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Christmas music on different formats

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Living in the Seattle area one thing that struck me this Christmas is how concentrated Christmas music is on certain formats. Of course there are multiple Christmas only stations. Top 40 and classic rock stations only started sprinkling in Christmas music in the last. And multiple formats (active rock, alternative, hip-hop) didn't air any at all, at least before Christmas Eve. (I don't listen to country radio so I don't know what they did.) Did you notice this in your market? Which formats shunned Christmas music? And does it seem many formats have cut down on their Christmas songs in the last few years?
 
Right now in Yakima-Tri Cities, some stations are sprinkling, some are all Xmas, and some are normal as of 9PM Christmas Eve.
99.1 KUJ (Top 40) is all Christmas today and tomorrow. All of the country stations (minus 94.9 KIOK) are 100% Christmas. I suspect KMPS Seattle is doing their Christmas on Music Row special again. We don't get that special in eastern Washington.
KMTT (when they were AAA) swapped between sprinkling in Christmas songs, and going 100% Christmas on 12/24 and 12/25.
 
In Springfield, Mass the following stations are all Christmas today:

93.1 WHYN-FM Hot AC - IHeart
94.7 WMAS-FM AC - Cumulus (They are the All Christmas Station in Springfield)
100.9 WRNX Country - IHeart
560 WHYN News/Talk - Iheart
1250 WARE Oldies - Independently Owned
1490 WACM Oldies - Red Wolf Broadcasting *They also aired some specialty Christmas programming from The 1940s including It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Bob Hope, Abbott & Costello, and Burns & Allen.*

Non-Christmas:
99.3 WLZR - Rock - Saga Communications
102.1 WAQY - Classic Rock - Saga Communications
106.3 WEIB - JAZZ - Independently Owned
730 WACE - Religious
1270 WSPR - Spanish - Red Wolf Broadcasting
1450 WHLL - Sports Talk - Cumulus
 
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In Connecticut these stations are all Christmas Today (Could be others but not all stations can be picked-up state-wide):

92.5 WWYZ Country - IHeart
96.5 WTIC-FM Hot AC - CBS
100.5 WRCH AC - CBS (They are the all-Christmas Station in the Hartford Market)
105.9 WHCN Variety Hits - IHeart
106.5 WBMW AC - Red Wolf Broadcasting (They are the all-Christmas Station in the New London Market)
107.9 WEBE AC - Cumulus
600 WICC Talk/Oldies - Cumulus
990 WXCT Oldies - Red Wolf Broadcasting *They also aired some specialty Christmas programming from The 1940s including It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Bob Hope, Abbott & Costello, and Burns & Allen.*
1080 WTIC News/Talk - CBS
1150 WMRD Talk/Variety - Don DeCesare
1320 WATR Talk/Oldies - The Gilmore Family
1420 WLIS Talk/Variety - Don DeCesare (Simulcasts WMRD)

Some of the non-Christmas Stations in Connecticut:
93.7 WZMX Hip-Hop CBS
95.7 WKSS CHR - IHeart
BOMBA-FM Spanish - Red Wolf Broadcasting (Based at 104.1 HD2 and heard on 5 translators state-wide)
99.1 WPLR Classic Rock - Connoisseur Media
101.3 WKCI CHR - IHeart
102.9 WDRC-FM Classic Rock - Connoisseur Media
104.1 WMRQ Modern Rock - Red Wolf Broadcasting
840 WRYM Spanish - 840 Broadcasting Company
910 WLAT Spanish - Gois Broadcasting
960 WELI News/Talk IHeart
1120 WPRX Spanish - Nievasquez Productions
1230 WNEZ Spanish - Gois Broadcasting
1290 K-LOVE
1410 WPOP - NewsTalk IHeart
The Talk of Connecticut - Connoisseur Media 1360, 610, 1240, and 1470.
 
Here in Jackson, MS, classic hits 105.1 The River has been all-Christmas since early November. Last night, both FM talk stations, WFMN (part of the SuperTalk Mississippi network) and WYAB, went all-Christmas and will do so likely through midnight. Also last night, AC Mix 98.7 and urban AC Kixie 107 went all-Christmas until about noon today.

