Pre-Halloween is definitely too early. Post Thanksgiving is ideal, but I think there will be some flips on or near November 1st.
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 assumed WEZV was playing Christmas music the entire weekend, but the regular format is back today. Football was on yesterday when I checked.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.
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.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.
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.)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).
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.)
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.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.
I for one will rest easier tonight.WEZV finally went all-Christmas.
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.