Should/will AC's go back to their regular format on 12/26...?

golden eagles97 said:

I was looking at the early returns on ratings for the Christmas season and it's a safe bet to believe that two months of all-Christmas will be with us for years to come. The question now will be who'll flip by Labor Day.

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At some point, going all-Christmas would have to be a long-term bad thing for the station, right? Flip in October or September and you risk a large portion of your regular listenership finding a new favorite AC station (or even listening more to classic hits or country) and not returning when the seasonal schmaltz is stowed away.

CTListener said:

At some point, going all-Christmas would have to be a long-term bad thing for the station, right? Flip in October or September and you risk a large portion of your regular listenership finding a new favorite AC station (or even listening more to classic hits or country) and not returning when the seasonal schmaltz is stowed away.

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I have often wondered if the (regular) AC format suffers during the holiday season when everyone is playing those sappy old Christmas songs, and ignoring the contemporary stuff. I have to wonder if modern-day performers suffer when one of their latest hits just happens to peak during the holiday season.

During a break on the NPR station, music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was played, though it is snowing here. In fact, we are having a white Christmas. There are Orthodox churches in Charlotte NC where the station is.

The Grinch arrives tomorrow. Or maybe not.

It's going to be hard to give up hearing such good music on the radio. It wouldn't even matter what the music was about.

No, even trying online stations doesn't seem to work. Even "adult standards" sounds too much like soft AC. While it is true I have to change stations when I hear a bad song (and I have yet to find a station even online without those) there are so many good songs this time of year.

There is not a better time of year for big band music, and if the right audience would continue to enjoy that style when the holidays are over and get the advertisers interested, that would be great.

Or to put it another way (this is actually the wrong board for this to work) Bing Crosby gets replaced with David Crosby.

Well the 1920s were often depicted as "The Jazz Age", and perhaps as a tribute, there could be new jazz formats that also mix classical and occasional soft rock titles as well, and as a tribute to the music of a past century, could easily show how great records could be made without the help of computers. But make those specialty programs on NPR-type stations since the general public just doesn't have any recollection except in museums and history class (the same with the rest of the jazz era in the 1930s/40s).

And a lot of Christmas stations are starting to get less "swingy" and more of a pop/rock/R&B/country sound as of late (and if you listen to NYC's WHTZ, hip-hop). If anything, jazz/swing should be mixed in with classical stations at this point, especially in markets that don't have such a station.

In terms of the original question, the most dedicated station that flips to Xmas should be the last to flip back, and even then, I prefer a gradual transition with about 30-40% Christmas and 60-70% regular programming through NYE. Many people are still off from work and like to keep the spirit of the season alive as they enjoy all the wonderful gifts they just received. Of course, there's always satellite through New Year's if you still want to hear around the clock jingle bells.

I agree. They should gradually go back to regular music. For now, this station is still all-Christmas. A new format is expected after the holidays.

https://www.iheart.com/live/christmas-1025-2101/

Still a few all Christmas stations left

I did a little looking online today for some stations that are still playing Christmas music and there are a surprising number of them. As of 12/26 they are:

WLGX - Louisville, KY
WMYI - Carolina
KKCW - Portland, OR
WMXC - Mobile, AL
WRVF - Toledo, OH
WRNQ - Hudson Valley, NY
KODA - Houston, TX
KOST - Los Angeles, CA
KBIQ - Colorado Springs, CO
KCLS - Leeds, UT
WNIC - Detroit, MI
KURB - Little Rock, AR

I'm sure there are more out there that I missed, but they would have taken far too much time to look for. I imagine this list will shrink with each passing day, but it's something.