In most formats, it would be hard to find one song an hour to play... and they are novelty songs, with no sentiment.
Christmas, for many, is about family, traditions, and personal warmth.
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Christmas
- Thread starter Retro
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In most formats, it would be hard to find one song an hour to play... and they are novelty songs, with no sentiment.
Christmas, for many, is about family, traditions, and personal warmth.
Cuz it doesn't attract advertisers like Christmas does?
Some non-commercial radio stations (that don't have to attract advertisers) may. I did a Halloween themed show most every year on my former '60s/'70s show on MIT's WMBR.
104.9 WBOQ flipped yesterday and 104.1 played “All I Want for Christmas” this morning.
"Magic 98.3" (WMGQ New Brunswick, NJ) announced it will go all-Christmas on Friday, November 13th, at 2:00 PM.
So instead of the usual Friday on the week before Thanksgiving, that's the Friday two weeks before Thanksgiving.
So instead of the usual Friday on the week before Thanksgiving, that's the Friday two weeks before Thanksgiving.
I didn't know about BOQ till I saw a post about the flips today, on twitter
Wow, you don't miss a thing except for the context in which we played "All I Want for Christmas", it had nothing to do with formatics...a friend hosts a morning show in Houston and she had many stations around the country play a holiday song this morning at 7:50a to show support for a very sick young man.
https://abc13.com/ryan-roberson-hou...-parade-texas-jr-facebook-event-team/7342530/
In 2011 WROR and WODS both switched to all Christmas music on Veterans' Day. That year, I wanted to start listening to Christmas music earlier than usual because there was a big snowstorm in late October. So I was perfectly fine with the two major Boston stations making the Christmas flip in early to mid November that particular year. But usually it is better to wait until Thanksgiving (or the day before Thanksgiving) to start and then go all in from there.
Not as big a fan of 106.7's Christmas programming, although it does make sense these days for them to be the primary Boston station doing it since 103.3 obviously has a different format now. In 2014, 106.7 was the only Boston station playing all Christmas and I was disappointed because I liked WROR's Xmas programming better.
Do any Boston stations currently play Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving? Has 100.7 WZLX ever played Arlo's classic on that day? Rock 102 out of Springfield has always played it every year for as long as I can remember.
WUMB at noon
Just because there was no traditional trick or treating this year doesn't mean Halloween was cancelled. The holiday always falls on Oct 31 and whatever happens on that day always matters. The same is true for Christmas in 2020- just because there is no traditional Christmas shopping or holiday travel due to Covid 19 does not mean Christmas is cancelled. Christmas presents can still be ordered online and delivered safely, and maybe it will actually cause people to realize that the true meaning of Christmas does not center around shopping.
I'm sure the Carpenters' "Home for the Holidays" will get a lot of radio airplay this year since commuting around Thanksgiving will be restricted. It's a more fitting song for this year than ever before!
There will still be plenty of radio advertisers during Christmas programming even if a lot of stores are closed.
Public Radio station WUMB still plays it every Thanksgiving. They have a folk/roots/Americana leaning Adult Album Alternative format.
WZLX used to play it every Thanksgiving back when they used to play more '60s music even just a few years ago. Not sure if they still do.
WROR used to play it when they played '60s music. I doubt they still do. There seems to be only one '60s song left in their rotation, Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" (1967), for some reason. No longer any Beatles, Stones, '60s Motown, etc... just that one Van Morrison song. Maybe because a clip from it made #18 in Billboard's "Hot Downloaded Phone Ringtones" in 2006.
AAA station WXRV "The River" has played it on Thanksgiving, not sure if they still do.
I wouldn't be surprised if 1510 WMEX plays it on their first Thanksgiving since returning to the air. Maybe also sister stations WATD and WBMS.
Never get tired of hearing Brown Eyed Girl. I know it's way overplayed on FM radio but it's also one of the greatest songs ever written, in my humble opinion.
You sure WROR doesn't play any Stones at all these days? Not a huge Stones fan overall but I do like some of their earlier songs- Ruby Tuesday and Paint It Black especially.
In 2016 when Paul McCartney played at Fenway Park, WROR did play a fair amount of earlier Beatles songs on that particular weekend.
Getting back on topic- was Mary's Boy Child (the Boney M version) in 106.7's rotation for Christmas programming last year?
Perhaps making the switch to all Christmas music on Friday the 13th in November will be a bad omen for Magic 98.3, since they might lose listeners who are tired of hearing it by the time Christmas Day actually comes around....
When you make the flip to Christmas music early, a lot of people tune in just out of curiosity to see which station was bold enough to do it. So you do gain listeners that way. But you also lose all the listeners who still wanted to hear the station's regular programming up until Thanksgiving.
Not sure what you base that on, but looking at the Nielsen ratings, every station that flips to Christmas sees an increase in audience over their regular programming. And that audience increases as we move closer to the holiday. There is no Christmas fatigue.
As a huge fan of Christmas music, I never get tired of hearing it from late November right up through the holiday as long as there is some variety in terms of which songs/which versions are played. But some more casual listeners do get tired of it if a) they listen to the same station every single day during that time period, and b) the station doesn't have a very deep playlist and plays the same Christmas songs repeatedly. That was my point.
Has 100 FM The Pike ever played any Christmas songs on the actual day, December 25th? Obviously they wouldn't do it before the day itself but since Bob Seger used to play in Worcester frequently, has The Pike ever played his version of Little Drummer Boy?
I'm just asking what do you base that on, because the ratings don't show that song fatigue. The reason radio stations do it is because it increases ratings.
Here's one article on the subject:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/christmas-music-radio-station-ratings-269928
I should have specified WROR no longer plays any '60s Stones. They still play some of their '70s hits.
In 2016 WROR was still classic hits of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. They hadn't gone to their current "'80s and More" format yet, which dropped all '60s except "Brown Eyed Girl". They still play a few of McCartney's '70s hits.
WZLX still plays "Paint It, Black", but not "Ruby Tuesday". Probably too "mellow" for the harder edged sound they've gone for in the past couple of years.
Not that I was aware of.
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