🎄 Holidays! Christmas radio

[jimac51]

A popular topic last year-the phenomenon of All Christmas Radio-has some bits of news. According to Friday Morning Quaterback(www.fmqb.com) ,WSSW,a Charlotte,South Carolina station owned by Infinity/Viacom,has already crossed over to the holiday mood(hope they did it AFTER Halloween) and news that Clear Channel's WLTW will go that route Nov. 28th in New York. It seemed that almost all of the Christmas statons last year were Clear Channel controlled and the addition of New York seems to give the message that this is a format to stay. WLTW is currently the #1 station in the #1 market in the US. Another source says that the switchover in New York comes amid rumors that Infinity's troubled WNEW(Blink 102.7-currently ranked # 25-below a classical music and a Spanish news/talk station)is considering the Ho-ho-ho format. Mac

 

[jimac51]

Is there an all Christmas/all the time("Give us 22 minutes and you'll put a buck in that Salvation Army kettle") station in your area? Many large markets have two(and for a format changing stunt,Philly had three for a few hours last week) and,according to a couple of paragraphs at www.fmqb.com,it is happening to AC formats across the country in rapid succession. Clear Channel's Philly boss,Brian Check(late from the beautiful Lehigh Valley)thinks that this is a post-9/11 phenom but has nothing to do with these stations playing a song for 18 months as a current record and has nothing to do with a welcome relief from Uncle Kracker. Cheap Channel is savvy enough to think that All Xmas may be annoying to some-they ocasionally mention that there is a sister station playing smooth jazz on the dial-Kenny G as Christmas music relief-now there is folly. Mac

 

[bob knack]

There are about five Chicago stations playing all Christmas music. They started before Thanksgiving. One station started it early, and others followed suit.

One record that would get lots of airplay would be a CD re-release of the Tijuana Brass Christmas album combined with that A&M holiday sampler with Sergio and Pete Jolly et. la.. Start with Herb, and then alternate with the other artists. Could be a big seller. But just like the Cubs, we'd better wait till next year.

 

[jimac51]

Some random thoughts on All Christmas radio 2003-my earlier post has info also used in an Associated Press story-I do not know if AP stole from fmqb or vice versa. One interesting tidbit in the AP story was that two stations in Kansas City jumped the gun,found numerous complaints from listeners at both stations,and reverted back to the everyday formats.WHYY,the Philly NPR outlet did a feature on the two commercial Philly stations competing in the format-something you never hear-a story on the radio about radio.This year the Lehigh Valley has a non-Clear Channel station doing holiday music. The CC AMer that did it last year has made mention to holiday music being available on their web but evidently has no plans to change formats this year. There is a solid bent towards Christmas vocals,not unlike everyday radio and that is a shame. Think of the great Andre Kostelantz,Boston Pops,Vince Guaraldi and our hero Herb & the Brass recordings that take a back seat to fairly mundane vocal versions of Christmas music. The other night the local Philly CC station played a boring "Christmas Song" by some bland R&B singer. Guaraldi's "O Christmas Tree" came on,in all of its hissy,splendor. Imperfect,a bit rushed-a beautiful,soulful reading that put the R&B crooner to shame-but a rarity on these stations. Also,during a PM drive time they played Barbara Mandrell's "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe"-a lovely,romatic song-and the DJ had no context for Ms. Mandrell,country music or the era that it came from-this DJ was really out of her element. This has happened before-nobody cares who Andy Williams was/is but "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" gets played,announced and quickly forgotten. John Lennon-that guy they know-kinda-wasn't he involved in that big release last week,LET IT BE ? Mac

 

[Rudy]

I took the tuner out of my system, so I can't do a run-down of the stations just now. Ann Arbor has an AC station that was previously oldies--I know for a fact that one is a Cheap Channel station. Detroit had two last year, if I recall...they were mediocre after awhile, but at least they were two different versions of mediocre, and you were able to switch between them.

Music Choice (over DSS satellite) has a "seasons" channel, and I'm sure they're well into the Xmas mode already. I'm still debating getting XM radio, but that's also a possibility for holiday programming.

