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When is it too early for Christmas music?
- Thread starter danikayser84
- Start date
Christmas Music Playlists
I enjoy Christmas/Holiday music after Thanksgiving. The issue as I see it is that the playlists are the same 100 songs no matter what station you listen to in a certain area. Expand the playlists as there are so many variations of excellent music for the season.
Regards
I enjoy Christmas/Holiday music after Thanksgiving. The issue as I see it is that the playlists are the same 100 songs no matter what station you listen to in a certain area. Expand the playlists as there are so many variations of excellent music for the season.
Regards
How can there be any pressure on stations to expand the playlist or start the ho-ho-ho earlier when ratings always jump no matter when the switch is flipped and no matter how frequently certain songs get played? The average AC listener -- you know, female, 25-54, not a music or radio geek -- loves the Christmas format and doesn't want it to change. I assume the advertisers feel the same way. Want deeper playlists and later starts? Try internet streams or pay radio (SiriusXM).
I don't want to see the playlists expanded. There were plenty of good performances from the 1940s through the 1960s, and maybe a few traditional sounding ones since then.
The ratings go up, I believe, because people with my musical taste don't have a radio station in the traditional sense the rest of the year.
The ratings go up, I believe, because people with my musical taste don't have a radio station in the traditional sense the rest of the year.
I tend to do both to get deeper playlists as well as my own favorites from my personal electronic media. On the terrestial front, I'm interested in listening to what Gold 99 in Ocala/Gainesville as they now live and local.
Regards,
Armando
Since I found this, I'll report it here.
For reasons detailed elsewhere on this site, I have been monitoring WEZV Myrtle Beach SC. That's sort of like listening to it, except the station I actually like is louder (by default, but that works fine in this situation). The station I like was off while they played a song I didn't like and I clearly heard the DJ say that starting this weekend, WEZV plays Christmas music on weekends. Full-time Christmas music starts at Thanksgiving.
For reasons detailed elsewhere on this site, I have been monitoring WEZV Myrtle Beach SC. That's sort of like listening to it, except the station I actually like is louder (by default, but that works fine in this situation). The station I like was off while they played a song I didn't like and I clearly heard the DJ say that starting this weekend, WEZV plays Christmas music on weekends. Full-time Christmas music starts at Thanksgiving.
That's not a bad way to do it. I think starting it before Veterans Day is too early, but really, anything before Thanksgiving seems too early. The format is usually a winner, even for stations that start in late October, so I see a continued drift to early November for stations that do switch.
I assumed WEZV was playing Christmas music the entire weekend, but the regular format is back today. Football was on yesterday when I checked.
One reason I like doing it now is the good AM stations are too hard to hear after dark and it gets dark early. If there were good AM stations. The only place to hear good music on FM is on Christmas music stations.
Of course, a lot of the reason for the "success" of it is because the AC is typically the ONLY station in most markets playing it wall-to-wall. If it were scattered over more stations (and I am NOT advocating for that!) the impact of it would be more diluted. (The Christian AC here also goes wall-to-wall (playing the exact same tuneage, by the way!), but I am not sure if they have the signal strength (even over several frequencies) to really be competitive.)
WDRC-FM Hartford tried going all-Christmas one December -- playing older songs, as it was an oldies/classic hits station -- and made no impact at all on perennial Christmas powerhouse WRCH. I wonder if WWYZ, the country station, were to go "country Christmas" for a month or so, whether they'd still lose listeners to the standard holiday mix on WRCH or retain them because it would be George Strait or Carrie Underwood singing the songs the listeners associate with the season rather than Mariah Carey or Michael Buble.
The first time that I recall a station going wall-to-wall with Christmas music was about 20 years ago, when a local station basically "stunted" Christmas music, pending a format change. They were (and still are) a 100-KW FM station, but I don't know what kind of ratings that they got, or if it was because of the Christmas music, or curiosity about what they would do afterwards. I remember a TV news story about it.
