A humble suggestion to Part 15 broadcasters

[Black_Shire]

Hello All,

I'd like to make a humble suggestion to Part 15 broadcasters. If you play either all Christmas music during these days or inter-leave Christmas music amongst your other programming, please don't suddenly stop playing Christmas music on December 26. It's an abrupt, cliff-like ending that is depressing, but there is a better way to musically end the holiday:

If you think about it, quite a few of the so-called "Christmas songs" we hear this time of the year are really winter songs that don't even mention Christmas. These include "Walking in a Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride," "Let It Snow," "Over the River and Through the Woods," "Frosty the Snow Man," "Honey, It's Cold Outside," and "Jingle Bells."

On December 26, just drop the specifically Christmas-oriented songs but keep playing the winter songs, and then gradually phase these out over the next few days or even weeks. Winter activities such as taking sleigh rides and building snow men don't suddenly become not fun after December 25, so why should the music about them suddenly stop after that date?


-- Black Shire

 

[radioboy]

I'm leaving some Christmas music sprinkled in through Jan. 2.

The sudden Dec. 26 cut-off leaves me feeling a little blue.

 

[Black_Shire]

I'm leaving some Christmas music sprinkled in through Jan. 2.

The sudden Dec. 26 cut-off leaves me feeling a little blue.

Excellent--thank you for doing that! Also, I must say that the idea of my suggestion didn't originate with me.

My late friend Gary Moore, even though he was a Jew (and a non-religious one at that), loved Christmas and all of the trappings that go with it, especially the music. He really got into Christmas in a big way when he was working as a civilian contractor at Thule Air Force Base in Greenland from 1967 to 1969. He and most of the other folks up there were feeling depressed at being so far from home during the holidays in the midst of the months-long arctic night. To break the gloom, he busied himself constructing a couple of small Christmas trees and making garlands out of scrap. This brightened his spirits and inspired the other people in his building to get into the spirit of the holiday, too.

Gary lamented the December 26 Christmas music/Winter music cut-off every year, and he once compiled a list of all of the "Christmas songs" that are really Winter songs. He always said, "If *I* owned a radio station, I'd drop the specifically Christmas songs at midnight on December 25, but keep playing Winter Songs through New Year's Day and then gradually phase them out."


-- Black Shire