• 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

Christmas Music

C

ChrisInMI

As usual, the Dial Global Adult Standards network made its annual change to all-Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day. While I usually don't like all-Christmas formats, Dial Global's is more palatable to me because they mix it up a bit more and play songs and artists other stations ignore (case in point: the new Christmas album by Tony-winning Broadway diva Kristin Chenoweth). Although I could certainly do without Newsong's "Christmas Shoes" (most depressing Christmas song ever...) One thing I like about DG's rotation is that they also spice up the playlist with cuts by country (such as Garth Brooks and Lorrie Morgan) and CCM artists (like Point of Grace) that the way-too-safe AC-formatted Christmas stations will not touch.

Looking at the Yes.com log for WLEZ in Jackson, MS, which runs ABC's Timeless (and also recently changed frequencies from 103.7 to 100.1), it appears that Timeless has also gone all-Christmas this year. This is the first year I can remember that Timeless/Stardust has gone all-Christmas, unless they have done it in the past and I missed it. I remember the old Stardust format mixing in a healthy dose of holiday tunes between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the past, but they never went all-Christmas that I can remember. Despite all the flack that the Timeless format gets on this board, it appears their Christmas music mix has a decent variety as well.

Has anyone else noticed Timeless going all-Christmas? Have they done it in the past? I'm not within listening range of a Timeless station and the only DG station I can hear is WGL-AM which comes in only on my car radio, and very faintly at that.
 
ChrisInMI said:
As usual, the Dial Global Adult Standards network made its annual change to all-Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day. While I usually don't like all-Christmas formats, Dial Global's is more palatable to me because they mix it up a bit more and play songs and artists other stations ignore (case in point: the new Christmas album by Tony-winning Broadway diva Kristin Chenoweth). Although I could certainly do without Newsong's "Christmas Shoes" (most depressing Christmas song ever...) One thing I like about DG's rotation is that they also spice up the playlist with cuts by country (such as Garth Brooks and Lorrie Morgan) and CCM artists (like Point of Grace) that the way-too-safe AC-formatted Christmas stations will not touch.

Looking at the Yes.com log for WLEZ in Jackson, MS, which runs ABC's Timeless (and also recently changed frequencies from 103.7 to 100.1), it appears that Timeless has also gone all-Christmas this year. This is the first year I can remember that Timeless/Stardust has gone all-Christmas, unless they have done it in the past and I missed it. I remember the old Stardust format mixing in a healthy dose of holiday tunes between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the past, but they never went all-Christmas that I can remember. Despite all the flack that the Timeless format gets on this board, it appears their Christmas music mix has a decent variety as well.

Has anyone else noticed Timeless going all-Christmas? Have they done it in the past? I'm not within listening range of a Timeless station and the only DG station I can hear is WGL-AM which comes in only on my car radio, and very faintly at that.
Click to expand...
Last year, they did the twelve days of Christmas, I think.

As for Dial Global, I have no use for such gfarbage as "This Christmas" by Gloria Estefan, which was followed immediately--at the top of the hour--by something even worse. "O Come OCome Emmanuel" by Eric Shus or something like that. Honestly, someone needs to take all this Mannheim Steamroller/Trans-Siberian Orchestra garbage and bury it deep where it can never hurt anyone again. When I listen to Christams music, I want the traditional songs, not the contemporary mess.
 
I believe the artist you are referring to is Aaron Shust - Contemporary Christian artist.

I guess I'm not as adverse to the contemporary artists as long as their sound is at least somewhat faithful to the "traditional" sound. In other words, if I ever heard a Mariah Carey Christmas song come on DG, I'd flip the channel. Otherwise, I still think it's a good alternative to the 20-song Christmas AC playlist of "All I Want For Christmas Is You," "Feliz Navidad," "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer," "Merry Christmas Darling," Madonna's version of "Santa Baby" and so on. Fortunately I have a small-town AC station within my listening range that also mixes it up a bit when it comes to the holiday stuff.

I agree, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is way overrated. My aunt dragged me to see them when they came through Detroit a couple of years ago... I wasn't impressed (though I was polite and said I'd had a good time). Too much of a hard rock sound for me.
 