All of the country stations had some kind of special Christmas programming. Miss 103 had a program with Bob Kingsley.
 
golden eagles97 said:
Miss 103 had a program with Bob Kingsley.
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That reminds me...a number of syndicators, large and small, offer 24 hour Christmas formats for stations to carry. One I know is sponsored by the US Air Force. So stations can simply grab any of these pre-programmed pre-hosted formats and run non-stop Christmas music, and don't have to do the work themselves. Although there usually is some form of barter agreement.
 
I forgot, there's an urban AC in nearby Carthage, MS, that's gone all-Christmas the last couple of years. What's odd about it is it's not all urban songs.
 
golden eagles97 said:
I forgot, there's an urban AC in nearby Carthage, MS, that's gone all-Christmas the last couple of years. What's odd about it is it's not all urban songs.
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Not all that odd at all. Many stations cross format borders to play familiar, recognizable Christmas music.

There isn't any station anywhere which still has a format which would include Bing Crosby, yet look how widespread "White Christmas" by that crooner is every year. It even airs on our Jack station here in L.A., and they're 80s/90s Modern Rock.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Not all that odd at all. Many stations cross format borders to play familiar, recognizable Christmas music.

There isn't any station anywhere which still has a format which would include Bing Crosby, yet look how widespread "White Christmas" by that crooner is every year. It even airs on our Jack station here in L.A., and they're 80s/90s Modern Rock.
Click to expand...

Doesn't "True Love" still get played on the Adult Standards stations?
 
K.M. Richards said:
There isn't any station anywhere which still has a format which would include Bing Crosby, yet look how widespread "White Christmas" by that crooner is every year.
Click to expand...

This is true. The two Country Stations I mentioned in my 2 posts above - Country 92.5 in Hartford, CT and KIX 100.9 in Springfield, MA both played that one. And both stations played a mix of songs by the "traditional" artists along with remakes done by Country Artists. Of course both are owned by I-Heart.
 
Local country station WTCM played Please Come Home for Christmas by the Eagles several times this holiday season. Last night I heard 92.1 WLTU and 92.3 WJMQ (both country stations) with a feed playing Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg
 
I've heard country stations play the Eagles version of "Please Come a Home For Christmas". Since some Eagles music is borderline country, doesn't feel out of place on country radio.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Not all that odd at all. Many stations cross format borders to play familiar, recognizable Christmas music.

There isn't any station anywhere which still has a format which would include Bing Crosby, yet look how widespread "White Christmas" by that crooner is every year. It even airs on our Jack station here in L.A., and they're 80s/90s Modern Rock.
Click to expand...

Just about all R&B stations I've heard won't play a Christmas song that's out of format.
 
I can agree on country. KDBL and KXDD aired the usual country Xmas stuff...like "Til' Santa's Gone (Milk & Cookies)" Clint Black, but also aired Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Andy Williams, etc.
The opposite happened on a bunch of the ACs/Classic Hits stations that usually have all-Christmas formats. Vince Gill's Christmas stuff played on KARY-100.9 Grandview (classic hits) during Christmas. I've also heard KRWM Seattle (AC) air "Jingle Bell Rock" by Rascal Flatts.
 
WASL 100.1 Jack FM in Dyersburg, TN played Christmas music that largely fit the Jack format and called it A Jacked Up Christmas on Christmas Eve night, but Christmas morning they had switched back to the regular Jack format. I thought the Christmas mix was great but they didn't run it long enough. :confused:
 
semoochie said:
Doesn't "True Love" still get played on the Adult Standards stations?
Click to expand...
If it's the song I'm thinking of, I've heard it on "America's Best Music" but not lately.

WAVO Charlotte NC may still play Bing. They do a lot of big band music you would think can't be heard now. They raise money from listeners to pay royalties.
 
WZKY Albemarle NC is oldies (not to be confused with classic hits) but when they went all Christmas last week they played a lot of country songs that would not be considered crossover, or familiar.
 
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