• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Anyone listening to Xmas music?

People, rethink this annual format flip! I'm thank full that I work for the only station in the country that approaches Christmas music correctly. We play it in chunks or blocks and not wall to wall, that makes it special! The music is nice but not all or nothing for nearly two months! OMG!
 
NO. When a station flips to this, I just forget about them until Dec 26th. In Tampa, that usually means only 2 stations.
 
postmaster said:
People, rethink this annual format flip! I'm thank full that I work for the only station in the country that approaches Christmas music correctly. We play it in chunks or blocks and not wall to wall, that makes it special! The music is nice but not all or nothing for nearly two months! OMG!
Click to expand...

AMEN! :)
 
A lot of analysis was done after last year's fall ratings to see how Christmas stations fared. The result was that most stations, except those that traditionally flip to Christmas during the season, had poor ratings. The thinking seems to be that people are being inundated with Christmas music from every format and for long stretches of time, when in reality there are only about 15-20 Christmas titles worth playing. Thus, there is a backlash of sorts happening in the listening public during the holiday season. Stations that fared well during the fall other than the heritage ACs traditionally flipping all-Christmas were formats such as Classic Rock and CHR. Perhaps it will take a couple of years before stations realize that the Christmas flip must be done tastefully or, for many stations, not done at all.
 
dxtrfn said:
November 20 will see a lot of flips with Delilah flipping over most of her stations will do so.
Click to expand...
I was listening to an individual Christmas song I liked. That's how I approach Christmas music. Most of the songs or versions on AC radio are garbage. But after one particular song which two different stations were playing at the same time on Sunday, there she was.

This Christian station where I live was playing Harry Simeon's "Little Drummer Boy". That's one of my favorites. In recent years I've really come to appreciate the performances of the different sections of the group.

In a drug store, where I was simply because I needed a videotape for the Macy's parade (since I haven't mastered zapping on TiVo, and much of that parade has musical numbers that aren't worth hearing, I needed a second tape so I could leave home to eat lunch), there was an intolerable recording of a classic. It is bad enough when they wreck the classics with AC instrumentals. But when someone sings the way so many black people do, with extra syllables and sounding like they want to throw up, that's it. And this song had both.

And in a Kohl's, where I had never gone before (think Macys for people on a budget) I heard one bad AC-style version of a song, and, just in one department, the wonderful Andy Williams version of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year".
 
I have 2 stations in my area that has switched to Christmas music last week. Ugh. Too early, and the music is generally annoying to me and I won't listen to it. This is when I change stations or use an mp3 player when I want to. No, I'm not trying to be a scrooge or be negative.
 
On one AC it was so nice to hear Nat King Cole sing "The Christmas Song". Then there was a jarring station ID and it's back to contemporary junk.
 
I know that Entercom is offering online streaming as an alternative if you don't like all-Christmas music. They offer a Christmas stream (the regular station), then a separate stream with just the regular "lite rock" and sweepers (without commercials) like they would normally be doing. It's a nice alternative if you like the station's normal music and sound, with pretty much no interruption. Just stumbled upon it today.

Magic 98.9/Greenville and KUDL/Kansas City are two that I know are doing it.
 
The problem with Christmas "music" is that every major Christmas song is covered by every major artist! You could probably cross-reference any Christmas title with almost any artist, and find that that artist has covered that song! Folks, that's overkill! We don't need 475 versions of every Christmas song! ::) And the problem there is that radio plays them all!

The other issue here is that it seems that every major artist seems to feel an obligation to put a Christmas album out there for the fans. Maybe this is due to pressure from the record company, but I seriously doubt that anyone, other than that artist's own main core fans, want to hear that particular artist's take on any particular Christmas song.

And I'm guessing that most of these Christmas songs are easy targets for cover versions, because many of them have been around for so long that they have become public domain.
 
Many artists are now "contractually obligated" to put out a Christmas CD. I agree that not every artist is suited to record a Christmas CD. A "Led Zeppelin" or AC/DC Christmas CD would go against those groups brand.
 
Dial Global standards has gone down now and I have a whole topic about that on the standards board. I hate AC versions of Christmas songs, and new songs are even worse.

The one good thing about AC stations going all-Christmas--this time of year their listeners get to hear what I listen to all year round. MUSIC!
 
Seltzer said:
Many artists are now "contractually obligated" to put out a Christmas CD. I agree that not every artist is suited to record a Christmas CD. A "Led Zeppelin" or AC/DC Christmas CD would go against those groups brand.
Click to expand...
There actually IS a Christmas version of "D'yer Mak'er" in which the "oh oh oh"s are replaced with "ho ho ho"s. It's actually kinda funny!
 
I listen to all-Christmas radio sometimes. I like the fact that great artists radio normally doesn't play such as the Carpenters and Andy Williams all the sudden become core artists for the month. Also I appreciate the whole concept of how all-Christmas is an escape from troubled times, the warm and fuzzy vibe is nice for a change.
 
Jay F said:
I listen to all-Christmas radio sometimes. I like the fact that great artists radio normally doesn't play such as the Carpenters and Andy Williams all the sudden become core artists for the month. Also I appreciate the whole concept of how all-Christmas is an escape from troubled times, the warm and fuzzy vibe is nice for a change.
Click to expand...
Key word there is "sometimes."

I will pull out some of my own Christmas records and listen to a few of them in December. For now, it is just still too early for me. Some of those records give me that "warm and fuzzy" feeling, but the schlock that passes for Christmas music that they play on the radio just makes me want to hit the dial, or the OFF switch!

As for not playing "core" artists, some stations would be better if they would "break the rules" in that respect a little more often. No, I don't expect the Carpenters or Andy Williams, but I'm sure that there are a few out there that they should be playing.
 
I went to the grocery store this morning and they were playing their usual AC junk when I walked in, but then I heard a really nice Christmas song. Then they went back to junk. I really mean junk. I'm guessing it wasn't Christmas music. If it had been, at least some of it would have been recognizable as Christmas music regardless of how it was done.

On the way there in the car, with my country legends station having an informercial, my standards station is the place to go, though they have an oldies show on Saturday morning and that tends to be not the music I would choose. It's better than the junk in the store, though. But this morning there was a nice Carpenters song. The lyrics end with "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, darling." It's really beautiful. It sounds like a bunch of Karens and Richards singing together. I guess those are all them.

I guess they call off the oldies show until it too is all-Christmas.
 
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, darling." is from the 1970 Carpenters (great!) Christmas album. Richard wrote the words.

"First Snowfall of the Winter" is another great one from the same album. It's the flip side of the 45 sent to radio stations, back then. A&M used VERY thick vinyl - and my record appears to ebem be able to withstand an attack by Elmo & Patsy.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom