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SLEIGH BELLS ON 106.1

I just can't get the All Christmas thinking. We did it in 2001 and 2002, but it started on Thanksgiving Day. The first Christmas after 9/11, it was a really good idea--seemed like everybody needed it. Now, it's just getting weird. After two months of the Little Drummer Boy, Mary's Boy Child and Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, you're ready to open a vein and end it all. On top of "general overload" factor, statistics show that the holiday season is a major stressor for about 1/3 of the population.

I think it's the radio equivalent of a two month Three Stooges Marathon...wait, I would actually watch that.
 
stacker said:
I just can't get the All Christmas thinking. On top of "general overload" factor, statistics show that the holiday season is a major stressor for about 1/3 of the population.
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I, personally, can't stand Christmas music. However, I can understand the thinking. Despite research showing that only around 5% of the population wants even a month of Christmas music, let alone two, you just don't have to do very well in order to be successful. While Tulsa isn't one of them, there are a lot of markets where a 5 share would put you in the top-3, if not at #1. So, if you get that entire 5% that wants all Christmas music, you have an unbelievable book.

I can see what they're thinking, but going all Christmas won't solve their problems. You go back to being the same ol' crappy station on December 26, and all of the problems you had before come right back. Also, any advertiser who buys an entire year at higher rates because of the all Christmas stunt is an idiot. However, I hear it's easier to sell an all Christmas format over one month because, like I said before, you can be a top performer by having 95% of the population tuning you out.
 
Sgeirk said:
Kool 106 is probably.... not coming back with the same format.
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I agree. Roughly three years and seldom ever above a 3 share is unacceptable to anyone but a brokered or religious broadcaster, and, quite frankly, a format change there is long overdue. While I understand it's a business, it's sad in another sense. I actually liked the 70's/80's gold far better than the oldies it replaced. The music mix was excellent, and it was musically more creative than most other Clear Channel stations. Kevan Seal is also a decent guy with far more talent than almost anyone else in the market. Tulsa was very lucky to get him considering he could've gone just about anywhere 10 years ago. He has an incredible resume with some of America's best stations on it.
 
Sunny and 72 in Tulsa, here is Bing Crosby on Tulsa's Official Voted #1 Original Traditional Holiday Christmas Radio Station.
 
Sgeirk said:
Kool 106 is probably.... not coming back with the same format.
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Ya think?! Yeah, Christmas is a good time to stunt for a New Year's format change. With CC ax'ing Kevan, there is little doubt they plan to do something different. I can only hope they do something radically different. As bad as they have been, they need to shoot for the moon.
 
Next thing you know there'll be segmented formats of year-round Christmas music.

"...all the best CLASSIC Christmas favorites."

"...all the bet COUNTRY Christmas favorites."

(etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.)

Bryan
 
106.1... Yawn.

I suppose it will be making them more money than they usually do with that stick, however, I won't be trying to tune in anytime soon when I'm up that way!
 
I solicited calls this morning (9-10) on KRVT asking listeners when they wanted to hear Christmas music. Out of about 30 responses, no one indicated a desire to hear Christmas anytime before Thanksgiving. More than half of the callers said that they wanted to hear it clustered two weeks before and after Christmas. None wanted to hear All Christmas All The Time.
 
Re: SLEIGH BELLS ON 106.1 and 92.9

At the mall today. No Christmas Music!!!

I find it funny that KQLL-HD2 is off, but 93.5 is still on. Is that legal? I thought a translator was just that, a translator. Not a radio station with originating programming.

As for the Xmas P1 - CORRECT!

My sales friend at KBEZ told me that she is getting negative feedback from her clients. She was also upset that she didn't know about the format flip until she heard it on her radio. That made her very angry. So much for internal communication.
 
Hey.... I saw a fellow broadcaster at the mall today... could it be???
 
stacker said:
I solicited calls this morning (9-10) on KRVT asking listeners when they wanted to hear Christmas music. Out of about 30 responses, no one indicated a desire to hear Christmas anytime before Thanksgiving. More than half of the callers said that they wanted to hear it clustered two weeks before and after Christmas. None wanted to hear All Christmas All The Time.
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Stan, here's my guess as to why the station who switches earlier wins:

The station to switch first makes a big splash and shocks everyone that they're playing Christmas music so early. As a whole, the public hates it and complains about it for a little while.

BUT...when the public is actually ready for Christmas music, who do they go to? They go to the station that BRANDED itself in their head as "that station that went to Christmas music so early."

So, here's the trade off: You're a public spectacle as a station for a couple of weeks by playing Christmas tunes too early. But BECAUSE you were a public spectacle early on, you end up winning in the fall book because everyone remembers (through early negative re-enforcement) that YOU were the station that went Christmas.

Sneaky, irritating, and smart (in the short term) it would appear.

Of course, Machiavellian broadcasting always ends up burning you in the long-term. Because people aren't stupid. Eventually the public wakes up to your games and you have to find a new game to play.
 
BUT...when the public is actually ready for Christmas music, who do they go to? They go to the station that BRANDED itself in their head as "that station that went to Christmas music so early."
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Gary, NightAire, as Ricky Ricardo said again and again, "Lucy, I doan thin peeple are that stupid." (Now that is just for emphasis, not to denigrate all my Cuban friends and clients).

This points to what's wrong with radio today. (No, it has nothing to do with Ricky)

It should be our job to make today's broadcast the best the listener will ever hear...Program like there will never be a tomorrow (except of course for forward promotion). Stunts like all Christmas at Halloween will fall short, listeners will be burned off and tune elsewhere. Will they come back? BIG gamble.

Hell, in October/November, Santa still has his phone forwarded to Florida. Call him, you'll find that he's crankier than Imus.
 
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