Christmas music

[oldiesfunhouse]

Apparently, flipping to Christmas music on November 1 is no longer a thing. None of the usual suspects have made the flip yet that I could find. I even checked KOST in Los Angeles and WLTW in New York City and neither of them have flipped. The ones I checked here were My 995 (CA made me think to check per his post in the most recent ratings thread), Lite FM (KBLQ HD2) in Logan, and KMGR (KLASSY FM) in Nephi/Central Utah. I remember when KOSY (now Rock 1067) would flip the evening of Halloween some years. It seems when I was a kid, no one played Christmas music until Thanksgiving Day or the day after. They would throw in a Christmas song after playing a few songs from their regular playlists and then gradually start adding more Christmas songs and then go all Christmas a few days before Christmas. FM 100's 100 hours of Christmas used to be that they would stop playing non-Christmas songs 100 hours before Christmas night at midnight. Now they go all Christmas in November and the way they've kept the 100 hours thing is now it's 100 hours of commercial free Christmas with little 5 or 10 second spots telling you what businesses the 100 hours of Christmas is "powered by". I kind of wish stations would go back to sprinkling in a Christmas song every few songs and then gradually stop playing non-Christmas songs as the holiday gets closer. It seems like now it's all or nothing. Either no Christmas or all Christmas. I love Christmas music but sometimes I miss the other music. And then on December 26 it's just gone. I wish they'd kind of gradually faze it out with it being completely gone on New Year's Day. What do you all think?   

[amanuensis]

I think I'm with you, oldiesfunhouse. I want no Christmas music until Thanksgiving. And then a gradually increasing mix until a few days before. And then when school vacation time has arrived, go all the way.

As I have said in previous years, my bigger peeve is with the mixture of songs that stations play. Only play Burl Ives and Bing Crosby if your station's regular format is Adult Standards. Don't have train wrecks -- don't set your hard drive on shuffle. Give thought to which songs should follow other songs.

[oldiesfunhouse]

Adult standards is one of my favorite formats and it is gone from the terrestrial dial in Salt Lake so I like the fact I get to hear my favorite artists like burl and Bing at Christmas time on all the station that play Christmas so I would miss them if the stations just stuck with their formats. I think Christmas music is the only thing keeping people from completely forgetting about the great crooners

[CAwasinNJ]

I believe My 99.5 has flipped on the first Friday in November for the past few years, but that was the 1st this year. I'd put my money on this coming Friday the 8th, likely with the other iHeart Christmas stations around the country. I'd guess FM 100.3 will flip either the 14th or 15th.

The extra early Christmas music idea started in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. The country needed some cheering up in the months that followed and Christmas music was enlisted to do that. There's been pushback from some quarters (I include myself in that) but it actually makes sense from a radio sales point of view. Hearing Christmas music reminds shoppers that the holiday is coming and they'd better start getting their gifts. That makes them more receptive to the ads on the station and might get the station higher rates, or at least more business. It seems doubtful that it will be going away. On Dec 26 there's no more sales reason for it and people are probably burned out anyway and ready for the regular format, so out it goes.

amanuensis' notion of giving 'thought to which songs should follow other songs' is nice but unrealistic. I can't say with authority that nobody manually curates playlists anymore but I highly doubt they do. It's just too time consuming and MD's/PD's have too much else to do. That said there are ways to get some of those benefits and they're easy to do with automation software. The playlist generator can look at descriptors on the songs (tempo, year/decade of release, genre, etc.) and create a flow from one to the next to the next. It won't be perfect but it should be "good enough."

I don't agree with the idea that a station should stick to the same format even during a Christmas format. I'm of the opinion in general that most stations are too tightly formatted to being with. For most stations the only time they widen the playlist is during Christmas. I don't mind that. Make it a little more unpredictable. Some stations might try pushing it even farther.

