Ho-Ho-Ho, A Month To Go

[asugeorge1]

The McRib is probably the tastiest thing to eat at McDonald’s besides their French fries.

As far as Christmas music goes, I’m surprised KEZ beat KOST in El Lay to the punch with the Christmas music. Usually KOST is first before KEZ with the Christmas music or they start the same day. KOST 103.5 is still playing Elton John, The Thompson Twins and Dua Lipa today, while KEZ is playing Brenda Lee, Bing Crosby and the Ray Coniff Singers. Quite the difference right there!

 

[landtuna]

The McRib is probably the tastiest thing to eat at McDonald’s besides their French fries.

I've never had a McRib but do like their egg+sausage mcmuffin.

As far as Christmas music goes, I’m surprised KEZ beat KOST in El Lay to the punch with the Christmas music. Usually KOST is first before KEZ with the Christmas music or they start the same day. KOST 103.5 is still playing Elton John, The Thompson Twins and Dua Lipa today, while KEZ is playing Brenda Lee, Bing Crosby and the Ray Coniff Singers. Quite the difference right there!

I'd vote for the KEZ playlist too. Corey flipped the KEZ music switch last week on the KSAZ Morning Show.

 

[DrAkbar]

I think the McRib is the Gremlin of fast foods.

Nurse Jeff and I don't think a Dr Pepper makes our '76 Gremlin drive better...but it certainly helps to wash down a McRib samich!

 

[davideduardo]

I've never had a McRib but do like their egg+sausage mcmuffin.

Your cardiologist thanks you.

 

[Mikey Radio]

Nurse Jeff and I don't think a Dr Pepper makes our '76 Gremlin drive better...but it certainly helps to wash down a McRib samich!

All this woman wanted was a McRib, a Dr. Pepper and an upgrade..but had her civil rights violated!

 

[DrAkbar]

All this woman wanted was a McRib, a Dr. Pepper and an upgrade..but had her civil rights violated!

I think I saw her at one of the Old Gringo's music tests. If anyone deserves an extra McRib samich for a buck and a large Dr Pepper, she does. Wonder if Sweet James will take the case?

 

[Marcos_C]

Variety? Really?

Fairytale of New York by The Pogues w/ Kirsty MacColl - far more "mainstream" & well-known in the UK than it is stateside (to the point of being covered by contestants on 'Britain's Got Talent') - has yet to grace KEZ's festivities.

The exclusion of British favorites such "Fairytale of New York" and "Do They Know It's Christmas?" on US stations is exactly why I created my own playlist of Christmas pop songs. Instead of a radio station that plays Christmas songs, I listen to my Christmas pop playlist, which has both American and British favorites.

Speaking of British favorites, I highly recommend "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" by Wizzard. It is one of the most uplifting Christmas songs I've heard on the radio. Well, British radio, anyway.

 

[JBraddock]

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" by Roy Wood's Wizzard really should be a standard play over here, just as Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker's "Christmas All Over Again" seems to get a healthy amount of rock play. The two are both upbeat pop-rock songs that fit in, to my ears anyway, with the established Christmas standards.

"Fairytale of New York" is, uh, colorful, maybe too colorful for a US mainstream Christmas playlist. I say that as a major Kirsty MacColl fan.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?," though, deserves to stay on the other side of the pond, along with "We Are The World."

How does the world eat the rest of the year anyway?

 

[landtuna]

Your cardiologist thanks you.

BP is within Old Fart bounds. Thanks to whomever invented statins! (I eat them very infrequently anyway)

As for more modern Xmas music I like Transylvanian Orchestra. Kind of rock me around the tree.

 

[davideduardo]

I think I saw her at one of the Old Gringo's music tests. If anyone deserves an extra McRib samich for a buck and a large Dr Pepper, she does.

She was there. We had to expel her, though, when she tried to put bar-b-que sauce on the dial used to score the songs.

 

[Kelly A]

While all of you are air-checking the various Christmas music on radio stations, the wife and I will be on the beach on the Big Island-Hawaii. Will raise a mai tai in your honor.

 

[indieradioguy]

"Fairytale of New York" is, uh, colorful, maybe too colorful for a US mainstream Christmas playlist. I say that as a major Kirsty MacColl fan.

There's no shortage of gender-swapped cover versions that resolve the lyrics issue - I would bet my KDKB Arizona Sounds Vol. 3 *and* Jerry Riopelle records (I found a used copy of both at the Media Hut gift shop) that there will be a few more covers fairly soon.

 

[DrAkbar]

While all of you are air-checking the various Christmas music on radio stations, the wife and I will be on the beach on the Big Island-Hawaii. Will raise a mai tai in your honor.

Mele Kalikimaka from your coconut headed friends in Buckeye. Nurse Jeff and I'll raise a hot buttered rum in your honor while roasting our chestnuts over the Gremlin's exhaust manifold.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Kost 103.5 in la isn't starting Christmas music till nov 12 a week later then they normally do. I wonder what genius suit told them to do this. I am not happy.

 

[davideduardo]

Kost 103.5 in la isn't starting Christmas music till nov 12 a week later then they normally do. I wonder what genius suit told them to do this. I am not happy.

Since LA is a PPM market, it really does not matter.

 

[TheBigA]

Kost 103.5 in la isn't starting Christmas music till nov 12 a week later then they normally do. I wonder what genius suit told them to do this. I am not happy.

The key thing to know is the December ratings book begins November 11.

It is likely that will help them be #1 again in that period.

 

[asugeorge1]

Kost 103.5 in la isn't starting Christmas music till nov 12 a week later then they normally do. I wonder what genius suit told them to do this. I am not happy.

Same with KYXY 96.5 FM in San Diego. They are unfortunately still playing their normal AC playlist. I seem to recall both them and KOST starting it a week earlier too. Even though KYXY is owned by Entercom, err I mean Audacy, they really seem to mirror the moves made by I Heart Radio’s KOST in El Lay!

 

[xkxrx]

The key thing to know is the December ratings book begins November 11.

It is likely that will help them be #1 again in that period.

Thanks for that explanation BigA. I was just going to ask David why it didn't matter.

 

[johndavis]

Thanks for that explanation BigA. I was just going to ask David why it didn't matter.

This is the game they play. Everyone throws out the Holiday book because people's media usage is different for the holidays (travel, etc.), so stations start early to boost the numbers in the December book (or even to get a bump at the end of the November book.)

 

[davideduardo]

This is the game they play. Everyone throws out the Holiday book because people's media usage is different for the holidays (travel, etc.), so stations start early to boost the numbers in the December book (or even to get a bump at the end of the November book.)

Nielsen has to keep the panel "alive" 365 days a year; if they were to give them a "vacation" there would be attrition they did not know about during the month.

Because the system is a panel with up to 24 months of permanence(1), they have to keep the total number of meters active all the time. It really decreases costs to keep them active during the "Holiday" 4-week period.

(1) Because of COVID, some panelists in some markets are being kept more than 24 months. This is due to recruiting difficulties and also due to the lack of replacement meters because of the chip production delays in Asia.