I'm curious about what will happen in Myrtle Beach SC. The Tide is a conventional AC, which started out with some gold and softer material but seems to have gone almost Hot AC this year. And with good reason. WEZV is co-owned and has started playing gold-based soft AC. I could argue "Take It on the Run" and "Raspberry Beret" are not soft, but most of the songs are soft. It has already been announced that WEZV will go all-Christmas on weekends (though yesterday it was regular music) and then after Thanksgiving all the time. The Tide wouldn't have any reason not to continue with AC, because it would be competing with a co-owned station.
I am confused. We were told that Friday at 5 the Christmas music would start on WEZV. I wasn't in a location where I could hear it, but I assume it was there. Yesterday online, I only heard a Clemson game. Today, three good Christmas songs online, and then a commercial break and it's back to the junk.
Also, all-Christmas at Concord Mills Mall, Concord NC, And more contemporary than most AC stations, which is why I didn't think it had happened at first.
Also, all-Christmas at Concord Mills Mall, Concord NC, And more contemporary than most AC stations, which is why I didn't think it had happened at first.
And once again, "continuous Christmas favorites". All the time after Thanksgiving, the voice says, "or before".
"Please Come Home for Christmas" is not a song I want to hear. Any other time of year, the style of music is fine (I've adjusted to the new sound of standards), but it doesn't sound right as Christmas music. To me, at least.
Edit: Four Christmas songs. Now back to regular music.
"Please Come Home for Christmas" is not a song I want to hear. Any other time of year, the style of music is fine (I've adjusted to the new sound of standards), but it doesn't sound right as Christmas music. To me, at least.
Edit: Four Christmas songs. Now back to regular music.
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WEZV finally went all-Christmas.
I was driving home on Wednesday and WMAG Greensboro NC was playing Christmas music. But shortly after it turned it on, a long, long, long commercial break. I tried K-104.7 Charlotte and it was still AC. But the next song was a good one (rare) so I stayed with it and returned to WMAG. One or two good songs and then I heard that guitar solo which sounds like a science-fiction TV series theme song, sort of like the "Twilight Zone" theme or the bass from Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone". That's the introduction to the abomination "Sarajevo" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I recorded the Charlotte parade and the first "music" I heard was that as well as dancers were performing. No question that I was going to fast-forward. WMAG didn't play but a few more songs before going to commercial AGAIN.
K-104.7 still wasn't playing real music yesterday., They did announced there was a preview of the good stuff on HD.
America's Best Music is playing a Christmas song after each commercial break and after the news, plus one or two regular songs before the next break. If a song is played in place of commercials, it is a regular song.
I was driving home on Wednesday and WMAG Greensboro NC was playing Christmas music. But shortly after it turned it on, a long, long, long commercial break. I tried K-104.7 Charlotte and it was still AC. But the next song was a good one (rare) so I stayed with it and returned to WMAG. One or two good songs and then I heard that guitar solo which sounds like a science-fiction TV series theme song, sort of like the "Twilight Zone" theme or the bass from Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone". That's the introduction to the abomination "Sarajevo" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I recorded the Charlotte parade and the first "music" I heard was that as well as dancers were performing. No question that I was going to fast-forward. WMAG didn't play but a few more songs before going to commercial AGAIN.
K-104.7 still wasn't playing real music yesterday., They did announced there was a preview of the good stuff on HD.
America's Best Music is playing a Christmas song after each commercial break and after the news, plus one or two regular songs before the next break. If a song is played in place of commercials, it is a regular song.
I for one will rest easier tonight.
Not that it's any good. Nearly every time I sample it, the music doesn't meet my standards.I for one will rest easier tonight.
K-104.7 finally went all Christmas. In the car I've been going back and forth between WMAG and K-104.7 hoping for good results. It doesn't always happen.
The weird thing is if I hear a song one place occasionally it'll show up on the other station in a few minutes. Both stations seem to have much more of the traditional sound than WEZV.
KMart is still going back and forth between holiday music and regular music.
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