Who's going Christmas and when?

[CAwasinNJ]

Yeah, that thread again.

As far as a traditional AC Christmas format, has anyone competed against FM 100.3 in Salt Lake since Sunny 103 bit the dust? I know some of the religious networks do and there's the country Christmas which I'm not familiar with and the more rural areas, but the big target has to be KSFI after the monster ratings they've been getting in the holiday season. The one that jumps out at me would be stunting Alt 101.9 leading into a new format in the new year. It's not going anywhere right now and I have to wonder how many times Cumulus is going to keep trying alternative before they realize it's still not going to work. If they did decide to try something new there, there are worse ideas than a Lite AC (lighter than FM 100.3) to see how that works. Lite AC hs started popping up in a few major markets and making some noise, so why not? Waddaya think?

[cvrg]

103.3 LITE FM in Logan is going all Christmas on November 5th

[amanuensis]

Based on past years, I predict KSFI will go all-Christmas on the morning of the day with the first significant snowfall in the metro area.

[David]

Nov 1, 2018 6:42:29 GMT -6 cvrg said:

103.3 LITE FM in Logan is going all Christmas on November 5th

Thank you for fixing the online stream so those of us who don't live in the Cache Valley can still listen. I've always thought KLGN (a/k/a Lite FM 103.3) plays a better variety of Christmas tunes than the Salt Lake stations. But because I live in Ogden, the "hash" from KSQN and KRSP-FM make reception of 103.3 impossible. Too bad 1390 flipped to sports yak, but I understand the reasoning behind the switch.

I wouldn't be surprised to see KEGA-FM flip to a country Christmas format by Thanksgiving. Their ratings are still declining even with the addition of the 105.5 frequency, so I doubt an early flip to Xmas music would do much damage.

[CAwasinNJ]

I wonder if the Bonneville folks would go crazy if they were waiting for the first big snowfall and it got to be Dec 5th or 10th or something and it still hasn't happened.

[amanuensis]

KSFI flipped this afternoon. Perhaps they got tired of waiting for the first snowy day.

Or maybe the snow was just a coincidence, since in reviewing old threads, I see that KSFI flipped on 17 Nov 2016 and 17 Nov 2017. And of course today is 16 Nov 2018.

[David]

I'm not at all surprised that KSFI switched to Xmas music this afternoon. I was listening for a few minutes during the morning drive show today and heard a promo for their web site and Christmas music, so I figured their on-air flip would happen shortly thereafter. From the looks of the latest forecast, we may be getting the first significant snowfall of the season either this weekend or Thanksgiving weekend, so I'd say their timing was spot on.

[CAwasinNJ]

David, I'd check your forecast. The only significant snow before Black Friday will be in the mountains.

[David]

KANN 1120 (SOS Radio) has flipped to all Christmas. KNKL 88.7, KUAO 88.1, and KEGA are still broadcasting their regular formats. FWIW, KSQN and KSOP-AM have also been playing 1-2 Christmas tunes each hour since the day after Thanksgiving.