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It's the Magic of Christmas

All-Christmas hasn't done as well in the Greenville market in the past couple of years as it has in a lot of other markets across the country. However, it's probably still bringing in the money. I agree that the move is made from more of a financial standpoint. As far as ratings, it's anyone's guess about how well it'll do for MY.

BOTH are calling themselves "the Christmas station." Seems to me that WMYI could have been a bit more creative than just using what someone else was already using. As I said earlier, although I prefer the regular format on MY much more than Magic, Magic's execution of the Christmas music format is much better. Their music is at least programmed locally.
 
Christmas music is expected on AC stations. In Columbia Fox 102 is promoting a Christmas weekend.
Each hour will kick with a Christmas song - on Thanksgiving weekend - on a classic rock station.
Its being heavily promoted and of course, its sponsored. because thats what Christmas is all about
 
GordonSims said:
Christmas music is expected on AC stations. In Columbia Fox 102 is promoting a Christmas weekend.
Each hour will kick with a Christmas song - on Thanksgiving weekend - on a classic rock station.
Its being heavily promoted and of course, its sponsored. because thats what Christmas is all about
Click to expand...

Loved your work on WKRP Gordon. Long live the Fly Trap!
 
GordonSims said:
Christmas music is expected on AC stations. In Columbia Fox 102 is promoting a Christmas weekend.
Each hour will kick with a Christmas song - on Thanksgiving weekend - on a classic rock station.
Its being heavily promoted and of course, its sponsored. because thats what Christmas is all about
Click to expand...

Not sure what the trend is nationally, but I'm not sure if Christmas is necessarily expected on a Hot AC station. It's fine for them to mix it in, but it's even a more pronounced change to go from "hot" new music to mostly old Christmas standards.

Personally, I feel that all-Christmas should even be just on more Easy Listening stations built for an even older crowd. But we really don't have any of those around Greenville. But all of the Christian/Shine stations certainly could fill the void.

Anyway, I don't know the financials. I'm sure it is much cheaper expenditure wise to go all-Christmas. Still think it was the wrong move for WMYI with their format change, but we'll see come January and 2012 in general how they do. Certainly hope they don't come back with another format change. If anything, I hope they do come back with an even stronger push towards all Hot AC and get rid of Delilah. Guess we'll know in about 6 weeks.
 
Music use to follow a pattern and what goes around comes around in one fashion or another like a pendulum on a clock swinging back and forth. Now thou due to money and large companies thinking they know whats best for everyone the patterns that music follows from one generation to the next are steered and changed to suit what they the music industry believe's is or will be best to suit them and not the necessarily general public, after all steering people like sheep is not that hard to do just make it the so called In Thing and you got a lot of them hook line and sinker. Chirstmas music doesn't follow this new pattern, it is traditional and therefore sometimes sounds old especially to people caught up in the moment of the In Thing and riding the wave of right now. I often wonder how long this music pattern can last since it is not a natural pattern, well a least Christmas music isn't steered so much yet.
 
Preacherdude said:
GordonSims said:
Christmas music is expected on AC stations. In Columbia Fox 102 is promoting a Christmas weekend.
Each hour will kick with a Christmas song - on Thanksgiving weekend - on a classic rock station.
Its being heavily promoted and of course, its sponsored. because thats what Christmas is all about
Click to expand...

Loved your work on WKRP Gordon. Long live the Fly Trap!
Click to expand...

Thanks Preacher! ;D I was surprised to find out how many people DIDN'T recognize the name
 
awp69 said:
Personally, I feel that all-Christmas should even be just on more Easy Listening stations built for an even older crowd. But we really don't have any of those around Greenville.
Click to expand...
There is WMUU, and they do it, but as is true for the rest of the year, it's way more conservative than would you hear on other stations.
 
awp69 said:
carolinaradio said:
I heard Liz Ryals play a Christmas song, then she said something about it and if you want more Christmas music, listen to the online stream....after that, she said "back to the fresh, new sound of MY 102.5."

