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T-Minus 7 Days and Counting!

J

Joseph_Gallant

As I write this, it's October 25th, meaning that we're just seven days from the beginning of the traditional All-Christmas wave of temporary format changes, usually at Adult Contemporary stations (which is why I'm starting this thread on this board).

Over most of the past decade, only about a half-dozen stations would do so as early as November 1st; last year, that number was about twelve stations on that date.

Given that retailers (the prime source of advertising revenues for music-formatted stations) had a very disappointing back-to-school shopping season, there is probably much fear in that industry about a sub-par Christmas shopping season, no doubt stoked by the Washington partial shutdown and the drama about the Federal debt ceiling.

What does the preceding paragraph have to do with radio stations going All-Christmas?? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I think that paragraph has everything to do with why we may hear more stations going All-Christmas earlier than usual. Retailers and their ad agencies may well pressure radio stations to play more Christmas music, and to go All-Christmas earlier.

And given how much music radio depends on retailers for ad revenues, they may succumb to the pressure.

Personally, I don't think radio stations should even play Christmas music until December 1st, and then, just one Christmas song every third hour through December 10th; then one Christmas song every other hour from December 11th through 17th; then one Christmas song an hour from December 18th through 12 Noon on Christmas Eve; and finally All-Christmas for 36 hours from 12 Noon December 24th through 12 Midnight December 25th.

The idea is that people would be "eased" into the Season and not be hit with it by a 2-by-4.

But while I don't see more stations going All-Christmas this year, I do expect a lot more stations will start much earlier than in the past. In fact, I suspect we'll see several dozen flips next Friday (November 1st).

By the way, it seems that 100000 Watts.com is defunct, but it's staff has moved over to Inside Radio.com. Maybe they will have the updated list of All-Christmas stations that 100000 Watts.com previously had.
 
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I think Christmas music should be rolled out, nationwide, as soon as Santa Claus hits the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. If not, 12:01AM (local time) on Black Friday. Before Thanksgiving is too early for Jingle Bells and White Christmas.

-crainbebo
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
As I write this, it's October 25th, meaning that we're just seven days from the beginning of the traditional All-Christmas wave of temporary format changes, usually at Adult Contemporary stations (which is why I'm starting this thread on this board).

Over most of the past decade, only about a half-dozen stations would do so as early as November 1st; last year, that number was about twelve stations on that date.

Given that retailers (the prime source of advertising revenues for music-formatted stations) had a very disappointing back-to-school shopping season, there is probably much fear in that industry about a sub-par Christmas shopping season, no doubt stoked by the Washington partial shutdown and the drama about the Federal debt ceiling.

What does the preceding paragraph have to do with radio stations going All-Christmas?? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I think that paragraph has everything to do with why we may hear more stations going All-Christmas earlier than usual. Retailers and their ad agencies may well pressure radio stations to play more Christmas music, and to go All-Christmas earlier.

And given how much music radio depends on retailers for ad revenues, they may succumb to the pressure.

Personally, I don't think radio stations should even play Christmas music until December 1st, and then, just one Christmas song every third hour through December 10th; then one Christmas song every other hour from December 11th through 17th; then one Christmas song an hour from December 18th through 12 Noon on Christmas Eve; and finally All-Christmas for 36 hours from 12 Noon December 24th through 12 Midnight December 25th.

The idea is that people would be "eased" into the Season and not be hit with it by a 2-by-4.

But while I don't see more stations going All-Christmas this year, I do expect a lot more stations will start much earlier than in the past. In fact, I suspect we'll see several dozen flips next Friday (November 1st).

By the way, it seems that 100000 Watts.com is defunct, but it's staff has moved over to Inside Radio.com. Maybe they will have the updated list of All-Christmas stations that 100000 Watts.com previously had.
Click to expand...


Joseph: There's no conspiracy. Stations that go all-Christmas double and in some cases triple their ratings for two straight months. The audience votes with their tuners.
 
Micheal:

I agree that most stations that go all-Christmas do so because of increased ratings, but I think this year, many will start much earlier than in the past (and that's why I think there may be dozens of flips this Friday, November 1st) because of pressure from retail advertisers but maybe also because some stations may think that starting earlier could mean a longer period of increased listening.
 
Let's be fair here. The only reason that all-Christmas stations do so "well" in the ratings is because nearly all of them have the entire market to themselves. No competition whatsoever.

We don't typically see this happening on stations of any other format (hence AC stations having it all to themselves). So maybe all of the stations in other formats don't WANT Christmas advertising.

At any rate, I haven't seen the usual questions about Christmas moo-zak on Mix 92.9's Facebook page yet, but those questions will probably ramp up after Halloween.

It's going to be 80 degrees in Nashville this week. Too soon to start thinking about Christmas.
 
firepoint525 said:
It's going to be 80 degrees in Nashville this week. Too soon to start thinking about Christmas.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mind if it was 80- degrees ON Christmas. That wouldn't stop my enjoyment of the music.

What does is starting too soon. Joseph Gallant said once every three hours starting December 1. I would be open to that as early as mid-November, and every hour by Thanksgiving. I think I'd be ready for all-Christmas two weeks away. But it has to be all traditional. Nothing from after 1960, or if there is anything newer, it has to be one of those songs already in existence back then and recorded by someone who is faithful to the old style.

At least I will be able to listen to AC radio soon. How long I stick with it is another matter. Sometimes I can go five songs without having to change. With sunset coming early, it's hard to find something to listen to.
 
I had written: said:
By the way, it seems that 100000 Watts.com is defunct, but it's staff has moved over to Inside Radio.com. Maybe they will have the updated list of All-Christmas stations that 100000 Watts.com previously had.
Click to expand...

Inside Radio has renamed the former 100000Watts.com Station Intel.com.

Their homepage is http://www.stationintel.com/default.aspx .

And yes, they do have a link to a list of all-Christmas stations, but unlike the old 100000 Watts.com, where non-subscribers could access it, you need an account with Station Intel to access it (which I don't have). Maybe they'll make the list available to non-subscribers during the Holiday season, as it's predecessor website did.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Inside Radio has renamed the former 100000Watts.com Station Intel.com.

Their homepage is http://www.stationintel.com/default.aspx .

And yes, they do have a link to a list of all-Christmas stations, but unlike the old 100000 Watts.com, where non-subscribers could access it, you need an account with Station Intel to access it (which I don't have). Maybe they'll make the list available to non-subscribers during the Holiday season, as it's predecessor website did.
Click to expand...
I used to go that site for information, but years ago they started charging for access. This isn't recent, to my knowledge, uless they reversed themselves.

Eventually the search engine at my county library started providing radio station information whenever we typed in call letters. Soon after that, Wikipedia became the usual first result of a call letter search. Wikipedia has made an effort to get all stations with call letters listed. The quality of articles varies. Black radio stations outside major markets, I have noticed, sometimes end up being a complete mess.

Back on topic: Of course, Wikipedia won't give current information if all-Christmas is a temporary thing.
 
103.7 KVIL has been doing the annual Christmas music tradition for years. With the station's recent retooling of it's AC format to the hits of the 90s to right now, the said all-Christmas tradition is hanging in the balance.
 
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