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Christmas 94
- Thread starter MrRadio
- Start date
I feel like 98.9 should make another go at Warm and go all Christmas then go soft AC after Christmas. Not sure why they haven’t flipped this overlapping signal yet.
Why don’t Star 94 flip go Christmas all-together lol. Quit playing games Audacy and flip the station.
It's interesting how Atlanta and Dayton are the only two sizable markets with no secular All-Christmas station. The theory is that Atlanta stations that might be candidates for a flip to all Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Carpenters holiday tunes are afraid of seeming too old in the eyes of their audience. This is the reason given that WSB-FM doesn't do it. And with 94.1 airing Rhythmic AC, it also is hesitant to do it full time.
I think there are enough Hot AC stations that flip in other markets that this fear could be proven untrue. Even the 18-34 demo usually makes the all-Christmas station in each market #1 during the Holiday ratings period.
And Dayton has no secular Christmas station because it has no AC station. It also has no full power Classic Hits station that might do it instead. Cincinnati has a full power station that flips and Columbus has two. So Dayton fans of Christmas music can probably hear one of those.
I think there are enough Hot AC stations that flip in other markets that this fear could be proven untrue. Even the 18-34 demo usually makes the all-Christmas station in each market #1 during the Holiday ratings period.
And Dayton has no secular Christmas station because it has no AC station. It also has no full power Classic Hits station that might do it instead. Cincinnati has a full power station that flips and Columbus has two. So Dayton fans of Christmas music can probably hear one of those.
iHeart Dayton had to dump 2 signals that had sat in the Aloha Trust forever. Mix is Hot A/C and I don't see a flip to Christmas. 106.5 would likely have been the Christmas station.
Knoxville TN is comparable in size to Dayton. Does a translator that covers the southeastern part of the market count as our Christmas station?
I always thought B97.5 WJXB, the AC station in Knoxville, switched to Christmas music. But a quick check just now shows the station isn't all-Christmas.
So let's add Knoxville to the list with Atlanta and Dayton!
104.7 The Fish has claimed the all-Christmas mantle in Atlanta for years now. It doesn't matter what format a station has the rest of the year if one has staked the claim it is hard to pull it away. And if you cannot monetize all-Christmas there's no purpose in switching.
Miami/Fort Lauderdale also is without all-Christmas again.
Miami/Fort Lauderdale also is without all-Christmas again.
When I first moved here in 2011, B97.5 did a couple of weekends of Christmas then went all Christmas. Last few years they seem to only go Christmas a couple of days before the holiday. There have been various rimshots and translators going Christmas the last few years.
WJXB hasn’t gone all-Christmas early since about 2013 or 2014. Knoxville does have Classic Hits WGAP “Fun 105.9” as all-Christmas currently, but with a limited signal, as they are an AM with an FM translator.
"The Christmas Voice of lower Chapman Highway"
Up here in Greenville, it didn’t look like we were going to get a secular all-Christmas station at all as were no AC, Hot AC, or classic hits station to flip, just the non comm HISRadio which leans more on the religious side with some classics mixed in.
It just so happened SummitMedia decided to flip one of their Greenville translators (previously hip hop) to all-Christmas late last week, leading to an AC format after the holidays. So GSP is another market that only partially has a secular/commercial all-Christmas station, not on a full market signal.
It just so happened SummitMedia decided to flip one of their Greenville translators (previously hip hop) to all-Christmas late last week, leading to an AC format after the holidays. So GSP is another market that only partially has a secular/commercial all-Christmas station, not on a full market signal.
That's right. Greenville-Spartanburg lost AC station WSPA-FM, first at 98.9 and recently at 106.3. So yes, Greenville gets added to our list. No secular Christmas station in Atlanta, Dayton, Knoxville and Greenville. Four sizable markets with no secular Christmas station.
Meanwhile some markets have two or more. In Westchester County NY, you can easily hear WLTW NYC, WHUD Peekskill, WALK Long Island and WEBE Connecticut.
A little history: The former Peach 94.9 was the first Atlanta station to go all Christmas. I'm guessing that was in the late 90's.
B98.5/WSB-FM stayed with their regular format for 2 or 3 years, then suddenly went all Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving and went all Christmas for many years after that.
Peach 94.9 left the AC format around 2004, leaving B98.5 as the only AC station and the only all-Christmas station.
Some years ago (maybe 10 or so), B98.5 decided to go partially instead of all Christmas. PD Chris Eagan was quoted at the time as saying that while the station's all-Christmas ratings were through the roof, a significant number of listeners who left the station during Christmas music were not returning in January. With the partial Christmas approach, B98.5's ratings have gone up a little but not nearly to where they were in the all-Christmas years. But the ratings have been better in the early months of the new year.
Now...B98.5 would not have been able to get away with a partially Christmas format if another AC were going all Christmas.
Apparently B98.5 didn't consider The Fish to be a secular all-Christmas format. That might have been true in The Fish's early years as an all-Christmas station. But my perception in recent years is while the Fish's Christmas music leans slightly religious, they play a lot of mainstream product. Also, a lot of their Christmas music is mainstream songs covered by Christian Contemporary artists like Josh Groban and MercyMe.
B98.5 has also claimed the 'Listen-while-you-work' mantle, making it very difficult for a true AC station to move in. This is also why the Atlanta market is one of the largest (if not largest) market to not air the Delilah Radio Show.
I still believe a secular all-Christmas station would be well received, in spite of the Fish 1047's popularity. A couple years ago, the tiny 96.7 signal flipped to a stunt format "Christmas 96.7" and they got over a 1.0 rating, which is impressive for a tiny signal such as this, proving the listeners are out there.
I still believe a secular all-Christmas station would be well received, in spite of the Fish 1047's popularity. A couple years ago, the tiny 96.7 signal flipped to a stunt format "Christmas 96.7" and they got over a 1.0 rating, which is impressive for a tiny signal such as this, proving the listeners are out there.
Are you saying B98.5 is not "a true AC station?" Is its playlist different from most AC's in other markets? Lance probably knows the answer to that.
Also they don’t carry Delilah because they don’t belong to iHeart Media. I am certain if Power 105.3 went away - you wouldn’t hear Seacrest in the Atlanta market either unless they flipped to a Hot AC format. Q99.7 wouldn’t bring him over because they are with Cumulus. Or if 105.3 flipped to AC they would most likely start carrying Delilah.
Delilah was on 94.9 then Clear Channel's Peach, later called Lite. Peach got flipped to the Bull during December when they were all Christmas 🎄. Delilah went to WSB FM 98.5 a Cox station. Cox radio Atlanta also picked up Rush when WGST imploded after they took 105.7 away from 640. Rush died and Delilah didn't make it. iHeart will let other companies air their stuff. What ever make them the most money.
105.3's coverage is about the same as 104.1. Both cover Southwest Atlanta which is where a huge part of the Urban Hip Hop - Rap's P1 live. Some genius at iHeart thought the Morning Show on 105.3 needed a bigger signal so they moved 105.3 programming to 96.1. It didn't work. They are still the #4 Urban in Atlanta. Not much change from when they were on 105.3.
Heck no. B98.5 is like an Adult AC. Just look at their playlist. They played Post Malone - “I Like You” and Billie Ellish “Birds of a Feather”. You don’t get these songs on a, say... Sunny 99.1 in Houston (iHeart).
With no real AC competition they can "wobble" a little and play an "out of format song". They don't have to play strictly national AC chart songs.
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