For me, and I think a lot of people, the Christmas "season" starts the day after Thanksgiving. Hearing ANY Christmas music on the radio before this seems just... weird, and out of touch.
Sure, we may go Christmas shopping before then, may hear Christmas music in the local store (especially on the decorations isle), but the radio is a bit of a different beast.
A few years back I heard somebody with some experience say that when you play Christmas music before Christmas, more than 4 carols an hour make your regular tunes sound out of place, and less than 4 carols make THEM sound odd. When I've heard 4 Christmas songs an hour (YES, each separated by about 15 minutes, please!), it's consistently been a great mix.
92.9 KBEZ in Tulsa in the past has had all-Christmas weekends, and that was pretty cool because on the weekends you're more likely to be Christmas shopping or putting up decorations or entertaining. I expect they weren't original with the idea, but it's a good one.
I don't mind a station that goes all-Christmas starting the weekend before Christmas, but some wait until Christmas Eve and that works for me, too.
Why stations are so quick to get OFF of Christmas music is beyond me... lots of people have Christmas evening meals, they're traveling after having Christmas with the family... dumping the carols at noon or even 6pm is incredibly frustrating to me. If you're worried about burn, don't start playing them right after Halloween!!!
Of course, the reason stations start Christmas music in, say, August, is so they can "own" the position of "Oklahoma City's Christmas Music Station..." a position, I think, sounds pretty silly on November 1st.
Of course, they didn't ask me. They never do. ;D
Is it possible the BOB promo was something to the effect of, "while the other guys burn you out on Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, and Manheim Steamroller, we're giving you the gift of HITS" or something to that effect? That seems more like a positive than a negative.