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
And this smart method is the one many of us are accustomed with and is the way I would do it too. I just do not understand the need to saturate listeners with seasonal Christmas music 24/7, before Thanksgiving weekend, for nearly 45 days before the holiday.