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Should WSB-FM Go All-Christmas in 2019?

G

Gregg.

Atlanta is now the only Top 30 market without an all-Christmas station (not counting Puerto Rico and not counting religious stations). Miami used to be the other big market with no all-Christmas station. But this year, Miami Mainstream AC WLYF went all-Christmas and finished first in the Holiday book. (WLYF once was #1 most books of the year but lately it's been behind Soft AC WFEZ, which doesn't go all-Christmas.)

WSB-FM plays plenty of Christmas music leading up to Dec. 25. But that probably isn't enough for those seeking all Christmas music. WFSH, a Christian Contemporary station owned by Salem, not only beat WSB and its FM simulcast WSBB, it did it by more than two points. WSB-FM came in at #5.

OK, maybe you'll say WSB-FM is better off not going with all holiday music. But co-owned WSB and WSBB dropped from the 8s in November to the 7s in December to the 6s in the Holiday book. So maybe WSB-FM should take one for the team. Go All-Christmas if only to block WFSH from becoming Atlanta's #1 station in the Holiday book, displacing WSB/WSBB.

As others have said, WFSH scales back on Christian artists during the holidays, trying to appeal to a wider range of listeners. (That's a pun... The Fish scales back. Ha!) WFSH plays plenty of Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams between the Mercy Me and Jars of Clay. But it still has the trappings of a Christian station in its promos and DJ patter. I'm sure if WSB-FM went all-Christmas, it would stop WFSH from being the #1 station in Atlanta during the holidays. Either WSB-FM or WSB/WSBB would likely be the #1 station in the Holiday book, keeping a Cox station in the top spot, in all 13 books of the year.
 
I expressed an opinion about this in the ratings thread. Here's what I wrote:

A few years ago, B98.5 was going all Christmas. Although December ratings soared, many regular listeners were leaving when the Christmas music started and not coming back in January. As a result, B98.5 decided to do a partial Christmas format, and it had been working for them. The January numbers rebounded strongly.

A big reason B98.5 was getting away with a partial Christmas format was no other station except The Fish was doing all Christmas music, and The Fish was doing it with a religious-oriented playlist. Listeners wanting pop Christmas tunes had no place to go except B98.5.

This past Christmas, however, The Fish went all Christmas with a more mainstream playlist and got spectacular ratings even with its move-in signal, while B98.5 showed no significant ratings bump. I wonder whether B98.5 is rethinking their strategy for next Christmas.
 
I have a question. Are national agencies willing to book flights on all Christmas Formats on a station that hasn’t done it before? The Fish has a track record of success rating wise so business that needs Christmas business know what to expect. Say you are (just for example I am not making any predictions) 98.5, Star 94 or 106.7 using all Christmas for a bridge to a flip. Would the existing agency business stay with you since you are not what the last ratings say you are? How would you “find” agencies that have clients that buy Christmas? Would this be a revenue "shot in the arm"? My personal experience Christmas buys are usually booked between the week before Halloween and the second or third week of Nov. If it were a flip I am sure the air staff would find out before you can get them off the air.
 
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secondchoice said:
I have a question. Are national agencies willing to book flights on all Christmas Formats on a station that hasn’t done it before? The Fish has a track record of success rating wise so business that needs Christmas business know what to expect. Say you are (just for example I am not making any predictions) 98.5, Star 94 or 106.7 using all Christmas for a bridge to a flip. Would the existing agency business stay with you since you are not what the last ratings say you are? How would you “find” agencies that have clients that buy Christmas? Would this be a revenue "shot in the arm"? My personal experience Christmas buys are usually booked between the week before Halloween and the second or third week of Nov. If it were a flip I am sure the air staff would find out before you can get them off the air.
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It's the media buyer's responsibility to best estimate the ratings. Based on when the station was doing an all-Christmas format, I would have no misgivings of placing ads on B98.5 at a reasonable premium if they were planning a totally Christmas format. I doubt many buyers would place spots on a station whose ratings were so low that it was planning a post-Christmas flip, even with Christmas music unless it was virtually giving away spots.
 
Gregg. said:
Atlanta is now the only Top 30 market without an all-Christmas station (not counting Puerto Rico and not counting religious stations).
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I really disagree with this statement. "Fish" isn't exactly a "religious" station. It plays Contemporary Christian. It's pretty much pop, but with a non-secular stand. It's not non-commercial and it's not in the 88.1-91.9 part of the FM band. Although I'm not in the market to actually listen for any length of time, I don't hear them "preaching" on the air.

So, they take serious advantage of Christmas music at Christmastime. I was told by a friend that, this year, they even played more non-Christian Christmas music. It doesn't get any better for them and, at this point, they are the heritage Christmas station.

They are doing it right. Because of the Christmas music, they get more people to sample them and they likely get greater listening.
 
AMRocks said:
I really disagree with this statement. "Fish" isn't exactly a "religious" station. It plays Contemporary Christian. It's pretty much pop, but with a non-secular stand. It's not non-commercial and it's not in the 88.1-91.9 part of the FM band. Although I'm not in the market to actually listen for any length of time, I don't hear them "preaching" on the air.

So, they take serious advantage of Christmas music at Christmastime. I was told by a friend that, this year, they even played more non-Christian Christmas music. It doesn't get any better for them and, at this point, they are the heritage Christmas station.

They are doing it right. Because of the Christmas music, they get more people to sample them and they likely get greater listening.
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That's really a new development this year. The Fish is notorious for having a tiny, tight playlist (my gosh, how many Creed songs can one hear?) and up until this year even their Christmas playlist was small and repetitive.
 
Are Contemporary Christian stations "Religious" stations? Well, maybe to someone expecting preaching or instruction, they are not. But I think to most people, they are. Apart from Christmas, aren't all artists heard on WFSH and similar stations, Christian artists? Aren't all the songs about religious faith?

I remember when Pat Robertson started several Christian Contemporary stations in the 1980s. As far as I know, they were the first in the format, to sort of sound like an AC but playing mostly contemporary sounding Christian artists. His stations played about 25% secular music by people like Lionel Richie and Billy Joel. Today's Christian Contemporary station doesn't do that. It's exclusively Christian artists singing about their religious faith. Maybe on rare occasion, you'd hear a crossover hit from a Christian artist such as Amy Grant. But I'm not sure if that happens anymore.

So to me, that's a religious station.
 
Gregg. said:
Are Contemporary Christian stations "Religious" stations?
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Fair question. I took a look at their "recently played," and here's what I saw:

10:43 pmIN CHRIST ALONE PASSION-KRISTIAN STANFIL
10:40 pmEVEN THEN MICAH TYLER
10:34 pmOVERCOMER MANDISA
10:30 pmSAME POWER JEREMY CAMP
10:22 pmSURVIVOR ZACH WILLIAMS
10:18 pmONLY JESUS CASTING CROWNS
10:13 pmCRY OUT TO JESUS THIRD DAY
10:08 pmWHEN WE PRAY TAUREN WELLS
10:02 pmGOD OF THIS CITY CHRIS TOMLIN
9:59 pmYOU CAN BUILDING 429
9:46 pmNEVER BEEN A MOMENT MICAH TYLER
9:40 pmWHO YOU SAY I AM HILLSONG WORSHIP
9:37 pmWHAT A FRIEND MATT MAHER
9:32 pmGOD IS NOT DEAD (LIKE A LION) NEWSBOYS

I don't see any secular music. Lots of Jesus and God songs.
 
Fish PD Mike Blakemore insisted to me that the playlist was not any more mainstream in 2018 as it was in previous years. I'd have to study that to know for sure.
 
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