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Official Christmas Music Station?

I guess I will get the ball rolling and ask the questions..

1. Which station(s) will be the "official" Christmas music station?
2. When will this festive event begin?
3. Does anyone think, a station will "stunt" Christmas music and change it's format January 1st 2010?

I kind of like what WWMY (Y-102.9) did. They started around Thanksgiving and played a few Christmas songs here and there and gradually built up to several songs an hour. I do not remember if they were all Christmas at one point.

Thanks,
Stuart
 
Not sure who will go first but I'll pass along these thoughts.

The Arbitron calendar greatly affects radio station decisions when to flip. This year, the fall book ends December 9th. You really need to have Christmas on the air a minimum of three weeks or preferably four weeks to impact the fall book. 3 weeks would put you at the week before Thanksgiving, which is late again this year.
KESZ in Phoenix has already announced they're going on 11/1.

Whoever goes first will win....IF....you allow them to get a significant head start. Especially, if a strong plan is in place to promote as the Christmas station.

If a station in the market has now been able to establish themselves as the Christmas station over a number of years, it will be difficult to knock them off if they have been doing a good job. B 101 in Philly and WLTW in NYC were challenged by Classic Hits stations WOGL and CBS FM, respectively. Neither were able to impact either B or LTW much.

A station that is planning a format change after the holidays may as well flip now. No reason whatsoever to wait.
 
Seltzer said:
A station that is planning a format change after the holidays may as well flip now. No reason whatsoever to wait.

October 3. Don't they usually start Christmas music after Labor Day, they are late this year! ::)
 
I thought Y102.9 just did xmas tunes online last year.

carolinachristmasmusic.com or some such thing
 
Thanks Seltzer,

I did not realize the procedure was so complicated. I thought "they" just grabbed a Perry Como Christmas song and just play it!!
 
"seltzer" knows EXACTLY what he is talking about ... "Christmas music" is all about the weeks credited to the Diaries .... BTW it all changed w/ PPM
 
The PPM markets have the luxury of what is called a "13th month"....this year December 10 and on til the end of the month. Christmas stations in the PPM world post "astronomical #s in this extra ratings frame. Stations in the "diary" world that do Christmas would love for the fall book to continue for at least another week...which would take you this year to the 16th. The #s for that week would be huge.

As to the one who "rolled their eyes" on the prospect of a station changing now that has a format change planned for after the holidays.......WHY NOT? If you are changing your format after the first of the year, you won't be promoting your current format or personalities. May as well cut your expenses now and that probably means those not in your plans for the new year. Sounds harsh, I know, but it's reality.
 
WRAL went all Christmas music and did not have a particularly good book.
Y102.9 played several cuts per hour and did not have a stellar book.
KISS did not play Christmas music and had an up book.

Christmas music has not been a lock in Raleigh-Durham since Sunny's demise.
 
Seltzer said:
As to the one who "rolled their eyes" on the prospect of a station changing now that has a format change planned for after the holidays.......WHY NOT? If you are changing your format after the first of the year, you won't be promoting your current format or personalities. May as well cut your expenses now and that probably means those not in your plans for the new year. Sounds harsh, I know, but it's reality.

I wasn't talking about a format change, I was talking about how early they start playing Christmas music! I figure by the year 2020, they'll be doing Cool Yule 24/7, all year long!
 
dittohead1 said:
I thought Y102.9 just did xmas tunes online last year.

carolinachristmasmusic.com or some such thing

Y102.9 did last year like they did in '07: Started out after Halloween with the web-only stream at carolinachristmasmusic.com, then, closer to the Christmas music season, went to all-Christmas on the air also.
Mix 101.5 also does an all-Christmas format during the Christmas music season, usually starting about a week before Thanksgiving. 93.9 Kiss-FM tried it in '07, carrying on for one more year the tradition its predecessor Sunny 93.9 started, but after poor ratings they abandoned the Christmas music after that; instead they kept their regular format last year and mixed in selected Christmas tunes.
In the Triad, the Christmas music station remains 99.5 WMAG, the former WMQX 93.1 also did Christmas until they went country and became The Wolf three years ago.
 
We toss this around every year and every year the stations that do Christmas music have huge upticks in the ratings. Who's having the last laugh. Eh?
 
+1 for atticus. the mass radio demographic is the Christmas music group.
all the other demos are listening to iPods or the voices in their heads.
 
Here's a concept for the AM and FM Talk stations; start talking about everything Christmas! Boy Limbaugh would be perfect! That way we could avoid the "Christmas Rush!"
 
Brilliant! Then there might be something worth listening to besides Clark Howard.
 
I'll bet you that Oldies 103.3 in Boston will go all Christmas at midnight Saturday night. As far as Greensboro is concerned, they might start it up on Saturday morning at or around 6 a.m.
 
blackgold said:
I'll bet you that Oldies 103.3 in Boston will go all Christmas at midnight Saturday night. As far as Greensboro is concerned, they might start it up on Saturday morning at or around 6 a.m.

Just curious if "BlackGold" is a station that you work at and Gee what does Boston have to do with it??? Maybe...WRKO WILL MAKE YOU RICH!!! Is there such a thing as a "Black Gold" Oldies Station??? How many times can you listen to :"Shaft" I'm even sich of the Supremes and the Temptations, even the Four Tops..GAWD, I listened and played them enough!! ::) BIGAPE
 
93.9 should go all-Christmas then go AC with Delilah after. Still think AC would do better than what they are doing now and they could keep the staff intact. I'm sure CC would like to get Delilah back on.
 
carolinaradio said:
93.9 should go all-Christmas then go AC with Delilah after. Still think AC would do better than what they are doing now and they could keep the staff intact. I'm sure CC would like to get Delilah back on.

I don't see why she couldn't return to the current 93.9. Her G'boro affiliate 99.5 (a CC station) sounds like a mix of the playlists heard on 93.9 and 101.5...
As for Christmas music, I think the problem 93.9 ran into the last time they did all-Christmas was that 101.5 and 102.9 had already beaten them to the punch with the format.
 
berlin201 said:
carolinaradio said:
93.9 should go all-Christmas then go AC with Delilah after. Still think AC would do better than what they are doing now and they could keep the staff intact. I'm sure CC would like to get Delilah back on.

I don't see why she couldn't return to the current 93.9. Her G'boro affiliate 99.5 (a CC station) sounds like a mix of the playlists heard on 93.9 and 101.5...
As for Christmas music, I think the problem 93.9 ran into the last time they did all-Christmas was that 101.5 and 102.9 had already beaten them to the punch with the format.


;D ;D ;D :D Berlin always gets involved in these Christmas Music discussions" hahahah Get it.. Berlin as in "Irving" who wrote "White Christmas" ***** Four stars Omar..Man, I'm a genius and a comic too.... ;) ;)BIGAPE I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...la tee da tee da!!
 
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