The Christmas music may be one way they're helping to promote the stream. I have heard no indication that the actual station is going all-Christmas, thankfully!
Click to expand...

Yep, just about every time I've heard a Christmas song they've said something similar. Go to the website if you want more. Really think this is the way they're going to handle things this year. Fingers crossed.

To be honest, I realize that traditional AC stations like Magic (and formerly MY) go all-Christmas. But in bigger cities that still have Easy Listening, that's really where all-Christmas belongs. Even on a regular AC station, they don't play Bing Crosby the other 10 months of the year.
Click to expand...
Sadly, that's even true of my station.
 
awp69 said:
Not sure what the trend is nationally, but I'm not sure if Christmas is necessarily expected on a Hot AC station. It's fine for them to mix it in, but it's even a more pronounced change to go from "hot" new music to mostly old Christmas standards.

Personally, I feel that all-Christmas should even be just on more Easy Listening stations built for an even older crowd. But we really don't have any of those around Greenville. But all of the Christian/Shine stations certainly could fill the void.

Anyway, I don't know the financials. I'm sure it is much cheaper expenditure wise to go all-Christmas. Still think it was the wrong move for WMYI with their format change, but we'll see come January and 2012 in general how they do. Certainly hope they don't come back with another format change. If anything, I hope they do come back with an even stronger push towards all Hot AC and get rid of Delilah. Guess we'll know in about 6 weeks.
Click to expand...
I feel the same way. There are a few Hot/Fresh AC's that go all-Christmas, but not many. I'm sure there's a reason.

After Christmas would be a fantastic time to show Delilah the door, but I doubt it will happen.

2012 will be the year that we see if MY's adjustment this past summer is truly a success or not. I sincerily hope it is, but after the dust has settled, I just don't see them leading Magic. I like to give a new station around 3-4 books before calling it a success or failure (unless it's an obvious failure, like female talk was). While their numbers in the summer ratings book were very good, they might have been high due to listeners sampling the updated station, curiosity, etc. Hopefully not another fluke. Winter and spring '12 will show a clear direction of where the station's headed, IMO, assuming they don't change anything. Christmas may throw fall '11 off.
 
carolinaradio said:
I sincerily hope it is, but after the dust has settled, I just don't see them leading Magic.
Click to expand...

Are you saying this because Magic will win Winter thanks to the Christmas music? Or do you really think they'll still lead in the traditional AC vs. Hot AC? I hope not the later. I know the people I've talked to certainly are liking the updated format. I could see them pretty close, but don't think (hope) that MY will fail.

Charlie FM, while not really a Hot AC (not sure what you classify them since those stations just have a quirky variety that somehow still sounded good), wasn't given enough of a chance at all. As long as MY sticks with it, I think they should do well. It's a lot different to me, anyway, to discover and like a format on an established station and brand like MY. Where Charlie was on a frequency that many people may never even had tried in the past. Even with that said, I don't even think Charlie lasted an entire book, did they? What kind of chance was it even given? WORD is successful because they brought their AM base over to their FM frequency.

Anyway, I really hope the Christmas switch doesn't hurt their long term prospects with Hot AC. We NEED a station like this in the Upstate. Although both did OK in the ratings with traditional AC (with MY usually slightly behind), I don't feel there's the need for two of them with the same format. As you mentioned, there's nowhere for people like us to go now that WMYI is all Christmas. We have to put up with 93.7, which is not ideal for the late 20s to 40s age group.
 
awp69 said:
carolinaradio said:
I sincerily hope it is, but after the dust has settled, I just don't see them leading Magic.
Click to expand...

Are you saying this because Magic will win Winter thanks to the Christmas music? Or do you really think they'll still lead in the traditional AC vs. Hot AC? I hope not the later. I know the people I've talked to certainly are liking the updated format. I could see them pretty close, but don't think (hope) that MY will fail.