Me? I'm gathering up dozens of my holiday albums (CD and LP) ready to make myself a new set of compilations this year.

 

[daveK]

Our all Christmas station from the past few years switched to an all new country format this year.

 

[Murray]

Is "All Christmas Radio" strictly a US phenomenon? Where I am in western Canada there's no such thing. Radio stations here play 1 or 2 Christmas songs per hour in the week before Christmas - usually a new recording by some dreadful singer, rather than the classics that we love. The only time they play all Christmas music is on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If I want to hear Christmas music now, I have to go to a shopping mall!

Murray

 

[jimac51]

Murray-Keep searching around for any changes in Canada-who knows?. As you can tell from the posts from this year and last ,this format is even relatively new in the US. There is a web spot www.christmasradionework.com that says they stream Christmas 24/7/365 and you should know that they have a ministry intent,though they use secular tunes in the mix. Our local Clear Channel AM says that they are streaming Christmas music www.1470wkap.com(from a company called Custom Channels,owned by SBR Creative Media)but I personally haven't set it up yet. Mac

 

[Harry]

This is really the second big year for all-Christmas radio, and I think it might be reaching a saturation point. I remember a visit to Chicago a few years ago for our annual Thanksgiving trek. Just before going, I read in a radio trade newsletter that a Chicago station was going to blow up its format at Thanksgiving and go all-Christmas until the new year. We witnessed that first-hand as we drove around the Chicago suburbs, marvelling at an all-Christmas stunt. That station ultimately went Country from what I understand.

Last year, a similar thing happened. An also-ran Clear Channel station that had been trying unsuccessfully to compete in the current music format wars, decided to go soft rock, with a bent toward the old soft rock of the '60s and '70s. Though it was an interesting change, it didn't generate the kind of initial ratings that had been hoped for, even though it was better than before. So, as a sort of in-format stunt, the station went all-Christmas last November, all the while assuring listeners that the regular soft rock would return after the holidays. People laughed, but come January, the ratings showed a HUGE spike for this station, vaulting it to the top five in the valued 25-54 category. After that, the ratings settled back to the pre-Christmas levels, so ratings watchers all over the country began making their plans for this year.

Back on November 1st, we heard of a North Carolina station going all-Christmas. That was REALLY early - the day after Halloween. The following weekend, the station in Philly that did Christmas last year started up the holiday music for a weekend on November 7th, all the while promoting that come Monday morning, the regular music would be back. It did just that, with more promos announcing Christmas music for the next weekend as well. Then came the surprise.

The station in Philly that normally gets huge ratings with soft rock, a locally owned station, surprised everyone with an all-Christmas conversion in the middle of the day, Wednesday, November 12th. I remember being shocked when I first heard the news late in the day, as I'd had to listen to the station in the dentist's chair that afternoon from 1PM to 2PM. Apparently they switched at between 3:30PM and 4PM, with a TV campaign that started just before the Oprah show.

No-one in town was more surprised than the Clear Channel station. There they were, the previously undisputed kings of Christmas music playing their normal mix of softer Motown and soft rock while their 'enemy' beat them to the official switch - with a media blitz to boot. Sure enough, by 7 PM, they were churning out the Christmas tunes in a battle for survival.

As a joke, on Monday, November 17th, yet another station in town, a Beasley property, and another casualty in the current music ratings wars, started spinning Christmas tunes after the morning show concluded. But this one sounded strange - the songs were all of the silly variety, you know, the Adam Sandler Hannukah song and "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" - that type of thing. It was also rather repetitious and tongue-in-cheek with liners syaing that THEY would remain all-Christmas 24/7, 365 days a year. So we knew this was a stunt. Sure enough, later that day, after 5 PM, the station flipped to a hip-hop format.

But we've had others in town do all-Christmas weekends, to the point where you can hit the scan button on your car radio and hear Christmas songs almost everywhere.