Timeless Favorites did follow a 12 Days of Christmas schedule last year. And it appears to follow that this year, too. Despite what the YES logs were showing, the Christmas music has been interspersed since Thanksgiving with regular music (and it may just be me, but the song selection for Timeless has been much better lately). As the days have passed, Christmas music has subtly taken over and they are now in the midst of an "All Christmas Weekend." I believe they will be all Christmas from now until Dec. 25.

I do not know why the YES logs were incorrect, but I listen to WLEZ over the air here and it was most definitely NOT all Christmas and did feature the regular jocks.

Now, as for Dial Global: I can honestly say Timeless' Christmas selections are much better. DG relies too much on current recordings and doesn't play nearly enough Sinatra, Bennett, Mathis, Cole, etc. for the holidays. There is far too much airplay of vanilla, forgettable recent recordings by such artists as Carnie Wilson, Point of Grace and Garth Brooks. They also tend to play novelty songs too frequently. The songs are cute and entertaining, but instantly become grating on the second or third airplay over the course of a couple days.

Recent songs on DG by: Percy Faith (Five stars), Celtic Woman (1 star), Perry Como (four stars), Trans Siberian Orchestra (two stars), Yogi Yorgesson (1 star -- and some serious holiday rage building against this one!).

Recent songs on Timeless: Bing Crosby (five stars), Gene Autry (four stars), Johnny Mathis (five stars), Elvis Presley (from the Duets album, four stars), Carpenters (four stars -- I honestly don't know what any of these stations would play during the holidays if it weren't for the Carpenters.)
 
ChrisInMI said:
I guess I'm not as adverse to the contemporary artists as long as their sound is at least somewhat faithful to the "traditional" sound. In other words, if I ever heard a Mariah Carey Christmas song come on DG, I'd flip the channel. Otherwise, I still think it's a good alternative to the 20-song Christmas AC playlist of "All I Want For Christmas Is You," "Feliz Navidad," "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer," "Merry Christmas Darling," Madonna's version of "Santa Baby" and so on. Fortunately I have a small-town AC station within my listening range that also mixes it up a bit when it comes to the holiday stuff.

I agree, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is way overrated. My aunt dragged me to see them when they came through Detroit a couple of years ago... I wasn't impressed (though I was polite and said I'd had a good time). Too much of a hard rock sound for me.
Click to expand...

Good God! Have you heard some of this stuff that passes for Christmas music recently? I was in a store that was blasting what sounded like Beyonce or something. The exact artist is irrelevant, but every so often I could make out a halfway recognizable phrase such as a "rum pum pum pum" or a "partridge in a pear tree" among the moans and groans.

That Madonna thing is just excrutiating. (Of course, everything she does is excrutiating). I know it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it's nothing more than an insult to Eartha Kitt.

Yes, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has too much of a hard rock sound, but I do rank "Christmas Canon" up there as a modern day Christmas classic. With that children's chorus, it's one of the nicest songs to come along in recent years.
 
BlueHen said:
That Madonna thing is just excrutiating. (Of course, everything she does is excrutiating). I know it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it's nothing more than an insult to Eartha Kitt.
Click to expand...
One big problem is the Eartha Kitt version sounds dreadful. At least the tracks I have sound awful. I've bought it three times and haven't found any to be air quality. It couldn't have been that bad when it was new. At least I don't remember it sounding that bad.
 
My new favorite "Santa Baby" comes from Victoria Hart. Recorded with The Household Divison Big Band (the guards at Buckingham Palace), it truly swings. (I was going to say "it rocks", but that would sound wrong!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7UMKeHyK5I

Single is available at iTunes now and is released on CD 12/15.

We are playing it (as is WHLI).


CJ
thepenthouse.fm
 
Hi BlueHen,

I think that song you're talking about may indeed have been Beyonce... Destiny's Child did a Christmas album several years ago called "8 Days of Christmas." The only song I've heard from it is the title track (a takeoff on "The Twelve Days of Christmas") and it was pretty much garbage. Let's just say they were not asking for maids-a-milking or pipers piping. There's a reason why that album has not stood the test of time - one of which may be the fact that one of the tracks is reportedly a shameless plug for a new line of dolls they were promoting at the time (2001).

I got a chance to listen to the Timeless station in Lansing the other day and they do have a pretty nice variety. They played songs by Jo Stafford and Glenn Miller, two artists no longer heard as part of the regular format. I guess the holiday season is now the closest Timeless' playlist comes to sounding like the glory days of Stardust.
 