[amanuensis]

I certainly agree that many radio stations are too tightly formatted. But to me, playing a handful of songs from the 1940s and 1950s just because they are Christmas classics is not a cure but instead part of the disease. Burl Ives must have recorded many Christmas songs, not just "Holly Jolly Christmas". And tons of other artists recorded Christmas songs during that era. New Christmas albums come out each year. And yet, here we are. With an extremely predictable play list of the same songs year after year. MAYBE one or two new songs will make it into the rotation this year if a high profile artist's recording company backs it heavily. But then it will be gone next year. "All I Want for Christmas is You" is the unicorn exception that proves the rule.

[oldiesfunhouse]

Lite FM 103.3 (KBLQ HD2 and HD3) in Logan made the flip sometime between last Friday and this morning. They're playing the usual songs but by different artists. I heard Peabo Bryson, Rod Stewart, and the Jonas Brothers when I tuned into their stream earlier this morning.

[oldiesfunhouse]

I just tuned into My 995 this morning and they have flipped. I don't kow when, though.

[amanuensis]

Maybe they were waiting for the first snowfall. Whoops,read too fast -- I thought oldiesfunhouse wrote, "I don't know why though." Which I interpreted to mean "why flip today?"

[CAwasinNJ]

Unlike last year, FM100.3 is doing the "guess when we'll flip" contest again. I'm guessing tomorrow 11/14 at 7AM.

[CAwasinNJ]

Sean Ross has an interesting column this week, specifically taking about new vs old Christmas music.

radioinsight.com/blogs/286359/first-listen-the-55-days-of-christmas-2024/

If a third AC station gets into the fray here, that could be a differentiator.


On the non-AC Christmas front, do you think Hank will go all Christmas like Eagle did?

And while we're on the subject of Hank. Their RDS is a mess. There are no song titles, it's still showing the station as 'Eagle KEGA' and lists the format as Spanish Music. Just turn the thing off.

[CAwasinNJ]

I'm not sure when it happened but FM 100.3 had flipped by 6:30PM Tuesday the 19th.

From my limited sampling it seems like a good varied mix. (Oops. Can I say mix about a station that isn't at 105.1? )

[seattlefollower]

Say what you will about going "all holiday," but I have always appreciated KSFI's ability to mix a few local artists, new national tracks, alongside "the classics." Trust me from a market where our only Christmas station is an iHeart product (and sometimes a competitor but not every year), I feel awful for business employees where that station is on daily through the holiday. Rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat. This year they *did* start the week of November 4. I took them off my in-car radio presets for now.

Our local CHR also tried to throw in some holiday music but it largely felt out of sync with current hits and they have since stopped.

[amanuensis]

FM100 was still doing its normal format yesterday morning and when I drove home from work in the afternoon, it was to the sounds of Christmas Canon. So perhaps at noon yesterday?

I have done my annual removal of FM100 from the presets. 103.1 is its replacement. I have KAAZ in waiting in the wings in case KBEE flips.

It is indeed good to hear local artists featured. Why don't radio stations try doing that the rest of the year? Maybe even live? Or is that just too crazy for the corporate radio minds to conceive of?

[CAwasinNJ]

Last year FM100.3 flipped in late afternoon sometime, I forget exactly when. It was a big remote production with Marie Osmond.

As I recall, when Bonneville owned KUTR 820 they tried emphasizing local music for a while. Kurt Bestor was part of the morning show. They tried a few things there before giving up and selling the station.

[oldiesfunhouse]

For those that don't want the holiday music, FM 100.3 is playing their regular format on HD2. Normally that's their Soft Sunday Sounds feed but when the main station flips to Christmas, the HD2 plays their regular non-Sunday format. KSL radio covered the flip on their afternoon news. Rebecca Cressman from FM 100.3's morning show actually came in and talked to Jeff Caplan. She said they had one of the players from the Utah Hockey Club flip the switch. According to KSL, they flipped at 5 o'clock on Tuesday but you guys said you heard it earlier so maybe I misheard that.