The ratings in January will be interesting to see, and I suspect that even though certain stations may spike more highly than usual, advertisers and agencies will soon catch on to this 'trick', and begin discounting these stunts as mere abberations in the normal trends of ratings.

Harry
...who might start listening to Christmas music pretty soon, online...

 

[Rudy]

Something odd happened. I received a survey from WCSX, which is a Greater Media station.

What I found interesting, odd, or whatever, is that three or four of their questions related to Clear Channel. The current survey has had the questions removed, which is even more curious. (It's also missing a few of the programming-related questions my original survey had...this one is definitely pared back.) The questions were of this type:

1. Are you aware of a company called Clear Channel?

2. Does the fact that a station is owned by Clear Channel make you more or less likely to listen to it?

...and questions of that nature. It's the only time I've seen a radio survey mention a competitor in such a direct (and almost condescending, in a humorous way) manner.

 

[Harry]

A radio industry website, All Access, has posted a list of all of the known all-Christmas stations. Looks like there are a couple up in Canada after all Murray Here they are in alphabetical order by call letters:

CHFM CALGARY

CKVX VANCOUVER BC

KBAY SAN FRANCISCO

KCGQ CAPE GIRARDEAU

KDAT CEDAR RAPIDS

KESZ PHOENIX

KGBY SACRAMENTO

KGFM BAKERFIELD

KJZS RENO

KKDJ BAKERSFIELD

KKFG FOUR CORNERS

KKJM ST CLOUD, MN

KLTH PORTLAND

KMXS ANCHORAGE

KMYI SAN DIEGO

KODA HOUSTON

KODZ EUGENE

KOIT SAN FRANCISCO

KOSI DENVER

KOST LOS ANGELES

KQLL OWASSO, OK

KRVE BATON ROUGE

KRWM SEATTLE

KSFI SALT LAKE CITY

KSRC KANSAS CITY

KTSO GLENPOOL, OK

KUDL KANSAS CITY

KUUL DAVENPORT

KYMG ANCHORAGE

WAHR HUNTSVILLE, AL

WALC CHARLESTON

WASH WASHINGTON DC

WAWZ NEW YORK

WBBQ AUGUSTA, GA

WBEB PHILADELPHIA

WBMW NEW LONDON, CT

WBZH HARRIMAN, TN

WCKW NEW ORLEANS

WECB GREEN BAY

WEMI APPLETON

WEMY GREEN BAY

WEZF BURLINGTON, VT

WFCB COLUMBUS

WFFH-WFFI NASHVILLE

WFHM CLEVELAND

WFSH ATLANTA

WGRQ FREDERICKSBURG

WGTN MYRTLE BEACH

WJYE BUFFALO

WLEV ALLENTOWN

WLIT CHICAGO

WLKQ ATLANTA

WLMG NEW ORLEANS

WLQT DAYTON

WLRX ELKHART

WLSH ALLENTOWN

WLTM ATLANTA

WLTQ MILWAUKEE

WLTW NEW YORK

WMAG GREENSBORO

WMGF ORLANDO

WMLL ST LOUIS MO

WMMJ BIRMINGHAM

WMWX ST LOUIS

WMXL LEXINGTON, KY

WMYI GREENVILLE

WMYX MILWAUKEE

WNEW NEW YORK

WNIC DETROIT

WNND CHICAGO

WODL BIRMINGHAM

WODS BOSTON

WOOD GRAND RAPIDS

WPEZ MACON GA

WQOL FT PIERCE

WQSX BOSTON

WRSN RALEIGH

WRVF TOLEDO

WSNE PROVIDENCE

WSNI PHILADELPHIA

WSPA GREENVILLE, SC

WSSS CHARLOTTE NC

WSUY CHARLESTON, SC

WTRV GRAND RAPIDS

WTRY ALBANY NY

WTSS BUFFALO

WWSW PITTSBURGH

WXVA-FM CHARLESTOWN, WV

WYEC DAVENPORT

WYNA MYRTLE BEACH

WYSF BIRMINGHAM

WYXY EVANSVILLE IN

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

 

