Ottawa, Ontario. The station currently broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format branded on-air as Kiss 105.3 and is owned by Rogers Media. CISS-FM's studios are co-located with its sister stations at Thurston Drive and Conroy Road, while its transmitter is located in Camp Fortune, Quebec.
History
The station was launched in 1972 with the call letters CKBY, playing a country music format.
On January 9, 2004, the station adopted a hot adult contemporary format and the "105.3 KISS-FM" moniker. The station launched with Pink's Get The Party Started. A month later after the format change, the station adopted its current calls. The CISS calls previously belonged to a Toronto radio station, also owned by Rogers, which now uses the call letters CKIS-FM. The CKBY calls, in turn, were moved to a third Rogers station in Smiths Falls. In the station's early years, the station's playlist was very similar to that of CHUM-FM in Toronto, but with a less rhythmic lean. Later that year, it shifted from Hot AC to adult top 40.
KISS-FM came at the expense of 101.1 XFM, an alternative rock station that was shut down to make way for KISS and for a move of country radio Y105, currently Y101, to another frequency. The two morning show hosts of XFM, Mauler and Rush, were left unemployed.
On August 13, 2004, popular morning show hosts Carter Brown, Sandra Plagakis, Andrew "The Boyle" Boyle and Jenny “From the Block” Usher resigned from competing CHR station CIHT-FM and became the new morning hosts at Kiss FM. Mauler and Rush ultimately became the hosts of the morning show at CIHT.
With the flip of the former CISS in Toronto from Jack FM to top 40 as "KiSS 92.5" on June 5, 2009, the CISS calls remained unchanged on this station. Instead, Rogers swapped the CJAQ-FM calls in Toronto with the former CKIS-FM (a Jack FM station) in Calgary.
More recently, as of the fall of 2009, CISS has begun to lean more rhythmic again and dropped most modern adult contemporary artists.
As of 2011, the station has eliminated the majority of its pre-1999 playlist and moved towards a more 2000s-now direction. A new logo was added, along with adding the tagline "The New" in its "KISS-FM" branding. The station leans heavily on rhythmic material, especially during nights and weekends, when the station plays songs that other Hot AC stations in Canada won't play, more in the style of a CHR station and to compete with CIHT. However, CIHT still plays pre-1999 music, and continues to beat Kiss in ratings by a large margin, though Kiss FM's ratings have improved slightly since the addition of rhythmic material. As of March 31, 2014, CISS also picked up more competition in the form of CKQB, which flipped from active rock to a Top 40/CHR presentation that heavily favours current Rhythmic and Dance product aimed at young adult and teen listeners. Despite the Top 40 competition from both CIHT and CKQB, CISS, however, remains on the Canadian hot AC panels of Mediabase & Nielsen BDS.
By early 2016, CISS-FM rebranded slightly to "KiSS 105.3."
In September 2016, CISS-FM re-added 1990s music to their playlist and changed the slogan to "The Most Variety from the 90s to Now."