Besides Star 102.5 and 96.1 The Breeze…do any other Buffalo stations typically flip to All-Christmas music post Halloween? (Including Canadian stations throwing a signal into Buffalo area)
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Christmas Music
- Thread starter BobBarnett
- Start date
I do not believe so.
STAR puts as little effort in their xmas presentation as possible. They take a whole computer filled with songs and let them play where every they play. No updates, creativity, no thought.
NO dayparting, no tempo thought, total era clumping, no new imaging,
The best who I ever saw programming a real Christmas presentation was Ken Johnson in the 1986-1996 when I was at YRK. That man would be there all night making every single song, tempo, sound quality was nothing but perfect.
I am confident that you'll do the same Bob. That's what make GREAT PD's stand out from a person just calling it in.
STAR puts as little effort in their xmas presentation as possible. They take a whole computer filled with songs and let them play where every they play. No updates, creativity, no thought.
NO dayparting, no tempo thought, total era clumping, no new imaging,
The best who I ever saw programming a real Christmas presentation was Ken Johnson in the 1986-1996 when I was at YRK. That man would be there all night making every single song, tempo, sound quality was nothing but perfect.
I am confident that you'll do the same Bob. That's what make GREAT PD's stand out from a person just calling it in.
Happily, I listen to so little OTA radio anymore that I won't have to do my traditional restting of presets during Nov-Dec to avoid the way-too-early x-mas music.,
Star 102.5 flipped to Christmas music on Nov. 1
The switch can be heard Right here. Last song before the switch was take my name by parmalee.
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No surprise here. They have been flipping to Xmas Muzak right after Halloween for several years.
This just shows their lack of fresh ideas. The regular format is totally disposable. STAR no longer gets any ratings boost from 2 months of Xmas programming. Some stations in PPM markets see big ratings gains, but it's just an exercise in futility for STAR. Whatever air staff they have left could take 2 months off and nobody would notice...
I honestly had them pegged to do it right after Election Day. Anyway, they're off my car presets for now, replaced by CHUM 104.5 .
Now start the clock on how long it takes for 96.1 the Breeze to respond. Or, across the border, CHFI in Toronto...Move 105.7 in St. Catharines, etc. to do the same.
Exactly. There's a right way to do Christmas music, and then there's the Star 102.5 way: like an old apple ipod on shuffle.
It’s like Audacy puts no effort on star 102.5. Two on air personalities and a playlist on shuffle that’s it
Their ratings are good year round though
The ratings are not good all year long. They are disgusting for a 100 watt station. Earlier this year WECK beat them 12plus.
They have declined from a 7 share station to the mid 4s at best. Their revenue is in the tank.
Their unit rates have plunged about 60%. You may as well play an organized jukebox. Name one person who gets excited about 102.5. People still call it q102.
It makes zero difference for this community
They have declined from a 7 share station to the mid 4s at best. Their revenue is in the tank.
Their unit rates have plunged about 60%. You may as well play an organized jukebox. Name one person who gets excited about 102.5. People still call it q102.
It makes zero difference for this community
Does CHFI reach Buffalo at all? It is to my understanding that they will be going all Christmas Monday November 14th.
Yes 98.1 comes in well to the North and South of downtown Buffalo. We receive everything off CN tower just not as good as is used to be due to local translators on the adjacent channels. Of course more Christmas music from more stations all playing the same songs does not make it better 😆
For future reference, here are the Toronto radio signals that come into metro Buffalo(with varying levels of success)off the CN Tower:
-CJRT/91.1(Jazz FM 91)
-CBL/94.1(CBC Radio 2)
-CHBM/97.3(boom 97.3)
-CHFI
-CKFM/99.9(99.9 Virgin Radio)
-CHIN/100.7
-CFNY/102.1(102.1 the Edge)
-CHUM/104.5
-CILQ/107.1(Q107)
I've heard the adage 'first in wins' when it comes to Christmas music a lot of the time, but IMO flipping just after Halloween is too soon. I flip our AC station (Mix 98.5 in the Finger Lakes) the day after Thanksgiving, and we retooled our playlist a couple of years ago to play the favorite songs, older and current, with care and attention to artist separation/title separation/tempo...and freshened the imaging.
I like your point, but I'm willing to add that it also depends on the market and if, maybe the station can sponsor a local Santa Claus parade.
Now there's an excellent opportunity to go all Christmas...AND be the official Christmas station of a particular market all in one breath!
I prefer stations that ramp up xmas slowly into the playlist. 1 or 2 per hour, then building up to holiday time. Have a station near me that does that and much prefer it over the sudden flip to all Christmas. I wish they would ramp down similarly over the week or two after Christmas rather than just pull the plug completely on the 26th but that's me.
Speaking of 102.5 I still miss "Buffalo's most powerful station, Rock 102".
My favorite Christmas music set is my tape of WBZ from Christmas eve 1993 in AM stereo playing a pretty well curated selection with amazing sound quality (recorded after dark in Lockport NY). I play that at least once or twice a season.
Speaking of 102.5 I still miss "Buffalo's most powerful station, Rock 102".
My favorite Christmas music set is my tape of WBZ from Christmas eve 1993 in AM stereo playing a pretty well curated selection with amazing sound quality (recorded after dark in Lockport NY). I play that at least once or twice a season.
Because it’s been so long since I was in Southern Ontario/WNY, how is reception from the FCP signals in Buffalo?
Not great. CJBC-FM 90.3 and CBLA 99.1 get in pretty well. CKIS 92.5 fights with WBEE. CIND 88.1 and CIUT 89.5 are usable as far south as Grand Island in a car. The rest are all lower power and/or on adjacent or even co-channel to Buffalo and not really usable.
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