[jimac51]

Thanks,Harry.Now we know...the rest of the story. Good day! Mac

 

[Rudy]

OK, last year I noted that Ann Arbor's Cheap Channel AC station, WKQL, had also gone all-Christmas.

http://www.amcorner.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6873#6873

When I get near a radio tomorrow, I'll tune it in and see if they've done it this year also. Thing is, WNIC (Detroit) is within range of Ann Arbor, so it's almost redundant to have two stations owned by the same company playing Xmas tunes. Ann Arbor's stations are lower powered, so in Detroit, only those of us in the western 'burbs can tune it in. But Ann Arbor can receive most of Detroit's stations, since some broadcast from Southfield.

 

[Tim Neely]

On my way back to Wisconsin from Allentown, Pa., I stopped Sunday night at Akron, Ohio. Literally all the way home from Akron, I was able to pick up at least one Christmas radio station clearly.

Cleveland --> Toledo --> Fort Wayne --> South Bend --> Chicago (2) --> Milwaukee (2)/Madison --> Green Bay

 

[Murray]

A radio industry website, All Access, has posted a list of all of the known all-Christmas stations. Looks like there are a couple up in Canada after all Murray Here they are in alphabetical order by call letters:

CHFM CALGARY

CKVX VANCOUVER BC

You can add another Canadian station to the list Harry. As of this morning, one of our local FM soft rock stations went all-Christmas:

CHMX REGINA, SK

They say they will return to the soft rock format as of Dec. 27.

Murray
...who now has a chance of hearing Carpenters on the radio again...

 

[Captaindave]

Regarding Akron, Ohio...

I live in the Akron, Ohio, area. The AM station WAKR, 1590 on the dial, is playing all Christmas music at present. WAKR is an interesting station. It has been on the air for probably fifty years - maybe longer - and has basically not changed very much over the years. It plays a lot of oldies songs. The songs you hear are just about everything you can think of except harder rock. Mostly light pop, if you could classify the range of things WAKR plays. You can hear Herb Alpert, Chris Montez, Sergio Mendes, Frank Sinatra, Beatles, Beach Boys, Tom Jones, Barry Manilow - you name it and they probably play it sometime. A really wide range of pop music from a pretty wide time period...even a few more current songs like a Norah Jones tune can be heard occasionally.

Actually, I listen to WAKR probably more than any other station, even though it is AM. There is news, broadcast of sports events, and a wide range of music that I enjoy. No other station that can be received around here plays this selection of music...

We don't have a good oldies station around here, although there is a station over on FM that is an oldies station. It has changed its focus somewhat recently, and is starting to redefine the meaning of the word "oldies." Now, music as recent as the eighties is being heard as "oldies." This station used to play fifties and sixties, but has redefined the term and now it is more seventies, with a little sixties thrown in here and there - the balance is shifting...

Anyway, you may have been hearing 1590, WAKR when passing through Akron...I like it and wish it was broadcast on FM for better fidelity.

 

[jimac51]

Some recent research supports Harry's instincts about the overexposure of this format. The % of people favoring All Christmas music droppped from 20% last year to 14% this year. The basic findings show that stations should wait until after Thanksgiving; the All Christmas format may be annoying;that the format overly commercializes Christmas. The source, Friday Morning Quarterback(using Harker Research info),says that Arbitron will analyze facts after the holiday,noting that what listeners want and what they consume are sometimes different-an obvious statement,but they are forgetting that consumers may be making a Hobson choice(public address broadcasting in stores or workplaces,deferences to others in listening area,etc.)and that no matter if they listening ,the format may work against the desired results(listenig and responding positively to ads).BTW,currently there are 362 All Christmas stations. Mac

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Last year, at least, Direct TV had a channel devoted to Christmas music, and it ran that format through Jan 1. I know it isn't radio...but none of the stations that Harry listed are anywhere close to me, and the local stations aren't doing anything with a Christmas format. I haven't heard a Holiday song on the air yet...


Dan, glad to have his Xmas CD's....