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Don't Look Now, But......

And immediately played the wrong version of "Jingle Bell Rock."
 
I bet 3WS does not return to the oldies format once christmas is over. I don't understand why stations are flipping to all christmas music so early. By the time christmas is here, I won't wanna hear another christmas song. This is Just my opinion though.
 
This is Just my opinion though.

It is an opinion that is shared by most people. There is only one thing worse than hearing Christmas music 24/7 starting more than a week before Thanksgiving, and that is hearing a very short list of "hit" Christmas songs over and over and over and over and over.

Being subjected to the 3WS Christmas Song playlist for more than a few weeks would turn Santa Claus into Scrooge!!!!!!

And please, spare me the crap about "It's business. Christmas songs get good ratings." Is there nothing in this world that broadcasters might consider not screwing up just for the sake of ratings?
 
According to yes.com, 3WS flipped at 9 this morning, right after Merkel.....Now, WISH has been all Xmas since noon. Will THEY be all-Xmas? Please, I hope not!

RR, IMHO it IS all business! The Fall Arbitron book helps the sales departments determine their rates for at least the first part of the new year. It has nothing to do with celebrating the season at all. It's pure exploitation of people's cash. All-Xmas has been a ratings winner so 3WS can go out and charge more ad dollars the next year. And of course Renda is just as greedy so he has to fall in line too. And since Arbitron goes by AQH rather than cume, if a listener with a diary samples a couple of Xmas songs Renda and/or CC can go "cha-CHING." I just want to take bets as to when Daddy Saul hollers down to Greggie and Mikey to flip 'LTJ. I'll say.....by the end of the week!

It shouldn't be "Do They Know It's Christmas" but "Do They Know WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS?"

I seriously doubt it.
 
The Fall Arbitron book helps the sales departments determine their rates for at least the first part of the new year.

Yeah, I realize that is true. It just amazes me that the people who buy airtime based on the ratings are so incredibly stupid that they'll base Spring purchases on Christmas Season stunting. Or that the management of the companies who buy commercial airtime allow themselves to be tricked into spending big bucks based on such a screwy system.

How can anyone so brain dead as to believe that because people listened to Christmas songs on 3WS in December, those same people are going to continue to listen to 3WS when Christmas is over and they'd be back to playing the same handful of old songs over and over and over and over. One has to assume that to be in a position in a company where one can make such decisions, one should know a few things. But if the people responsible for making those decisions can't see through the blatant problems with the way Arbitron numbers are calculated, how can they make any sound business decisions about anything?

Basing Spring airtime purchases on Christmas Season ratings make as much sense as scheduling ski trips in May based on the snowfall in February.
 
It's partially ratings, but it is also partially selling. It is a lot like the Steelers. You don't really need 3 hours of pre game and another three hours of post game for a Steelers broadcast, the status of the hang nail on the third string quarterback isn't going to come into play, but as long as you can slap Steelers on it, it will sell, so the more of it you have, the better for sales. Similarly, some people will buy into anything just because it is Christmas, so the next logical step is to have your Christmas pregame show, it just so happens this year's pregame show started this week.
 
...and, hey, it gives the jocks a chance to not talk over a beach boys song for the 400th time...not that i don't dig mike fraizer(?) nailing a post, like he does regularly....but at least its good for them....at least for two weeks, then...living hell...which makes you appriciate the beach boys more and more...all over again...
 
I made the mistake of telling one of the guys here in the office that 3WS is playing Christmas music. He put 3WS on the radio, at high volume, and guards the dial against station changes.

If I hear "I want a Hippopotamous for Christmas" one more time, I think I might snap and start acting like an employee of the US Postal Service.

And it's not even Thanksgiving yet!!!
 
Radio Realist,
Don't forget about Dominick the Donkey and those Chipmunks. What's worse yet is that next week we will have 3 all christmas stations. We already have 3WS and Wish all christmas. Per the WLTJ website, they go all christmas next Wednesday. yuck. It won't be long before they start playing all christmas after labor day.
 
Pratte4Life said:
To me, this is a sign that the format these stations have isn't that strong in the first place.
Click to expand...
Interesting observation and arguably sustainable. We all know it's about the money and ridiculous reasoning like, "if we don't do it, THEY will" or "WE have to switch first to get the jump on THEM."

I've been out of radio (by choice) for a number of years, but I've often thought of how I'd endure working the "all Christmas" format.... Probably spend a lot of time with the monitors down, reading the paper and surfing the Internet, and making sure the liners are properly arranged and my next mic break was in order. Doing all Christmas would seem mind-numbing, but to the contrary, it would require more concentration and diligence to overcome the boredom.

When the national trades reported that Pittsburgh had two All Christmas stations and a third might join the fray, I had to make the "short trip down I-79" from the Buffalo board (where I normally post) to read the reactions here and sample the opinion.

For whatever reason, none of the Buffalo stations have flipped... but the clock is ticking and it's just a matter of time. I had to chuckle reading the post from the guy whose territorial co-worker locks the radio on 3-W-S and guards it like a Rottweiler. If I had to work in an environment like that, I'd probably "go postal" too (shooting the radio, not its owner)... or sue the guy for "cruel and unusual punishment."[/Mike]
 
With no oldies in 'da burgh it sure would be nice if Clarke could dump the all day paid stuff and crank up the 620 KHB music machine! ;D
 
Pratte4Life said:
To me, this is a sign that the format these stations have isn't that strong in the first place.
Click to expand...

Maybe not. One of the stations that annually makes the all-Christmas switch is WLTW, the No. 1 station in New York.

Locally, WSHH is a consistent money-maker and 3WS was still very strong when it first started going all-Christmas in November.
 
What's worse yet is that next week we will have 3 all christmas stations.

The misery gets compounded! Not only has 3WS jumped the gun playing Christmas music early, they're also only playing a very short list of Christmas songs. So in addition to having to hear Christmas songs in November, we're also be subjected to the same handful of Christmas songs over and over and over and over and over and over.

And please, don't tell me that test audiences and focus groups were used in determining which Christmas songs to play. That would have been abuse of test audience volunteers.
 
Is this the first year WSHH has gone all-Christmas? They used to only play Christmas music during Delilah's show in the evening and then mixed in throughout the day.
 
I do believe this is the first year wish went all christmas this early. Last year and previous years, I think they only went all Christmas 3-4 days before the holiday.
 
Here's some questions.

Can this city support three all-Xmas stations?

What good will each station's spring ad figures be (where this is all aimed at, supposedly) if they're being smashed by competition from each other?
 
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