🎄 Holidays! All-Christmas radio

[Harry]

Our local "Sunny" station, the one that plays Herb, Sergio, and the Carps from time to time (mixed in with a heavy dose of Motown), has gone all-Christmas this week - a week before Thanksgiving! Without listening very long, I've already heard "Merry Christmas Darling" (which I hear rotates in every few hours), and the TJB's "Sleigh Ride", complete with the Shorty Rogers choral opening. As I sat in my car listening to the TJB, I couldn't help but notice that they got the stereo backwards. Nick's drums were over on the right. I've not listened all that closely to the station in the past, but am now curious as to whether the entire station's stereo is backwards, or whether the production CD that this song came from was reversed. It's also possible that some wires in the station's production facility has gotten turned around. Don't know, but I'll keep listening for other goodies.

Harry
...ho ho ho, online...

 

[Rudy]

In addition to WNIC (one of the Cheap Channel stations) which went all Xmas on us, other local stations (including the new Magic station) played holiday tunes for Thanksgiving.

Now, to brave the cold and put the lights up outside...?

-= N =-

 

[jimac51]

I've been button hopping between Sunny104 and Allentown's WKAP("Now there's a K in Kristmas"-bad taste knows no season). They are playing two different playlists and there seems to be no pattern. Sunny is not just playing Christmas songs by their regular artists- I have heard Der Bingle,Perry Como,Percy Faith and even the "I Want A Hipopotamus" reoord which I have never heard on radio. Also,they are not just playing purely secular,nor strictly vocal-Thanksgiving day I heard a sumptuous classical orchestra with plenty of brass(Lenny Bernstein & the NY Phil is my guess)doing an instrumental "Halleluiah"chorus from Handel's "Messiah". Vic Damone doing "Adestes Fideles"-pretty heavy religious message there both in content and delivery.Odd-no Bob Rivers,no Trans-Siberian(a blessing!)and no Kenny G -yet! The Allentown station will play a few country(Kenny Rogers,Anne Murray,Glen Campbell)and they are live,not a satellite. They both seem to like Perry's "No Place Like Home for the Holidays"-I've have probably heard it four times in just a few days. Both stations take great pains in IDs to let you know that come Dec.26 the regular format returns-in both cases the ratings don't seem to justify it one way or another but January is not the time to switch formats. Outside of radio junkies(Tim Neely heard a bunch of them traveling east for Thanksgiving and may post his recollections),people I have talked to either don't understand or can't stand it,so go figure. Personally,I would like some cohesion(jumping genres for no reason,playing minor cuts by stars instead of some truly classic recordings-e.g.- Andre Kostelanetz,Norman Luboff,Ray Conniff and so much of that great Columbia Christmas library)and the fact that none of their on air people has any clue about what they are playing is maddening. Mac

 

[Rudy]

WNIC has played Bob Rivers (the milder stuff), Trans-Siberian (the track with Metallica ) and yes, unfortunately, Kenny G., which sends me running for the remote. (I haven't yet heard Michael Bolton screaming his way through "Silent Night", fortunately.) IMHO, WNIC's been overplaying the "Hippopotamus" record here. No Herbie & The TJB yet, though, but plenty of Carpenters. They're also genre-jumping quite a bit. I'd like to here a couple of Ella's Verve tracks.

Where's Spike Jones with the original "Two Front Teeth"?

If our pal Tim is the Christmas expert, he should get a kick out of us for the next month! I'm trying to dig up some old holiday CD reviews I'd done a few years back. It's a little dated and needs some new entries, but I'll probably post it in the next day or so, along with a forum topic about holiday album favorites.

-= N =-
...flu bug Sunday...

 

[jimac51]

That Hippo record is getting to be VERY tiresome. I can listen to Phil Spector all day,though. Mac

 

[Rudy]

To me, tiresome is also any of these current popular artists from the past decade or so, whoopin' and hollerin' through holiday songs. I always shake my head, wondering what abomination of the musical world is slaughtering yet another Xmas song. Every now and then I'll find a recent CD that I like (such as John Pizzarelli's), but more often than not, the more recent CDs are a letdown. Maybe I'm just considered "traditional" in what I like to listen to.

-= N =-

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Talking about letdowns....(and maybe this is the wrong topic for this but I'm still playing catchup here) I was sorely disappointed in the newest Mannheim Steamroller Christmas disk, which is called CHRISTMAS EXTRAORDINAIRE. It has some very nice arrangements ("Fum Fum Fum" is my favorite), but a whole lot of it sounds hopelessly stuck in the '80s, what with all them synthesizers and electro-drums. The rendition of "Hallelujah" is a fiasco, and it's the opening track!

They have excellent moments on all their Christmas albums, but there's no topping that first one, IMHO!

 

[Rudy]

Those sound like a candidate to make a "best of" compilation from! I listened to the 2nd "Fresh Aire" LP a few months ago, and I know what you mean about sounding dated! Can't say I'll be in any kind of rush to play it for, oh, another 15 years or so...some sounds just don't age well!

-= N =-

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Those sound like a candidate to make a "best of" compilation from!

I'm a year ahead of ya, buddy! I made my Mannheim "best of Christmas" compilation last year and I must say it is excellent. Much better than listening to any of the individual albums. I even found a really cool graphic for the cover. I called it "Christmas on Aire," because it had to have an "aire" title and that was the only thing I could think of that they haven't already used themselves!