BlueHen said:
Yes, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has too much of a hard rock sound, but I do rank "Christmas Canon" up there as a modern day Christmas classic. With that children's chorus, it's one of the nicest songs to come along in recent years.
Click to expand...
I agreee. I haven't even heard it this year. I missed "Sarajevo", as I call it since the full title is too long. But I heard one of the DJs say it was on.

Dial Global is playing entirely too much junk. I only listen while the clock radio is still on during the two hours after Paul Harvey. and yet Jeff Rollins still talks about how great it is, and he gets compliments. He played a lot of calls from listeners several weeks ago. To one, he said everyone was feeling merry. Mary was getting sick of it. :eek:

I have another clock radio which gets me up in time to wash clothes. It comes on about the time of the first song of the 7:00 hour on the Dial Global affiliate. The station owner does the morning show most weekdays. Right before the first song during the 7:00 hour and the first song during the 8:00 hour, he says something like, "If nobody else has said it to you, I want to be the first to say good morning." During the 8:00 hour, year round, a recording by Brenda Lee introduces him, and the song played is always (except this time of year) "Nothing But the Best" by Sinatra. For the 7:00 hour, he says the same thing and plays something by Sinatra, except at Christmas the 7:00 hour's music always begins with "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee. The music tends to be older on the morning show than what Dial Global plays, and while it is oftn standards, there is some rock and roll here and there. The 8:00 hour ends with "Mr. Lucky" by Henry Mancini, even this time of year.
 
ChrisInMI said:
I think that song you're talking about may indeed have been Beyonce... Destiny's Child did a Christmas album several years ago called "8 Days of Christmas." The only song I've heard from it is the title track (a takeoff on "The Twelve Days of Christmas") and it was pretty much garbage. Let's just say they were not asking for maids-a-milking or pipers piping. There's a reason why that album has not stood the test of time - one of which may be the fact that one of the tracks is reportedly a shameless plug for a new line of dolls they were promoting at the time (2001).
Click to expand...

Well, that's "today's music," so I guess we should be glad today's artists still see fit to even make Christmas music at all, regardless of the outcome. I find two faults with the new sound of pop... first, that melody has all but disappeared, and, secondly, that no one just sings anymore. Instead, they moan like wounded animals.
 
Music selection on Dial Global seems to have improved, IMO. Sounds like it is getting more "traditional" closer to Christmas.

Artists played in the last hour include Mannheim Steamroller (Silent Night -- one of all time favorite arrangements of this beautiful carol); Andy Williams, Ray Conniff, Bette Midler, Carpenters (of course!), and Dean Martin. Josh Groban and Neil Diamond were heard, too.
 
publisher said:
Music selection on Dial Global seems to have improved, IMO. Sounds like it is getting more "traditional" closer to Christmas.

Artists played in the last hour include Mannheim Steamroller (Silent Night -- one of all time favorite arrangements of this beautiful carol); Andy Williams, Ray Conniff, Bette Midler, Carpenters (of course!), and Dean Martin. Josh Groban and Neil Diamond were heard, too.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's because they found themselves playing the same stuff as the all-Christmas formats on the soft rock stations on FM in many markets. Since most of the Dial Global stations are usually on AM, why listen when you can hear the same songs on FM? This traditional approach keeps them differentiated on the dial and should attract people tired of hearing Mariah Carey every half hour.

Since you mentioned this, I'll have to give them a listen again. For years, Westwood One/Dial Global was my first choice for Christmas listening. But I gave up on them last year after hearing "Last Christmas" by Wham. I tolerated Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," but Wham was the last straw. So far this year, I've been really happy with KMGR in Manti, Utah: [ http://midutahradio.com/kmgr ] since EZ88 in Knoxville went away.
 
Bad news: I heard the "Sarajevo" song.

But it does appear that I am hearing more traditional songs when I do listen. There's just enough of the bad stuff, though, to discourage me from turning the radio on and keeping it on when it turns off 2 hours after Paul Harvey.

I was lucky to have heard Karl Hampton identify one song at a time I happened to hear it. I heard it yesterday, but the DJ was too busy giving away Sarah Brightman CDs.

"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by Kenny G. Pure jazz. Not smooth jazz. The G-man is doing something right. Alto sax, not soprano, and not played that irritating way he normally does.

