I heard my first Christmas song on the radio this morning, "Jingle Bells" - Point of Grace on one of Christian stations, Moody Radio Mid-south at 91.7 FM. It seems they beat both Mix 92.9 and 94 The Fish to the punch of playing Christmas songs this year. No, they didn't go all Christmas like the other two stations usually do, but I think November 4 is WAY TOO EARLY to be playing Christmas songs on the radio, especially since Thanksgiving is still over three and half weeks away. When will Mix 92.9 and 94 the Fish go all Christmas?
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Christmas Music 2013
- Thread starter jwk1979
- Start date
Here is what the Fish is saying, so far:
http://www.94fmthefish.net/UpcomingEvents/Continuous-Christmas-Music
Mix is still being a bit more cagey, for now.
http://www.94fmthefish.net/UpcomingEvents/Continuous-Christmas-Music
Mix is still being a bit more cagey, for now.
Usually Mix 92.9 and the Fish switch to All Christmas Music around the same time.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Christmas Music. In fact, I love Christmas Music and the Christmas season, but after hearing the same handful of Christmas songs over and over again on both Mix 92 and the Fish, I'm ready for Christmas season to be over with weeks before Christmas Day, itself.
Hear hear! If they would not play the same handful of songs for months on end, it would not be so bad. If I were still a dj, I would be going stir crazy by Christmas eve! (Unless I could just throw those same handful of songs into a computer, and walk away from it all and take a coffee break!)
I don't fully blame stations for "pulling the trigger" and going wall-to-wall on Christmas music, because there is simply no way that you can justify playing Bing Crosby and Miley Cyrus in the same music set. So it must be all or nothing for them.
If the Fish can hold out until November 28th (or whatever day it was) on playing Christmas music, that will be a late start for them!
November 28th is Thanksgiving Day. I know of several people that contacted stion management last year complaining about starting Christmas music so early. Maybe that is the reason they are waiting until Thanksgiving Day to start this year.
Only clue on Mix 92.9 so far. This was posted two years ago, on November 18th. They started up the Christmas music later that day. 3:00 p.m.-ish, I think. It was the Friday before Thanksgiving that year.
http://www.mix929.com/christmas-music-kickoff
http://www.mix929.com/christmas-music-kickoff
It seems they are having a contest this year with the Christmas music. The first caller to call after they hear the very first Christmas song all the way through between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm will win $500. Sounds like they will be playing bits of Christmas songs as teasers between now and when they do switch to all Christmas Muisc.
Again, the above link was posted two years ago, on November 18, 2011. Do not know (yet) what they are doing this year. Will keep you posted.
I worked before PC's played the music. Carted music with working start tones helped but you still had to "listen" to make sure the cart started. It was hard even following the music log or format (hot) clock not to repeat the same song (even with a different artist) in a 3 or 4 hour shift. The 7 to midnight or overnight shifts were really difficult especially at the small stations that I worked at that had turn tables or manual start CD players. You actually had to listen to at least the intro and endings of every song. One good thing about Christmas music on the radio stations I worked at: requests were played within an hour most of the time with any effort!
What you describe is almost NOT automation. Anything that requires that much attention and supervision, might as well go ahead and be live.
You must be a little older than me. I worked for a station that had an automated FM, reel-to-reel tapes, the cart carousels, the whole bit. Whenever it was programmed correctly, it would usually run well with a minimum of checking up on it. Only problem was that it just SOUNDED automated. It was the early '90s, and this setup was straight out of the '70s. Good thing that it (usually) required minimum supervision because we were running the AM live at the same time that we were responsible for whatever was going on over the FM station. (I could usually just look through the window to see if the reels were rolling, or the cart carousels rotating, or whatever.) The system NEEDED updating, but that would not happen until right after I left that station. Because of the reel-to-reel tapes, we had little real control over whatever song happened to be playing over the air at any given moment. There must have been enough variety on the tapes, because I never heard any concerns about rotation, or certain songs coming up too much, or anything like that. The Christmas music on the FM was probably better overall than what we played on the AM, but it was just your typical Christmas music, only it was on those reel-to-reel tapes.
You must be a little older than me. I worked for a station that had an automated FM, reel-to-reel tapes, the cart carousels, the whole bit. Whenever it was programmed correctly, it would usually run well with a minimum of checking up on it. Only problem was that it just SOUNDED automated. It was the early '90s, and this setup was straight out of the '70s. Good thing that it (usually) required minimum supervision because we were running the AM live at the same time that we were responsible for whatever was going on over the FM station. (I could usually just look through the window to see if the reels were rolling, or the cart carousels rotating, or whatever.) The system NEEDED updating, but that would not happen until right after I left that station. Because of the reel-to-reel tapes, we had little real control over whatever song happened to be playing over the air at any given moment. There must have been enough variety on the tapes, because I never heard any concerns about rotation, or certain songs coming up too much, or anything like that. The Christmas music on the FM was probably better overall than what we played on the AM, but it was just your typical Christmas music, only it was on those reel-to-reel tapes.
And so it begins!!! Clarksville's Classic Hits Eagle 94.3 is now all Christmas music as of today. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell the jocks who still lead into the commercial breaks as "Eagle 94.3 - the greatest hits of all time". I think they are voice tracked, so they all should be on the same imaging by week's end. I don't know if there is a format change around the corner but I do know there are a lot of 50ish year old men teed off now. I believe the only station geared toward women in Clarksville is Q108 who should have made the switch instead of Eagle.
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