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How much Christian music do stations play when they go all-Christmas?

CTListener said:
One more song to inquire about: "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Despite the nonsensical presence of a talking sheep in the first verse, it's not a novelty song and has to do with the holiday rather than the weather. Still being played by iHeart, and if so, by whom? Simeone Chorale? Crosby? Ames? (That one's my favorite.) Mathis? Or newer versions?
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Bing Crosby or Andy Williams versions are the ones I play. Great stuff, especially within' 2 weeks of Christmas Day!
 
KeithE4 said:
Phoenix's KEZ 99.9 does play Carol of the Bells, but usually as an instrumental by Mannheim Steamroller or the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That's the only Religious-themed carol they play.
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Check out "Carol of the Bells" by the Maranatha Singers. Joyous or haunting?
 
oldies76 said:
One big solution and is guaranteed to work. Forget radio's presentation of Christmas music and all the ridiculous long segments of spots between songs. Just make your own playlists on your computer and bluetooth them out on a portable speaker. All the secular and religious songs, any version you desire, all the rat pack versions, heck you can even rotate the traditional Mormon Tabernacle Choir's versions of religious classics or the Vienna Boys Choir. Because once that poor radio hits the pavement after being tossed, there's no return.
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That's what I do. I have close to two dozen Christmas music CDs, few of which get any airplay on radio whatsoever. I fire up the old USB-powered FM transmitter and broadcast them through the house. Much better than the commercial pablum that KEZ airs.
 
KeithE4 said:
That's what I do. I have close to two dozen Christmas music CDs, few of which get any airplay on radio whatsoever. I fire up the old USB-powered FM transmitter and broadcast them through the house. Much better than the commercial pablum that KEZ airs.
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106.3 in Colorado Springs already flipped 11/15 and in the three short instances I tuned in (less than a minute each time), I've already heard a portion of the same song, twice! Yes, making your own playlists is the way to go today and for the future.
 
Does any non-NPR station play "Coventry Carol" or "The Rocking Carol?" (The latter is not to be confused with a song by Queen.)
 
oldies76 said:
One big solution and is guaranteed to work. Forget radio's presentation of Christmas music and all the ridiculous long segments of spots between songs. Just make your own playlists on your computer and bluetooth them out on a portable speaker. All the secular and religious songs, any version you desire, all the rat pack versions, heck you can even rotate the traditional Mormon Tabernacle Choir's versions of religious classics or the Vienna Boys Choir. Because once that poor radio hits the pavement after being tossed, there's no return.
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I do that as well. I load a flash drive with CCM, pop, rock, and comedy, plus other audio clips I've found over time and run them in my car. I also have a mix for Thanksgiving.
 
oldies76 said:
Yes, making your own playlists is the way to go today and for the future.
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It was the way to go 50 years ago, except people made their own cassettes. It's been going on for years. Radio stations are not in the personal playlist business. The making of personal cassettes became such a problem that the music industry lobbied for a tax on blank cassettes. Now the music industry has a royalty charged to personal playlists. Every time you play a song on Spotify or Pandora, they get paid. Its like a jukebox.
 
Not to mention it's labor intensive for people who don't have time on their hands


TheBigA said:
It was the way to go 50 years ago, except people made their own cassettes. It's been going on for years. Radio stations are not in the personal playlist business. The making of personal cassettes became such a problem that the music industry lobbied for a tax on blank cassettes. Now the music industry has a royalty charged to personal playlists. Every time you play a song on Spotify or Pandora, they get paid. Its like a jukebox.
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TheBigA said:
Looking over the WMAG "recently played" list, I see no examples of Christian songs. It looks like the basic iHeart music list played across the country. I see Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland, Baby Its Cold Outside, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), etc. No Silent Night, no Little Town of Bethlehem, or anything like that.
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Well, you're not hearing it (or seeing the list) when I am.
 
I do afternoon drive for a locally programmed 50,000 Watt FM AC Variety/Jack FM on crack formatted station.. we start playing christmas music the first week in december with 1 song an hour....and then somewhere near the end of the 2nd week, its 2 songs an hour.. and we go all christmas the weekend before christmas and are commercial free 12noon the 24th to 2am the 26th
 
KeithE4 said:
Phoenix's KEZ 99.9 does play Carol of the Bells, but usually as an instrumental by Mannheim Steamroller or the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That's the only Religious-themed carol they play.
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"Carol of the Bells" isn't actually religious. But the Ray Conniff version does have Christian lyrics. "Sarajevo", certainly when you add "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", would count as Christian using that logic, except that when Trans-Siberian Orchestra does it, it sounds like the opposite of Christian.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
I do afternoon drive for a locally programmed 50,000 Watt FM AC Variety/Jack FM on crack formatted station.. we start playing christmas music the first week in december with 1 song an hour....and then somewhere near the end of the 2nd week, its 2 songs an hour.. and we go all christmas the weekend before christmas and are commercial free 12noon the 24th to 2am the 26th
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That's the classic old school approach I remember from WRKO Boston in the '60s and '70s, except they never went all-Christmas until Christmas Eve. The week before was something like a half dozen songs an hour, IIRC.
 
I'm not sure what they will do this year but WASL 100.1 Jack FM in Dyersburg, TN does what theyu call A Jacked Up Christmas made up of Christmas music with similar artiss to what they normally play starting some time in the afternoon Christmas Eve and runs until some time Christmas morning, I like it but they end it too soon on Christmas morning.
 
TheBigA said:
And it's repetitive. For those who complain about radio station playlists, a personal playlist on average tends to be smaller.
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Those C-90's were repetitive, yes, since it was recorded that way off the radio, but as a 11 year old, it was fun and you didn't complain to yourself (or you mother) that it was repetitive. At least today you can shuffle your personal list and not hear the same songs in the same order. But then again, your personal playlists are your personal favorites, most which are not heard on radio today. Exactly why repetitive radio's playlists (and listener's non-favorites within that list) tend to be shunned more often than not in some markets.
 
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