David Santos

A few weeks back we brought you the goodbye interview with Mr Paul Buick who created Kissfm Algarve 18 years ago and has now moved on to new adventures on the other side of the world, we have since, been asked many questions about what was going to change in Algarve´s first radio so it was only natural that TGIF quentched all curiosty and addressed directly and very frankly, Mr David Santos who speaks for global diffusion.

Who are the Grupo Global Difusion and what is their presence in Portugal?

The Global is a SGPS (Sociedade Gestora de Participações Sociais) which owns various participations in social communication companies, Kiss being one of them. We are present in the area of O Porto (Gaia Fm), Leira (LizFm), Lisbon (RecordFm and 95Fm) and now in the Algarve with KissFm.

How did your interest for Kiss Fm come about and what are the challenges for your group?

In strategic terms we always considered a radio in the south of the country was important. We performed a study and understood that Kiss fm was a more consistent project. A negotiation process took place during more than nine months but we consider that we reached a good deal for both parties and also for the employees that understood throughout the process how our arrival would be beneficial. We would like to be a group with a present in all the country.

Are there going to be many changes in the programs?

There won’t be any changes. We will perform a few adjustments in order to better what was already accomplished. We truly think that a certain know-how at Kiss will benefit other projects.

Many have heard about the relation between your group and the Church of Brasil, what is the nature of this relation and its influence on your activities?

In some of our radios we have deals with the Church, the only one with which we work. This partnership is very good for the radios and we hope it will last as it has been a winning one for the companies we own as well as for the Church.

Will it have an influence on the programs of Kiss Fm?

As much as we know the Church has a partnership in the Algarve with Radio Restauração with which we have no relation and that the Church perhaps considers more efficient to transmit their message. For the moment, we don’t think there is an interest to be present on Kiss. As a matter of fact, nothing exists in that direction. Kiss Fm will follow on, as we said, with their programs and the new management will build up on what is already there.