Charlie FM, while not really a Hot AC (not sure what you classify them since those stations just have a quirky variety that somehow still sounded good), wasn't given enough of a chance at all. As long as MY sticks with it, I think they should do well. It's a lot different to me, anyway, to discover and like a format on an established station and brand like MY. Where Charlie was on a frequency that many people may never even had tried in the past. Even with that said, I don't even think Charlie lasted an entire book, did they? What kind of chance was it even given? WORD is successful because they brought their AM base over to their FM frequency.

Anyway, I really hope the Christmas switch doesn't hurt their long term prospects with Hot AC. We NEED a station like this in the Upstate. Although both did OK in the ratings with traditional AC (with MY usually slightly behind), I don't feel there's the need for two of them with the same format. As you mentioned, there's nowhere for people like us to go now that WMYI is all Christmas. We have to put up with 93.7, which is not ideal for the late 20s to 40s age group.
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I feel the same way, and while I don't think it will fail, mainstream AC usually does better than a hot AC format in the southeast. Why, I have no idea. Charlotte doesn't even have a true Hot AC right now. There aren't many hot AC stations in the south. I was meaning that I think they will perform well enough to stay around, but their ratings may level off a little lower than Magic's given the format's history in this region. They are probably wise to play it safe like they are. I agree that it's a format that's needed here, and in a lot of other southern towns. Variety can be so limited around here.

Charlie FM ran from August to June, so that's 10 months, surprisingly. It didn't seem that long. It really is too bad Entercom had to ditch it for WORD on FM, although that was a smart move - too bad Charlie couldn't have moved to 93.3, or WORD couldn't have gone to 93.3. The Planet would be no big loss.
 
carolinaradio said:
Charlie FM ran from August to June, so that's 10 months, surprisingly.
Click to expand...

That is surprising. I really thought it had only been on like two months at best. Maybe it just seemed quicker.
 
That's not surprising, we have been on the air for over ten years now and have kids who have grown up listening to us that now have kids of their own and people who have listened to us for over a decade and think we have been around forever and still every so often we run in to someone who says they never heard of us or thinks we have been on the air a year or two maybe three. I guess time does fly.
 
While the AC's battle out over who has the biggest sleigh bells, there is a taste of the non-jingle tunes on Carolina's Classic 103.3 WOLT and www.wolt-fm.com. Catch classic hits beginning at 9am after Awake with Drake Thanksgiving Day and Friday. They also currently roll 9a-2p Monday-Friday and 6p-6am.
 
CraigD said:
While the AC's battle out over who has the biggest sleigh bells, there is a taste of the non-jingle tunes on Carolina's Classic 103.3 WOLT and www.wolt-fm.com. Catch classic hits beginning at 9am after Awake with Drake Thanksgiving Day and Friday. They also currently roll 9a-2p Monday-Friday and 6p-6am.
Click to expand...
I've gotta say, WOLT has certainly improved, and sounds very good. Can't get in to the brokered stuff (sorry), but it sure would be great if this format could be done full-time, commercially.
 
Add Columbia to the Christmas flips. WTCB and WMHK both went all in on Friday. At least that makes more sense than the ones who went in early November.
 
Bugz said:
Add Columbia to the Christmas flips. WTCB and WMHK both went all in on Friday. At least that makes more sense than the ones who went in early November.
Click to expand...

Country & Christmas stations make up about half the radio dial right now here in Gaffney. :mad:
 
carolinaradio said:
I feel the same way. There are a few Hot/Fresh AC's that go all-Christmas, but not many. I'm sure there's a reason.
Click to expand...
Star 92.1 in Myrtle Beach, but there's not a mainstream or even soft AC located in the market, unles you count Arbitron's erroneous description of easy listening WEZV.

I wonder why Star is hot AC when hot ACs don't do well in the South?
 
My wife and I went to Atlanta this weekend and I listened to WOLT each time I passed through the upstate. Best quality sound I have heard on the radio in a long time! I switched back and forth between My and WOLT just to compare the quality. No comparison! Very clean! Sounds more like pure digital and little or no compression. And two things I'd like for WOLT: the 60s and 70s all the time, and enough signal to cover Rutherford County!
 
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