Christmas Drives AC Ratings Record

[TheBigA]

People wonder why radio stations flip to Christmas music every December, and we all know the answer. It gets ratings. But some may wonder if the public is tiring of this technique after so many years. According to Nielsen, the answer is no. This year's Christmas flip drove the AC format to record ratings in the PPM era:

https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...elsen-ac-breaks-ppm-records-over-the-holidays

 

[Gregg.]

Nearly every secular all-Christmas station in the Top 20 markets had double digit numbers in the Holiday '18 book. But I think I'm not supposed to post the actual Nielsen numbers. So I'll list the stations that did hit double digits (or didn't and the reason why).

1. WLTW NYC - It even had double digits in the December book.

2. KOST LA Yes

3. WLIT Chicago Yes

4. KOIT San Francisco - Just made double digits.

5. In Dallas, two stations go all-Christmas. They finished #1 KDGE (iHeart AC) and #2 KLUV (Entercom Classic Hits) Both had great numbers but not double digits.

6. KODA Houston Yes

7. WASH Washington - Just made double digits

8. In Atlanta, no secular station goes all-Christmas. But Salem Christian AC WFSH was #1, two points above the usual top rated WSB/WSBB. Why WSB-FM doesn't go all-Christmas, if only to keep co-owned WSB/WSBB at #1, I have no idea.

9. WBEB Philadelphia - Very high numbers. It even had double digits in the Dec. book

10. WMJX Boston Yes

11. WLYF Miami didn't have double digits. I believe this was the first time it went all-Christmas. But it was #1, slightly ahead of Soft AC WFEZ.

12. KRWM Seattle Yes

13. WNIC Detroit. It had the best numbers in the top 20 markets. This year it had the all-Christmas audience to itself, since Entercom Classic Hits WOMC didn't go all-Christmas this year. WOMC finished tied for fifth, with less than a third of WNIC's ratings.

14. KESZ Phoenix. It had great numbers. And this year, Entercom Classic Hits KOOL also went all-Christmas but surprisingly it was a dud. It only tied for #7.

15. KQQL Minneapolis Yes

16. Puerto Rico has no all-Christmas station.

17. KYXY San Diego came close but didn't hit double digits.

18. KOSI Denver Yes

19. WDUV Tampa did great for the Holiday book and also hit double digits in the Dec. book.

20. WALK-FM Long Island hit double digits and WLTW NYC came in at #2, not quite in double digits on Long Island.

 

[CTListener]

This board desperately needs to recruit a few 25-44 women as posters to try to explain to us primarily geezer-age men just what it is about the same 250 or so songs played 24/7 every November/December that makes them forget about their favorite musical genres and tune in to their markets' Christmas stations in such astounding numbers.

 

[Will_H_69_9]

This board desperately needs to recruit a few 25-44 women as posters to try to explain to us primarily geezer-age men just what it is about the same 250 or so songs played 24/7 every November/December that makes them forget about their favorite musical genres and tune in to their markets' Christmas stations in such astounding numbers.

it's cause people outside of the target demo is listening more during the holidays to get in spirit of the season.

 

[blackgold]

I'd rather listen to the internet radio stations like Sounds of Christmas. They've got the largest Christmas music library of all.

 

[Wimmmex]

This board desperately needs to recruit a few 25-44 women as posters to try to explain to us primarily geezer-age men just what it is about the same 250 or so songs played 24/7 every November/December that makes them forget about their favorite musical genres and tune in to their markets' Christmas stations in such astounding numbers.

Oh, let's see....Christmas time and music is sentimental, lyrical, rested, happy, family focused, memorable, brings back memories, charitable, all about goodness and love.

What's NOT to like?

I'd rather listen to the internet radio stations like Sounds of Christmas. They've got the largest Christmas music library of all.

Would you nrather listen to 500 Christmas songs? ....or, 225 of the ones you like the most?

 

[davideduardo]

I'd rather listen to the internet radio stations like Sounds of Christmas. They've got the largest Christmas music library of all.

Over the holidays, the subject of Christmas stations came up at a number of gatherings in the LA area.

Knowing I did something in radio, several guys asked how that worked. None criticized, but they were curious about the logistics and economics. At that point, spouses and other women joined in. The discussions moved toward the songs played.

In LA, the opinion of everyone was that the "best" music was on The Coast. Most had listened on-line and to Sirius/XM, but found the larger lists had less than a bond with them because they included songs that were not as "strong in their hearts".

After one of those gatherings, driving back to the desert from LA we listened to KOST until the signal died, and then we listened to holiday / Christmas music on Sirius / XM. KOST was magnificent... it even enthralled me with its grace and flow. XM was a jerky, bad flow of random songs, many of which were obviously there to create "variety". It was awful by comparison.

Granted, this is anecdotal. But the uniformity of the feeling transcended three ethnic groups and people from a rather broad range of ages. There was no dissension, even by the men.

 

[Gregg.]

I feel the same way. In NYC, WLTW follows the same rules as nearly all stations that go all-Christmas. The playlist is only a few hundred titles and I imagine if you don't like Christmas music, you'd find that repetitive. The list does not vary from year to year more than just a few titles. Yet it sounds well-researched and there are almost no clunkers.

Sirius XM had three all-Christmas channels this year. Channel 3 was all-traditional, nothing later than maybe the 1970s. Channel 4 was more contemporary, from present day to the 80s. And Channel 70 was done with the TV cable outlet, The Hallmark Channel, using their personalities to introduce some of their favorite Christmas songs. It was much like the traditional channel, except for a few more modern songs. None of the satellite channels was as good as WLTW. They have to play more clunkers because they can't be as repetitive as an over-the-air station. Since there are no commercials, the playlists have to be longer.

It is odd when you consider that WLTW, KOST and all the large-owner stations that go all-Christmas are playing songs that are 40, 50, even 70 years old in the case of Bing Crosby, in rotations that must be every 3 hours or so for the top songs. Even the newest of the top songs, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey, is 25 years old now. But when all these stations get double digit ratings in the Holiday book, it's clear they are doing something right.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Oh, let's see....Christmas time and music is sentimental, lyrical, rested, happy, family focused, memorable, brings back memories, charitable, all about goodness and love.

What's NOT to like?




Would you rather listen to 500 Christmas songs? ....or, 225 of the ones you like the most?

I'd like to listen to more songs, but I'd want them to be the good songs.

One reason I like Christmas music so much is that it comes close to the styles of music I like year-round. I can hear music I like in the car with a good FM signal, though the same problem is still there: I might have to change stations because of songs I don't like.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Nearly every secular all-Christmas station in the Top 20 markets had double digit numbers in the Holiday '18 book. But I think I'm not supposed to post the actual Nielsen numbers. So I'll list the stations that did hit double digits (or didn't and the reason why).

Also WKQC Charlotte.