J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
Partly because of a perception that broadcasters wanted to be first in their markets to flip to all-Christmas formats, some advertisers wanting to run Holiday-oriented spots on such stations, and partly because of worries of retailers (music-formatted radio's top ad category) that high energy costs were going to result in the worst Christmas shopping season in years (in which revenues, even before being adjusted for inflation, go down), I fully expected a lot of stations to flip to all-Christmas much earlier this year than in the past. I fully expected numerous flips on or just after November 1st.
But according to the 100000 Watts.com list of stations that have gone all-Christmas, 45 stations had done so as of this evening (November 16th) at 5 P.M. EST, up from 33 stations two days earlier.
The most notable of the most recent flips are of both WLTE-102.9 and KQQL-107.9, both in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Although KQQL is A Clear Channel Property (the company most agressive about programming all-Christmas formats), it is an oldies station, and not AC, unlike most stations that go all-Christmas (Another of the relatively-few oldies stations that has gone all-Christmas in recent years if Infinity's WODS-103.3 here in Boston; it's being speculated on the Boston board that WODS may take the plunge by Friday). WLTE is a Soft AC station, owned by Infinity.
This Friday (November 18th) will be the Friday before Thanksgiving, which last year was a popular date for stations making the flip. It's possible that the number of all-Christmas stations could triple or even quadruple by the end of Friday (perhaps up to a total of between 135 and 180 stations, maybe even more, up from 45 on Wednesday evening).
I'm not in the mood to hear any Christmas music on the radio until December 1st. And I'd only be in the mood to listen to a little of it until right around Christmas (sure, if I were to host a Christmas party, I would bring CD's to play continuous Christmas music during the party; but nonstop Christmas music on the radio prior to Christmas Eve turns me off!
Ironically, my girlfriend's cat loves Christmas music (he loves everything to do with that holiday), and I think he's the only one I know who could tolerate listening to all-Christmas music all day on the radio for a month.
(I'd prefer that a station not play any Christmas music until December 1st; then play one Christmas song every third hour from December 1st-10th; play one Christmas song every other hours from December 11th-17th; one Christmas song an hour from December 18th until 12 Noon Christmas Eve; and then go all-Christmas only for 36 hours, from 12 Noon December 24th until 12 Midnight December 25th)
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Joseph_Gallant on 11/17/05 03:08 AM.</FONT></P>
But according to the 100000 Watts.com list of stations that have gone all-Christmas, 45 stations had done so as of this evening (November 16th) at 5 P.M. EST, up from 33 stations two days earlier.
The most notable of the most recent flips are of both WLTE-102.9 and KQQL-107.9, both in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Although KQQL is A Clear Channel Property (the company most agressive about programming all-Christmas formats), it is an oldies station, and not AC, unlike most stations that go all-Christmas (Another of the relatively-few oldies stations that has gone all-Christmas in recent years if Infinity's WODS-103.3 here in Boston; it's being speculated on the Boston board that WODS may take the plunge by Friday). WLTE is a Soft AC station, owned by Infinity.
This Friday (November 18th) will be the Friday before Thanksgiving, which last year was a popular date for stations making the flip. It's possible that the number of all-Christmas stations could triple or even quadruple by the end of Friday (perhaps up to a total of between 135 and 180 stations, maybe even more, up from 45 on Wednesday evening).
I'm not in the mood to hear any Christmas music on the radio until December 1st. And I'd only be in the mood to listen to a little of it until right around Christmas (sure, if I were to host a Christmas party, I would bring CD's to play continuous Christmas music during the party; but nonstop Christmas music on the radio prior to Christmas Eve turns me off!
Ironically, my girlfriend's cat loves Christmas music (he loves everything to do with that holiday), and I think he's the only one I know who could tolerate listening to all-Christmas music all day on the radio for a month.
(I'd prefer that a station not play any Christmas music until December 1st; then play one Christmas song every third hour from December 1st-10th; play one Christmas song every other hours from December 11th-17th; one Christmas song an hour from December 18th until 12 Noon Christmas Eve; and then go all-Christmas only for 36 hours, from 12 Noon December 24th until 12 Midnight December 25th)
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Joseph_Gallant on 11/17/05 03:08 AM.</FONT></P>