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Christmas Day, WMJI

J

johnbasalla

I spent much of the day at a relative's house. There, I heard WMJI, non-stop from 1:20 pm until 6:00pm. Their Christmas music turned out to be good background music. During that time, we heard "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee twice. There were other songs that we heard more than once, but not by the same artist. For example, "Jingle Bell Rock. We heard "Holly Jolly Christmas, first by the original hit maker of that song, Burl Ives, and later, an inferior version by someone else.
I thought about what might, or might not, have happened if some "alternative", particularly, relatively new (21st century) Christmas tunes, would have been aired.

It was almost wall-to-wall music, prompting one person at the party to ask if this was radio or a CD. WMJI aired a few sweeps, and ads were limited to a few quick sweep-like announcements. Not being able to hear everything clearly through the kitchen table-talk I, often, didn't know if I heard a sponsorship or not.

Missing were some tried-and-true Christmas classics. I didn't hear "The Little Drummer Boy" by The Harry Simeone Chorale, a Christmastime must in decades past. Also, no version of "Silent Night - Holy Night" in any version. The double-whammy of secularism and a faster-paced society may have taken care of that (Too bad. Too bad.).
There was no Alvin & The Chipmunks with their "Christmas Song" nor one I would have really loved to hear, "Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen. There was no "I Believe In Father Christmas" by Greg Lake and the more recent "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, (originally credited to the Metal band Savatage). this list could go on.

There are some Christmas recordings that, imho, no one else but the original hit artist should be, or have been, recorded. These include, but aren't necessarily limited to:

"Jingle Bell Rock" by BOBBY HELMS
"Holly Jolly Christmas" by BURL IVES
"I Believe In Father Christmas" by GREG LAKE
"Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" by BRENDA LEE
"Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" by JOHN & YOKO/THE PLASTIC ONO BAND with the Harlem Community Choir
 
johnbasalla said:
I spent much of the day at a relative's house. There, I heard WMJI, non-stop from 1:20 pm until 6:00pm. Their Christmas music turned out to be good background music. During that time, we heard "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee twice. There were other songs that we heard more than once, but not by the same artist. For example, "Jingle Bell Rock. We heard "Holly Jolly Christmas, first by the original hit maker of that song, Burl Ives, and later, an inferior version by someone else.
I thought about what might, or might not, have happened if some "alternative", particularly, relatively new (21st century) Christmas tunes, would have been aired.

It was almost wall-to-wall music, prompting one person at the party to ask if this was radio or a CD. WMJI aired a few sweeps, and ads were limited to a few quick sweep-like announcements. Not being able to hear everything clearly through the kitchen table-talk I, often, didn't know if I heard a sponsorship or not.

Missing were some tried-and-true Christmas classics. I didn't hear "The Little Drummer Boy" by The Harry Simeone Chorale, a Christmastime must in decades past. Also, no version of "Silent Night - Holy Night" in any version. The double-whammy of secularism and a faster-paced society may have taken care of that (Too bad. Too bad.).
There was no Alvin & The Chipmunks with their "Christmas Song" nor one I would have really loved to hear, "Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen. There was no "I Believe In Father Christmas" by Greg Lake and the more recent "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, (originally credited to the Metal band Savatage). this list could go on.
Click to expand...

--Not unusual for you to hear some Christmas songs by the same artist twice over 4.5 hours. Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" is among the most popular holiday hits, even to this day. That's a song that gets played four times a day or more on Christmas stations.

--There are almost no 21st Century songs because they would not likely trigger memories of Christmas when you were a kid. People ask why stations keep playing Sinatra, Crosby, Carpenters, etc. When we were young, we weren't in control of the music played at family gatherings, our parents or grandparents were. So these are the songs imprinted in our memories, even if they date from the 1950s, 60s or 70s.

--You heard an inferior version of "Holly Jolly Christmas." Most stations play several versions from people like Michael Bublé and Johnny Mathis, as well as Oscar-winner Burl Ives. With the all-Christmas format, the playlist includes multiple versions of popular songs, even if we think the original is the best.

--Many stations play limited or no commercials from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Hopefully, they've sold a lot of spots for the shopping season and can give it a rest for a day and a half.

--I'm surprised you noticed WMJI playing fewer traditional songs. It's owned by iHeart. While not all iHeart stations have the same Christmas playlist, many do. I've noticed WLTW NYC does not shy away from playing older artists back to back or playing religious songs mixed with secular. I heard Lite-FM play the "Hallelujah Chorus" by the Boston Pops Orchestra on Christmas Eve. Religious songs from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and others are part of the mix. As for "Little Drummer Boy," WLTW plays Harry Simone's version as well as Anne Murray and others.

--Christmas stations must be careful about novelty songs. WLTW never plays "Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer" because it sort of mocks Christmas. It does play "Snoopy's Christmas" and "The Chipmunk Song" on occasion. On the other hand, "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" is heard frequently because it's part of a popular children's TV special that runs every year.

.
 
Gregg. said:
--Not unusual for you to hear some Christmas songs by the same artist twice over 4.5 hours. Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" is among the most popular holiday hits, even to this day. That's a song that gets played four times a day or more on Christmas stations.

--There are almost no 21st Century songs because they would not likely trigger memories of Christmas when you were a kid. People ask why stations keep playing Sinatra, Crosby, Carpenters, etc. When we were young, we weren't in control of the music played at family gatherings, our parents or grandparents were. So these are the songs imprinted in our memories, even if they date from the 1950s, 60s or 70s.

