Which station do you think will flip to Christmas Music and when???
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Christmas Music
- Thread starter BJSteigner
- Start date
I'm reminded of the Dennis the Menace one-panel cartoon, gotta be 30 years ago, on which he tells his little pal : 'Look, Joey! Christmas decorations! That means it's almost time for Thanksgiving!'
WLTW's ratings appear healthy and safe enough. It doesn't really matter which station does it first ..... WBBR, WBAI, WABC's new Oldies approach to inprovisation, WAWZ, WEPN : New York Metro listeners will decide that WLTW does it best, for better or worse.
WLTW's ratings appear healthy and safe enough. It doesn't really matter which station does it first ..... WBBR, WBAI, WABC's new Oldies approach to inprovisation, WAWZ, WEPN : New York Metro listeners will decide that WLTW does it best, for better or worse.
It's not a question of which radio station, since we know that it will be AC station WLTW; it's a question of when. Last year, WLTW flipped to Christmas music on November 13.
Over the last 20 years, among secular radio stations, Lite-FM has only had two challengers. One year WPLJ, when it was Hot AC, switched to all-Christmas music and one year Classic Hits WCBS-FM did it. I'm sure both stations see their numbers go down during the Holidays, when Lite-FM gets mega-ratings. But in both cases, a switch to Andy Williams and Nat King Cole didn't seem to matter. Each station got the same ratings it would have gotten if it had stayed with its usual format, maybe slightly better than if it had remained with its usual playlist. Each decided it wasn't worth the switch and only did the Christmas experiment for one year.
In other markets, there are often Christmas competitors. In Philadelphia, AC WBEB would compete with Classic Hits WOGL. In Detroit, AC WNIC would compete with Classic Hits WOMC. I believe in both cases the Classic HIts station doesn't flip anymore. In Philadelphia, that's because WBEB and WOGL are now co-owned by Audacy.
The only current Christmas battle I know in the Large Markets is Dallas (not counting Christian stations). Audacy Classic Hits KLUV competes with iHeart AC KDGE. In fact, it was Christmas music that kicked off the AC format on KDGE. In the 2000s, Dallas never had much success with the AC format till iHeart tried it on KDGE. (The call letters still refer to the previous Alternative Rock format, known as The Edge.) These days, both KLUV and KDGE are in or near the Top 5 during the rest of the year. They usually finish a strong #1 and #2 for the December and Holiday ratings.
In other markets, there are often Christmas competitors. In Philadelphia, AC WBEB would compete with Classic Hits WOGL. In Detroit, AC WNIC would compete with Classic Hits WOMC. I believe in both cases the Classic HIts station doesn't flip anymore. In Philadelphia, that's because WBEB and WOGL are now co-owned by Audacy.
The only current Christmas battle I know in the Large Markets is Dallas (not counting Christian stations). Audacy Classic Hits KLUV competes with iHeart AC KDGE. In fact, it was Christmas music that kicked off the AC format on KDGE. In the 2000s, Dallas never had much success with the AC format till iHeart tried it on KDGE. (The call letters still refer to the previous Alternative Rock format, known as The Edge.) These days, both KLUV and KDGE are in or near the Top 5 during the rest of the year. They usually finish a strong #1 and #2 for the December and Holiday ratings.
While I've resided in markets where a popular AC could be counted on to play all Christmas all the time for a few weeks around the holiday every year, and they carried the Christmas-themed version of Delilah's show, generally if a station in my current market goes "All Christmas" from around Thanksgiving through the actual holiday, it means they're preparing to change formats. Other than that, if no stations go all Christmas, normally one of the AC stations will insert a few Christmas songs per hour.
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If I'm not mistaken, KLUV has stopped doing all-Christmas since 2019.
You are correct. KLUV had previously been the big Christmas station in Dallas until KDGE decided to give it a go several years ago. The two stations fought it out for one or two years until KLUV gave in and stopped doing it on their main signal. I do believe that KLUV still plays Christmas music on one of their HD subchannels, though.
Funny...I listen to that station online and yes they already flipped to Christmas. But the station is OLDIES not CLASSIC HITS.
MTNProductions
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Last year, a few other stations including the Hudson Valley and Albany. Back in November, WKXPâs âLite-FMâ at 94.3 went all-Christmas, and then followed by WRNQâs âQ92â, and WTRYâs â98.3 TRYâ in Albany also went all-Christmas. By December, WROWâs âMagic 590/100.5â went all-Christmas a week before Christmas, and finally, WGNY-FMâs âFox Oldiesâ went all-Christmas from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day for two days, along with three classic Christmas Old Time Radio shows like radio adaptions of classic holiday films like âItâs A Wonderful Lifeâ and âMiracle on 34th Streetâ both from the âLux Radio Theaterâ, and âA Christmas Carolâ from the âMercury Theater of the Airâ with Orson Welles.
As of this year, WGHQâs new âMagic 92.5/920â in Kingston will be the first station to go all-Christmas. Weâll find out.
WNEW HD2 just flipped to Christmas Music.
Lite usually flips a week before Thanksgiving. Either the 12th or the 19th
I was expecting WLTW to make the flip this past Friday, but to my surprise they didn't which likely means it won't happen till the 19th. A lot of the bigger iHeart stations have been flipping earlier in recent years, including WLTW for the past 2 years. Interesting to see them revert back to (probably) switching the Friday before Thanksgiving.
Thatâs when I bet $1000000 on that, then buy the station on Halloween and flip it to Christmas music. Profit $100 million
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