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All Chrismas KOLA
- Thread starter Beachdog
- Start date
A
angelbec
Guest
Someone actually beat KOST...
wow...
wow...
angelbec said:
Different market, though.
Please forgive me, but what the hell is the obsession with playing Christmas music 24-hours a day so early in the season. I never saw the big deal playing all Christmas music all the time maybe a week before Christmas as it fit with the season. Yet this idea of playing all Christmas music before Thanksgiving is just absurd, and yet another reason many listeners will run to their iPods.
When did this trend of playing all Christmas music all the time early in the season begin?
When did this trend of playing all Christmas music all the time early in the season begin?
A
angelbec
Guest
Since I work in retail I can answer that one for you - although it really pertains to this year. The economy is tanking - things around the world are no better and we are bracing for a bad shopping season. Christmas music is nostalgic and tends to bring back good memories. The hope is that by playing it so soon (Right after Halloween in at my job) that it will somehow or another help you to "forget" how bad things are.
My 9 year old son told me yesterday "Don't we celebrate Thanksgiving anymore?"
My 9 year old son told me yesterday "Don't we celebrate Thanksgiving anymore?"
According to the online station log, the launch came at !2:04pm with Percy Faith and "We Need A Little Christmas". The last 'classic hit' song out of the gate before than was "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge.
Well about at least 50% people get more depressed because christmas and whole holidays in general
and the state of economy
I doubt christmas music, will boost peoples spirts, or retail sales.
I think it is a waste of effort in my book.
and the state of economy
I doubt christmas music, will boost peoples spirts, or retail sales.
I think it is a waste of effort in my book.
T
theradiokid
Guest
So KOLA is playing Christmas music? Hmmm. I’ll have to give that a listen online. I wonder if they’ll keep their Classic Hits/Classic Rock format. I suspect so, seeing that they’re doing so well in the Riverside/San Bernardino market.
Now, I can’t remember right now who, but a poster in this thread asked about the origins of Christmas music on the radio starting earlier and earlier, and he/she asked when did this start. I’d like to answer that if I may. Another poster told you that “Coast” did it just after 9-11. Not only was that true for “Coast,” but that rang true for just about every market in the US. The converts were/are mostly Soft Rock and what were then “Oldies” stations. From what I’ve read on the subject, the thinking after 9-11 was that if you played Christmas music earlier in the year, people might listen, and begin to shop more from being in a Christmasy mood. Now, however, in my opinion, it’s getting too much. When you have stations flipping to the holiday tunes on October 1, 30 days before Halloween, and run it right through ‘till Christmas, it’s nerve grinding. And now, you have unlikely converts to this 7 year Christmas Music Early craze. I’m talkin’ ‘bout country stations and a couple rock stations. KOLA is a Classic Rock station. I wonder if this move will hurt them when it’s all said and done.
--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].
Now, I can’t remember right now who, but a poster in this thread asked about the origins of Christmas music on the radio starting earlier and earlier, and he/she asked when did this start. I’d like to answer that if I may. Another poster told you that “Coast” did it just after 9-11. Not only was that true for “Coast,” but that rang true for just about every market in the US. The converts were/are mostly Soft Rock and what were then “Oldies” stations. From what I’ve read on the subject, the thinking after 9-11 was that if you played Christmas music earlier in the year, people might listen, and begin to shop more from being in a Christmasy mood. Now, however, in my opinion, it’s getting too much. When you have stations flipping to the holiday tunes on October 1, 30 days before Halloween, and run it right through ‘till Christmas, it’s nerve grinding. And now, you have unlikely converts to this 7 year Christmas Music Early craze. I’m talkin’ ‘bout country stations and a couple rock stations. KOLA is a Classic Rock station. I wonder if this move will hurt them when it’s all said and done.
--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].
theradiokid said:
KOLA is nowhere near being classic rock. It's classic hits, although they avoid the more AC sounding 70's CHR hits more than most classic hits stations.
Not only was that true for “Coast,” but that rang true for just about every market in the US. The converts were/are mostly Soft Rock and what were then “Oldies” stations.[/quote]
The expansion of Christmas music to all Chrismas (as opposed to a few songs an hour starting right after Thanksgiving) was initially almost entirely confined to AC stations, not rock stations of any type. B100 in Philly and Sunny in Houston were the kind of station that tried this. When stations saw the huge ratings, and the carry over to January, more came aboard the concept each year.
It's all about doubling the ratings.
No, its a classic hits station... classic hits is the name given to 70's based Top 40 oldies formats, and is very far removed from classic rock.
They're an Oldies station that started playing a ton of Classic Rock in the last couple years. Examples: Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Beatles, Doors, CCR, BTO, Skynard, Zep.... Not exactly "far removed" from Classic Rock, but a little bit different, yes. They are much more "classic rock" sounding than K-Earth.
It's nice to see K-Earth apparently waiting until Thanksgiving to begin the Xmas music, even though it's a late year for Thanksgiving. Class act, and I imagine that's Jhani Kaye's doing. Let's hope they don't go 24/7, and that they dump the KOST tracks.