--You heard an inferior version of "Holly Jolly Christmas." Most stations play several versions from people like Michael Bublé and Johnny Mathis, as well as Oscar-winner Burl Ives. With the all-Christmas format, the playlist includes multiple versions of popular songs, even if we think the original is the best.

--Many stations play limited or no commercials from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Hopefully, they've sold a lot of spots for the shopping season and can give it a rest for a day and a half.

--I'm surprised you noticed WMJI playing fewer traditional songs. It's owned by iHeart. While not all iHeart stations have the same Christmas playlist, many do. I've noticed WLTW NYC does not shy away from playing older artists back to back or playing religious songs mixed with secular. I heard Lite-FM play the "Hallelujah Chorus" by the Boston Pops Orchestra on Christmas Eve. Religious songs from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and others are part of the mix. As for "Little Drummer Boy," WLTW plays Harry Simone's version as well as Anne Murray and others.

--Christmas stations must be careful about novelty songs. WLTW never plays "Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer" because it sort of mocks Christmas. It does play "Snoopy's Christmas" and "The Chipmunk Song" on occasion. On the other hand, "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" is heard frequently because it's part of a popular children's TV special that runs every year.

.
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The key is that Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" was the ONLY song by the same artist that we heard. We did hear a version of the "Grinch" song. No Grandma's getting killed by reindeers this time. Anyway, the original version, released on a small label, even nationally, is better than the later version on Epic records where Elmo hams things up too much which, actually, makes the song less funny.
 
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And here's what the original was called in Canada [they didn't get permission to use "Snoopy" or "The Red Baron" from Schultz & UFS so they got sued over it. Eventually they got permission but had to send all the revenue to UFS-United Features Syndicate] After that, Schultz gave them permission to use Snoopy. They probably figured they may get sued so they released it in Canada with the different title. If it wasn't for the American version being a hit, there probably would be no "Snoopy's Christmas"


And in 2006, they released this:


Pretty sure it's not all of the original Guardsman since one of them died in 1976 and the last single they released was in 2011 called "Alive and Well"

And that's why I prefer listening to the original stuff prior to 1970 which was when the original group broke up.
 
I alternated between WDOK and WMJI over the last several days. I did hear Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer and Christmas Don't Be Late (by the Chimunks) a few times on WDOK. Notably missing on both stations (unless I missed them when I wasn't listening) were Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow by Vaugh Monroe, Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt, Here Comes Santa Claus by Gene Autry, Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys, Snoopy's Christmas by the Royal Guardsman, Pretty Paper by Roy Orbison, Please Come Home for Christmas by the Eagles and Merry Christmas Darling by the Carpenters.
 
Everybody has their personal Christmas favorites. Broadcast radio is not a personal music service. There are a lot of great Christmas songs that don't get played on the radio. Some people in Cleveland might remember Jim Reeves "Christmas Polka." I didn't hear any radio stations play it. But that's why we have personal music services or You Tube, where we can hear what we want when we want to hear them. So pour yourself a beer, and listen to Jim Reeves sing The Merry Christmas Polka:

 
TheBigA said:
Everybody has their personal Christmas favorites. Broadcast radio is not a personal music service. There are a lot of great Christmas songs that don't get played on the radio. Some people in Cleveland might remember Jim Reeves "Christmas Polka." I didn't hear any radio stations play it. But that's why we have personal music services or You Tube, where we can hear what we want when we want to hear them. So pour yourself a beer, and listen to Jim Reeves sing The Merry Christmas Polka:

Click to expand...
OR, for those of us who are CD/record collectors, you'll have everything you want in your personal collection. That's what I used on Christmas Eve.
 
johnbasalla said:
OR, for those of us who are CD/record collectors, you'll have everything you want in your personal collection. That's what I used on Christmas Eve.
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Correct. I created two Christmas CDs - one with traditional selections: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, etc. and one with rock-n-roll selections: Chuck Berry, Ronettes, Beach Boys, etc.
 
TheBigA said:
Everybody has their personal Christmas favorites. Broadcast radio is not a personal music service. There are a lot of great Christmas songs that don't get played on the radio. Some people in Cleveland might remember Jim Reeves "Christmas Polka." I didn't hear any radio stations play it. But that's why we have personal music services or You Tube, where we can hear what we want when we want to hear them. So pour yourself a beer, and listen to Jim Reeves sing The Merry Christmas Polka:

Click to expand...
Now if someone would only do a mash-up of this and Lady GaGa and call it The Christmas Polka Face.
 
I hate giving them credit, but my wife has been listening to the iheart Christmas music feed ( not sure if there’s more than one) and it to me sounds pretty good. I’ve been hearing a wide variety of songs and artists and for the most part has been the lead ant to listen too.
 
delgriffith said:
I hate giving them credit, but my wife has been listening to the iheart Christmas music feed ( not sure if there’s more than one) and it to me sounds pretty good. I’ve been hearing a wide variety of songs and artists and for the most part has been the lead ant to listen too.
Click to expand...
They have several Christmas music feeds. The two main channels are iHeartChristmas and iHeartChristmas Classics. They also have 'Holiday Season Radio' which is the same log used for the AC stations that flip (I have never been able to find if there's a national station for the Classic Hits holiday logs). They also have Rock, Country, R&B, Classical, and one or two others.
 
My ears bled a little less this Christmas season because I only heard Mariah Carey's "All I want For Christmas" just once this season and it wasn't even on an all-Christmas formatted station. Don't get me wrong, I like the song, but sheesh......I like Salisbury Steak but I don't wanna eat the damn stuff every single day.
mariah 2.jpg
 


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