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When is it too early for Christmas music?

IMO, I think it is a bad practice for AC stations to flip all-Christmas so early because in such a bad economy, people are too depress to go shopping and it's depressing to listen to Christmas music when you couldn't enjoy or celebrate Christmas as joyfully since some of their family members are unemployed and homeless since their home are foreclosed. Isn't it depressing to listen to Christmas music when you lost your home? You have to tell your family members that you couldn't afford gifts for them because you're unemployed and you lost your home. Isn't that horrible? Isn't it horrible to listen to Christmas over a long period of time when things are like this around us?

It would been a smarter and better practice if AC stations were to flip all-Christmas really early back in the 90s or early 2000s when the economy is running good and everybody enjoy and celebrate Christmas as joyfully since everybody is employed with good wages and had a lot of money to spend on gifts for their family members. Now, that's the time when Christmas music should be in great demand because with a good economy at that time everybody would be happy for Christmas and would be looking forward to Christmas music coming in early.

I may be wrong I'm surprised that the PPM ratings goes up when a station flips to all-Christmas. So, I may got my opinion opposite because some people prefer to listen to Christmas music early since they couldn't enjoy Christmas over a bad economy and the best way to enjoy the holidays in a bad economy is to stay home and listen to Christmas music.

Mainly, Christmas music has been in demand since the 9/11 because it brings peace, that's the theory out there. I may be wrong with any of my opinions economy shouldn't shaped how demanding and early AC stations should flip all-Christmas.

What do you guys think?
 
The numbers speak for themselves. Whatever the psychology behind it, it works.
 
Kelly Watts said:
When i was programming I would start the day AFTER Thankgiving adding 1 to 2 cuts per hour. The next week I would increase it, and over the four week period I would keep adding until Christmas week was 100%. The Christmas night I would decrease back to 2 per hour for a few days.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how I wish the Christmas programming could be... a GRADUAL increase in frequency of Christmas songs on the radio.
 
radiobum said:
Just sprinkle them in prior to December 21st ? I don't see why stations think it has to be ALL CHRISTMAS MUSIC and in warm climates it seems ridiculous to hear Christmas music when it's 80 degrees outside !
Click to expand...

I agree completely!
 
My prediction for next year.....

The first station in the country to go all-holiday will take place around Columbus Day..then some of the bigger AC stations will follow suit days before Halloween!

Then a year after that, Christmas tunes will hit the airwaves on October 1. It could happen!
 
Tiger1983 said:
My prediction for next year.....

The first station in the country to go all-holiday will take place around Columbus Day..then some of the bigger AC stations will follow suit days before Halloween!

Then a year after that, Christmas tunes will hit the airwaves on October 1. It could happen!
Click to expand...
Maybe if Christmas does even hit the airwaves by July 1, then that's when it's good enough to develop a year-round Christmas station.
 
new_friends_gr said:
Kelly Watts said:
When i was programming I would start the day AFTER Thankgiving adding 1 to 2 cuts per hour. The next week I would increase it, and over the four week period I would keep adding until Christmas week was 100%. The Christmas night I would decrease back to 2 per hour for a few days.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how I wish the Christmas programming could be... a GRADUAL increase in frequency of Christmas songs on the radio.
Click to expand...
America's Best Music, which is network adult standards but virtually indistinguishable from these ACs once it goes all-Christmas, has a Christmas song after each commercial break except one per hour, and one after the long news break.

I could do without these new songs that happen to mention Christmas but don't sound anything like the classics. Justin Bieber comes to mind and I sincerely hope he doesn't end up on America's Best Music.
 
I always turn the radio off when Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" comes on. That has NO right to be on an AC all-Christmas station, even though it's Christmas music.

I would rather have my figgie pudding and Currier and Ives picture frame please!

-crainbebo
 
No right...that's good stuff. I wasn't aware songs had rights. :)

If the target audience accepts it, then it belongs there. Not everyone lives entirely in the past.
 
Oh, I get it, it's supposed to be Christmas music, not just "holiday" music.
 
crainbebo said:
I always turn the radio off when Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" comes on. That has NO right to be on an AC all-Christmas station, even though it's Christmas music.

I would rather have my figgie pudding and Currier and Ives picture frame please!

-crainbebo
Click to expand...
I heard it and I would agree. It's not Christmas music either. It happens to mention Christmas.
 
imhomerjay said:
If the target audience accepts it, then it belongs there. Not everyone lives entirely in the past.
Click to expand...

Correct to a point...most people this time of year know what songs have passed the test of time and expect those songs. Most would rather hear the Beach Boys "Little Saint Nick" or "It's the Most Wonderful Time Of Year" by Andy Willams, than Justin Beiber. Maybe in 10-20 years, if he has proven himself to be a music legend, then it might be accepted as a "must-hear" Christmas song.

Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" is becoming well-known now, which is good considering she's been around since 1990 musically.
 
Becoming well known? It's been there.

And how did it get there? By being played. No one says a new Bieber or Taylor Swift song is now a classic. But, again, of the audience for AC accepts it alongside the Beach Boys, then it "belongs" there. "Classics" didn't just fall out of the sky--they were the new songs once upon a time, and given that time moves forward, there will continue to be new songs, even new versions of Christmas songs. Music didn't stop in 1975, and the AC audience today can actually accept a blend of the classics alongside ones from contemporary artists.
 
Well, stuff from Josh Groban, Michae Buble and Harry Connick, Jr are good for the all-Christmas format. But Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" is not good to play on an AC all-Christmas station, even though it mentions winter and X-Mas. Bieber is a teen and twenty-somethings idol, not really for 25-54 (maybe for 25-30, that's it). Playing Bieber's Mistletoe on a Hot AC or CHR sprinkled with the usual is fine for me, not all-out AC christmas.

-crainbebo
 
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