Why is WHYN playing ALL-CHRISTMAS MUSIC?!

Excuse me, but isn't this the first year WHYN, aka Mix 93.1 in Springfield, MA has done wall-to-wall Christmas music instead of some Christmas music (pun intended) "mixed" into regular Hot AC/CHR songs. As Mix 93.1 is technically the only CHR/Top 40 station in the Pioneer Valley, that means people will have to listen to sister KISS 95.7 in Hartford, KC101 from New Haven (faintly heard in Pioneer Valley radios), or 96.5 WTIC also from Hartford to listen to their favorite hits. They still use Mix 93.1 as their branding, not Christmas 93.1, so they will come back once the holidays are over. People usually listen to WMAS-FM (ironically, WHYN's rival) for Christmas music. This year makes some people upset that they aren't doing any Pop/Hot AC hits until December 26th, which when the Christmas music should stop. I like Christmas all and all, but I never heard Mix 93.1 do it , since they are Pop-leaning Adult Top 40. Nearby sister station WSNE-FM, (ironically interferes with Mix 93.1 adjacently according to Wikipedia) in Providence, RI, billed as "Coast 93.3" is also Pop-leaning Adult Top 40, and they DON'T play Christmas Music , since they have sister WWBB-FM, B101 do it later on, I think. Sorry, don't live around the New England area, so I don't know this stuff that well.

WHYN Springfield has always been kindof a weird radio station in my opinion. They definitely pitch up their music a bit, or atleast they did when I lived in Connecticut lastyear. MIX 931 went from being really Hot AC a few years ago, to now prettymuch CHR/Top 40, a Kiss 957 clone. WHYN puts a very strong signal into Northern Connecticut, coming in like a local in the Hartford area and beyond. MIX 931 has gone wall-to-wall Christmas before, in the past two years. MIX 931 is flipping to all-Christmas music to challenge longtime competitor 947 WMAS and possibly also WRCH 100.5 in Hartford. WHYN is using some Clear Channel feed that is also used by nearby stations in neighboring markets like 961 WSRS in Worcester, and probably also B101 in Providence.

WHYN-FM (don't forget the FM, since the market also has a Talk Radio station at 560 called WHYN) is still considered a Hot AC. These days the lines between Hot AC and Top 40 are blurring but are still there. I'm sure there are plenty of songs airing on WKSS Hartford that WHYN-FM doesn't play, and songs from the 90s and early 2000s heard on WHYN-FM that WKSS doesn't play.

Hartford and Springfield are only 30 miles apart but each is a separate market. Springfield hasn't had a Top 40 in decades. WAQY switched to Rock in the 1970s and is Classic Rock today, despite keeping the Wacky call letters from its Top 40 days. With only three full-power FM stations in the market, WHYN-FM, WAQY and WMAS, Springfield listeners get their Top 40 outlet from Hartford.

I'm sure every year when AC WMAS goes All-Christmas, WHYN-FM's ratings go down. And I'll guess that many advertisers in the Springfield market want to hear their holiday sales spots on All-Christmas WMAS. So this year WHYN-FM figured they'd also try All-Christmas music and see how it goes.

As for the WHYN-FM Christmas playlist sounding similar to other iHeart stations, David is probably right that each iHeart station downloads the iHeart Christmas playlist and makes it their own. But even Cumulus, CBS, Cox and other big owners run very similar playlists, and that's whether the station is AC, Hot AC or Classic Hits/Oldies the rest of the year. The Christmas format has been researched and nearly everyone plays pretty much the same songs in all markets.

Gregg. said:

WHYN-FM (don't forget the FM, since the market also has a Talk Radio station at 560 called WHYN) is still considered a Hot AC. These days the lines between Hot AC and Top 40 are blurring but are still there. I'm sure there are plenty of songs airing on WKSS Hartford that WHYN-FM doesn't play, and songs from the 90s and early 2000s heard on WHYN-FM that WKSS doesn't play.

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I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that MIX hasn't really been Hot AC for some time now. They call themselves "The Pioneer Valley's Hit Music Station." The playlist hugely overlaps with KISS 957 and KC101, and is much more current and CHR heavy than it used to be. These days the station seems like more of a Top 40/CHR that leans Hot AC. However, you are right that they still do play songs from the 90s and 2000s once in a while.

EastCoastRadio said:

WHYN Springfield has always been kindof a weird radio station in my opinion. They definitely pitch up their music a bit, or atleast they did when I lived in Connecticut lastyear. MIX 931 went from being really Hot AC a few years ago, to now prettymuch CHR/Top 40, a Kiss 957 clone. WHYN puts a very strong signal into Northern Connecticut, coming in like a local in the Hartford area and beyond. MIX 931 has gone wall-to-wall Christmas before, in the past two years. MIX 931 is flipping to all-Christmas music to challenge longtime competitor 947 WMAS and possibly also WRCH 100.5 in Hartford. WHYN is using some Clear Channel feed that is also used by nearby stations in neighboring markets like 961 WSRS in Worcester, and probably also B101 in Providence.

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A weird radio station, for pitching up the music? Ok.