With Kiss My Grass making its grand return to the iconic Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne once again this Australia Day long weekend, inthemix caught up with station boss Tim Byrne. Have a read to learn more about the history of Kiss My Grass, and what Kiss FM have planned for the future with the changing face of Australia’s media landscape.

Describe the aim of the Kiss My Grass festival.

It’s a funds raiser for the station as well as a celebration of all things Australian and Kiss FM.

Where did the concept for Kiss My Grass begin?

Future Entertainment came to us and suggested doing an event and then it developed from there to become an Australia day weekend festival.

Any big surprises in store for people who have attended previous events?

Closing set with Sean Quinn and Dan Mangan is always a highlight and this year will be a great closer with special guest vocals from Bertie Blackman.

Can you foresee making Kiss My Grass a national event, or do you want to keep it exclusive to Melbourne?

It’s possible it could go national, but for the moment it’s purely a Melbourne event.

Any locals that you haven’t had play at the event that you’d love to see on the bill?

Obviously new Aussie Carl Cox would be good, but we haven’t been able to organise that one yet.

Will we be seeing you holding smaller Kiss FM parties in clubs this year?

We have a couple of after parties after the event; trance at QBH and house at Motel. Apart from that, we may do a few smaller club events during the year.

What are the biggest challenges with running Kiss FM?

Running a 24 hour, seven day a week radio station is always challenging. Great surprises come from nowhere and another challenge is always around the corner.

Where do you see Kiss FM going in the next five to ten years?

On your phone, streaming loud and clear in your car or where ever you are in the world. Phone data packages are getting cheaper and cheaper and with Bluetooth it will be possible to stream your phone through your car stereo. We have done a deal with stripe.com which will enable this to happen in the coming months. Also we will be on SelecTV as a radio channel – so people with pay TV company SelecTV will be able to listen to Kiss in hi quality stereo. Other partnership deals with Fashion TV Oceania and Bongo Virus will increase our audience and market awareness. Also I hope to see us relocated into a hospitality environment so that people can come and experience the shows as they go live to air.

You recently moved to Greville St to open a bar and cafe, yet after a short time, moved back to Richmond. What was the reason for the close?

When you have partners that don’t keep their word it becomes very hard to trust them so we pulled out of the deal. Yes, we are speaking with several parties about trying this concept elsewhere. We’ve proved it works we just need good partners who really know ‘hospitality’ and understand Kiss.

What’s the future music approach for Kiss FM, can you see the station exploring a different selection of genres, and will we be seeing anymore local DJs joining the fold?

We’re always open to new sounds and styles as long as it fits into what is loosely called ‘dance music’. We are always looking to include more local DJs it just about having the spot to put them in. Our Club Lunch show has a guest DJ live in the mix every week day at 1pm. At least this way we can get people on air even if we don’t have a permanent spot for them.

Be sure to get along to the Kiss My Grass festival at the Myer Music Bowl this Sunday January 25th to celebrate Kiss FM and Australia Day, with many of our country’s finest dance music identities. Check out ITM’s festival page or whatson for more info!