It's nice to see K-Earth apparently waiting until Thanksgiving to begin the Xmas music, even though it's a late year for Thanksgiving. Class act, and I imagine that's Jhani Kaye's doing. Let's hope they don't go 24/7, and that they dump the KOST tracks.
scooty430 said:
KRTH is not really classic hits, since an era map shows the "split" year to be 1970, meaning it is creeping from oldies to classic hits... but the real difference is that KRTH behaves like an AC, with much more tempo control and less age control than the normal oldies or classic hits station.
"Classic Rock" is the format that plays the songs the "superstars" format AOR's played in the 70's. Classic Hits is the format that plays what CHR's played in the 70's. Many of the songs and artists overlapped; every artist you mention was played by the CHR FM I signed on in Birmingham in the early 70's (in fact, we signed on with Lynyrd Skynard) and there is no f----g way we would have been confused with an AOR station.
A
angelbec
Guest
What I can tell you with working in retail is that our sales are 1/3 off from this time last year. I work for a major retailer and believe that it will go under within the next 12-18 months.
Christmas music is not helping at all.
On that note - the best all time Christmas CD is "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by Vice Guaraldi. A masterpiece.
Christmas music is not helping at all.
On that note - the best all time Christmas CD is "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by Vice Guaraldi. A masterpiece.
One of the reasons the all-Xmas stations are such a problem is that we are subjected to it whether we want to or not. I have heard KOST in three different places in the last few days, and it is truly nauseating. I'm sure in the IE you may hear KOLA too.
So the argument that "you can just change the station" is not quite accurate.
One of the more irritating places I heard Xmas music this weekend was on Beverly Blvd. They have speakers blasting it tied to trees. Terribly tacky, even for Beverly Hills.
Andy Rooney had it right on 60 Minutes last night. There should be a law against using Xmas for commercial purposes until December. Maybe someone should organize a boycott of all stores that start early, or a boycott of any companies advertising on Xmas Stations that start early.
So the argument that "you can just change the station" is not quite accurate.
One of the more irritating places I heard Xmas music this weekend was on Beverly Blvd. They have speakers blasting it tied to trees. Terribly tacky, even for Beverly Hills.
Andy Rooney had it right on 60 Minutes last night. There should be a law against using Xmas for commercial purposes until December. Maybe someone should organize a boycott of all stores that start early, or a boycott of any companies advertising on Xmas Stations that start early.
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angelbec
Guest
As long as people keep listening to these stations and there is a spike in their ratings - it will continue. I personally don't mind hearing it after Thanksgiving - but the day after Halloween was too much!
As I listen to KOST, I too wonder whether it's too early to go 24/7. That said, I'll offer evidence both anecdotal and empirical:
Anecdotally, consumers have been complaining for decades that retailers have been commercializing Christmas by putting up holiday decorations days/weeks/months before December 25th. And it doesn't matter whether it's the stores they shop or the stores they don't. The complaint is the same.
Always has been, always will be.
Whatever. Up until this f-ed up economic year, when all bets are off, retailers have always made money during the holidays, regardless of the date they choose to put up their decorations.
This has been true for decades.
Empirically, radio listeners have been complaining for years about radio stations that flip weeks before Thanksgiving.
Whatever. Go back and look at the 25-54, 18-49, 35-64, 12+ and whatever-demo-you-please performance of the Santa stations during any fall book of the past 8 years.
Across our country, 24/7 Christmas has more than an 85% success rate, and it always will. Those are good odds.
Me capiche?
This was Andy Rooney's precise point.
It's all about money, which is obvious to all of us, but still annoying.
Rooney particularly bemoaned the non-commercial Thanksgiving being overshadowed by a premature Xmas.
Was Xmas always about money? I would say probably not. I don't know when it began, but the huge economic machine marketing "Christmas" to consumers is probably a fairly recent phenomenon. I imagine prior to this it was more of a "festival" type holiday, more akin to the 4th of July, or the High Holy Days. More about the spirit, not buying a bunch of stuff.
And this whole "Black Friday" nonsense is DEFINITELY new. Until recently, this was just a term known to people in business. And I imagine you wouldn't have to go too far back in history to find a time when people spent that Friday with family, not standing in line at a mall trying to save a hundred bucks on a big TV.
And will it always be that way? Perhaps. But we probably always thought we'd have a white male president, so there ya go. Things change, and often for the better.
It's all about money, which is obvious to all of us, but still annoying.
Rooney particularly bemoaned the non-commercial Thanksgiving being overshadowed by a premature Xmas.
Was Xmas always about money? I would say probably not. I don't know when it began, but the huge economic machine marketing "Christmas" to consumers is probably a fairly recent phenomenon. I imagine prior to this it was more of a "festival" type holiday, more akin to the 4th of July, or the High Holy Days. More about the spirit, not buying a bunch of stuff.
And this whole "Black Friday" nonsense is DEFINITELY new. Until recently, this was just a term known to people in business. And I imagine you wouldn't have to go too far back in history to find a time when people spent that Friday with family, not standing in line at a mall trying to save a hundred bucks on a big TV.
And will it always be that way? Perhaps. But we probably always thought we'd have a white male president, so there ya go. Things change, and often for the better.
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