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When is it too early for Christmas music?

My usual grocery store was playing a Christmas song last night, though the one before that sounded contemporary and I don't know what it was about. Though the music is usually contemporary sounding, even when traditional songs are played.

WZKY Albemarle NC, an oldies (NOT classic hits) station I can hear if I'm close enough, is mixing in Christmas songs. Some are contemporary.
 
The grocery store I go to most was playing Hot AC music with Christmas lyrics, including a few traditional songs, as of yesterday. Last Saturday I seem to recall music that had nothing to do with Christmas.

I didn't hear Good Time Oldies play a single Christmas song, though after dark there might have been one. It's hard to tell with the nighttime signal and at the time neither AC station was playing anything worth hearing. I did hear one or two Christmas songs on the station last week, but I just didn't get lucky yesrerday.
 
vchimpanzee said:
The grocery store I go to most was playing Hot AC music with Christmas lyrics, including a few traditional songs, as of yesterday. Last Saturday I seem to recall music that had nothing to do with Christmas.
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Correction. I went to that store this morning and the music was oldies (NOT classic hits) with some Christmas songs. Apparently the individual stores in the chain can choose from different styles of music.
 
I have been very surprised with KKRB/Klamath Falls this year. Great, great Christmas station. They are one of the best soft rock stations in the country in terms of variety, and their holiday music this year was excellent. It's not every day that Michael Franks' holiday stuff is mixed in the playlist. I've loved his regular music, everything from "Popsicle Toes" to "Under the Sun". Also heard Alison Moyet's Coventry Carol the other day. She's popular back home in the UK, but very underrated here. In fact, KKRB has been BETTER than WQPW most of the time, and I thought 95.7 The Mix was one of the best holiday stations in the country.
If you like a smooth sound to the holiday soundtrack, try WNWV The Wave in Cleveland, they've been doing 72 hours of Christmas music this weekend.
 
Is anyone on iHeartRadio going to do Christmas music?

And by that I mean The Carpenters, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, The Ray Conniff Singers, Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams. None of today's artists.
 
The South Carolina board says Hot AC WMYI has gone all Christmas. This is not a mainstream AC that has gone more uptempo (although it started that way but went more in a CHR direction), so it is strange.
 
https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n36121

An Update Benztown is the firm offering stations Christmas playlists and thats been released until December 26th.

Radio imaging firm Benztown is offering its holly, jolly market-exclusive "Christmas in a Box" library to stations, free with a Benztown library subscription now through December 25. "Christmas in a Box" delivers a Santa sack full of fun and festive Christmas programming which includes over 5,000 tracks and programming that gives listeners bites of Christmas cheer.
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I found this posted on another thread https://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?713362-KOST-Goes-All-Christmas-Friday&goto=newpost . Actually, I'm in this group and I like Christmas music, but so far no radio format has succeeded in making me happy.

It's hard for most on this board to fathom because many of us are 55+ males and avid fans of particular stations or particular musical genres -- precisely to kind of people the all-Christmas format is not trying to reach, nor does it want to reach.
 
umfan said:
No, Radio has not moved it up. Radio, rather, has adapted to consumers and the general consensus that the Christmas season begins right after Halloween.
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Not here in Nashville. Thanksgiving week (if not Thanksgiving day itself) has become the consensus. They tried starting around Veterans' Day a couple of years ago, but that didn't work. Thanksgiving is early enough. Let's keep it that way.
 
umfan said:
Radio, rather, has adapted to consumers and the general consensus that the Christmas season begins right after Halloween.
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Not true. There is NO consensus that the masses want to hear Christmas music beginning November 1st. As we get closer to that magical day, more and more will tune in for that, but generally that happens after Thanksgiving Day with a gradual peak generally from December 10th onward. Might as well hear Halloween music in mid August or watch Peter Cottontail cartoons in January. Good grief!

I think this consensus stuff is blown way overboard sometimes.
 
firepoint525 said:
Not here in Nashville. Thanksgiving week (if not Thanksgiving day itself) has become the consensus. They tried starting around Veterans' Day a couple of years ago, but that didn't work. Thanksgiving is early enough. Let's keep it that way.
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Totally agree. As a kid, it has always stuck with me that once Santa passes Macy's in the Thanksgiving parade, is when the Christmas season begins and that's when I begin listening to music, decorating the home and getting into that festive mood. Amazingly, this has stuck with me since then. And it's an awesome tradition, not to mention the music I play on the 24th!

Sort of like watching the Wizard of Oz year after year.
 
oldies76 said:
Not true. There is NO consensus that the masses want to hear Christmas music beginning November 1st.
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Sure there is. We see it in the ratings. Stations get better ratings with Christmas music than their regular format. It doesn't matter when they start.

This is why they do it. It's not because the employees of these radio stations are so in love with Jingle Bells. They aren't.
 
oldies76 said:
Not true. There is NO consensus that the masses want to hear Christmas music beginning November 1st.
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Spotify can sure tell when Christmas interest starts.

"A new study from Spotify of when listeners begin streaming Christmas tunes finds Nov. 13 is the date in the United States and Canada when listeners start to get serious about all things Christmas—and once they get going, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” is the most streamed holiday tune."

(Inside Radio)

So, the end of the second week of November seems to be the "hot spot" in the cold season.
 
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