Jim Brickman's "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" is growing on me. Jeff Rollins praises that one. I just find that new age style irritating, but that's a very small part of the song. I knew to expect it if, in fact, it was the same version.
 
Oh, one more thing. I heard Bing Crosby sing a song where "If you haven't got a friendly dog, a friendly cat will do. If you haven't got a friendly cat, then God bless you."

"If you haven't got a thing to offer me, God bless you."

That's the message of Christmas.
 
I was posting on another topic where we were debating whether a certain astation was standards or AC. I remembered one more: Bette Midler's "From a Distance". It has parts of other Christmas songs inserted into it, and a few changes in the words of the original. The instrumentals aren't as irritating.

The commercial breaks seem overly long. They keep starting in the middle of the song. In one case it was Roger Whitaker's "Twelve Days of Christmas" with children, and they were up to Nine Drummers Drumming. It was after the Employment Security Commission report. In North Carolina, that's where you go to collect unemployment benefits and look up job listings. Job listings that they have. Some are listed in that radio report. I don't thik they pay, because it ends with the radio station being thanked, like public service announcements do on TV.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Oh, one more thing. I heard Bing Crosby sing a song where "If you haven't got a friendly dog, a friendly cat will do. If you haven't got a friendly cat, then God bless you."

"If you haven't got a thing to offer me, God bless you."

That's the message of Christmas.
Click to expand...

That's "Christmas Is A-Comin'" which should be readily available given the numerous Bing Crosby Christmas compilations out there. It's a neat little song (one of my favorites) which conjures up images of an old-fashioned Christmas in Victorian England. My favorite version is one I haven't heard on the radio in well over 20 years - by the Jack Halloran Singers. Here's how that one goes...

Christmas is a-comin' and the geese are getting fat
Pleased to put a penny in a poor man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, then a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, may God bless you

God bless you, gentlemen, God bless you, if you haven't got a ha'penny, may God bless you

Christmas is a-comin' and the lights are on the tree
How about a turkey leg for poor old me
If you haven't got a turkey leg, a turkey wing will do
If you haven't got a turkey wing, may God bless you

God bless you, gentlemen, God bless you, if you haven't got a turkey wing, may God bless you

Christmas is a-comin' and the egg is in the nog
Would you mind I sit around your old yule log
If you'd rather I didn't sit around, to stand around I'll do
If you'd rather I didn't stand around, may God bless you

God bless you, gentlemen, God bless you, if you haven't got a thing for me, may God bless you
 
Dial Global is certainly not getting more traditional today.

I decided to leave the radio on instead of letting it turn off automatically after two hours (Paul Harvey did NOT air at 8:30 :mad: after Junior promised he would, so I'll have to wait until I get on a computer where speakers are hooked up; the station is accustomed to automating the noon broadcast, so that should work, but it might not be the same thing).

Three out of the four songs after the radio would have turned off were AC. ::) Come on, people, everyone and his brother is playing AC. At least I did get to find out I had heard Ferrante and Teicher play ... what DID they play? I don't even remember.

Dawn's "This Christmas", without Tony Orlando I could do without. On the other hand, I just heard Steve Lawrence and Eydie gorme sing "Happy Holiday". Someone is sisnging a song with the lyrics "I wish it could be Christmas forever" right now. Barry Manilow did "Toyland", and from what Jeff Rollins was saying, he was playing the piano as well as singing. very nice. Judy Garland sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".

During ABC News at the top of the hour, I heard "angels We Have Heard on High" from the National Cathedral. An hour later it was "O Come All Ye Faithful". That's the sort of thing I want to hear today.
 
Poor Joe Daniels has to work today.

"Here Comes santa claus" by Bing and the Andrews Sisters. "Silver Bells" by Dionne Warwick and "Jingle Bells" by Johnny Mathis.
 
I'm still listening.

I was unfortunate enough to hear "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" by Aaron Shust again. :mad:

Why must they play such garbage?

On the other hand, there has been a lot of good stuff such as Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Canon" with the children's choir.

Could it be? One of the best jazz versions of any Christmas songs I ever heard. Yes, JAZZ. Not smooth jazz. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by none other than Kenny G. With a band of cool musicians that could proudly play with the likes of Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi, Count Basie, Duke Ellington ...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom