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Who's winning the battle of christmas music?

A

atrainradio

Guest
This year has just gone mad with christmas tunes.
To sum it up, we have WOGL 98.1, WJBR 99.5, 100.7 WLEV, 101.1 WBEB all playing christmas music. Are they all in competition against each other?
 
This year has just gone mad with christmas tunes.
To sum it up, we have WOGL 98.1, WJBR 99.5, 100.7 WLEV, 101.1 WBEB all playing christmas music. Are they all in competition against each other?

You have included stations from the Allentown market and the Wilmington market which do not serve nor market in the Philadelphia market.

The only two direct competitors are WBEB and WOGL.
 
True, yet these signals serve philly.I mean you know how strong WJBR's signal is in Philly, so that is why I say it is a competitor of sorts.
 
Nobody who's listening is winning. The usual tired nauseating playlists. OGL actually has the worst Christmas song ever written connected to one of their contests so people actually have to listen for McCartney's crappy song. Ugh.
You know, I would like to turn on the car radio and hear something for Christmas... without connecting to the net or satellite. But that is the only way to go. Both B101 and WOGL both suck.

I'm sure they're cleaning up and killing it in the ratings book.

Dreck. (I've always wanted to use a Mad Magazine reference in regards to radio. I'll do it again... Pure Dreck, by the usual gang of idiots)
Like I said, I'm sure they're cleaning up.
 
Both B101 and WOGL both suck.

Are you a woman in the rough 25 to 55 year old range? Otherwise, neither station at this time of the year cares much what you think.
 
My wife and her friends loooove Christmas Music and so WOGL 98.1, WJBR 99.5, 100.7 WLEV, 101.1 WBEB want their ears to please their advertisers so it is what it is, business. If those stations thought they could get even more of those desired female demos by playing Polkas 24/7 they would. So if you like me don't want Christmas Music until Christmas Eve, then tune to a different station.
 
WCRadio2 said >>>Both B101 and WOGL both suck. I'm sure they're cleaning up and killing it in the ratings book.<<<

Yogi Berra once said about a very popular restaurant that nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded. A few years ago, I remember B101, WOGL and 97.5 (after it switched from Smooth Jazz and before it went Sports) all did Christmas music one December. And in the Holiday ratings, they finished #1, #2 and #3.

My question is why WCRadio2 is upset about Christmas music on the region's three AC stations (Philly, Wilmington and Allentown). The AC audience is pretty much the same one that wants Christmas music in December. The only odd one is WOGL. Only a few CBS Classic Hits/Oldies stations switch to Christmas music. WCBS-FM NYC and KRTH LA don't. But I guess B101 is so strong in December that CBS felt it had no other choice. Some adult-aimed stations, such as Classic Hits/Oldies, Hot AC and Country, just figure they'll take a hit in December but their audience will return on Dec. 26. So they stick it out.
 
I'm not really upset as such. Disappointed perhaps. And maybe 'suck' is not a true Christmassy word. But, boy you guys read a lot into things.

Personally, I love Christmas music on the radio. I AM tired of such a narrow playlist. But I also listen online to a wider variety of Christmas choices.
Others my age don't bother and don't care to. They are being served well by both WOGL and B101.
And, if you guys are fans of 'Wonderful Christmas Time', more power to you.

PS
I remember that year Gregg. All 3 stations with Christmas going on.
 
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Yes, online streaming truly makes terrestrial radio Christmas flips sound incredibly mundane. And I imagine listening to any station for too long will lead to repetition-induced violent urges. But in terms of 101 vs. OGL, OGL takes the cake for presentation and variety. Presentation lends to it being a Classic Hits station, compared to 101's "hip doctors' office" approach with sleepily safe hosts. More Motown covers, more "oldies" covers, less Mannheim Steamroller (yet no less Paul McCartney thanks to that damn contest). OGL is simply more fun to have on.

If only WDAS-AM would have thrown the classic soul/R&B Christmas back on like when they relaunched a few years back...

(Classic soul/R&B Christmas has been my go-to for any online streaming services. OGL does better in that category too)
 
Personally I prefer a more religious Christmas music format, so I do scan by and listen a bit to 950-AM WKDN, but actually prefer the Advent/Christmas music that I can hear on Lutheran Public Radio online or on my I-pod. If you prefer that sort of Christmas Music, and no preaching, just music 24/7, LPR is a good place to go year round, but especially at this time of year.

http://lutheranpublicradio.org/
 
After clicking on that thread title, I'm just grateful this isn't another Fox News "WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!!" topic. After listening to a lot of Christmas music radio the past month, then having it all end suddenly, I may be suffering something like withdrawal symptoms right now. (Am leaning on my own LP/CD collection to let me down more easily...)
 
One Supervisor at my office had WOGL on all summer and then we had to listen to Xmas music since November. We all hated it..all 60 of us. But no one had the guts to ask her to turn the dial.. I am sick of Xmas music since radio has decided to cater to the shoppers in the stores more than the average listener. It used to be a song or two an hour in December than more on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. I could tolerate that .. How long will it be till we have all stations in Philly playing Xmas music all the time,except for News and Sport stations? Is Xmas music really serving the public? It depresses me to hear it anymore.. I don't want to hear grandma got run over and the chipmunks and snoopy and the red baron...the dogs barking.. God can we have some Peace at Xmas..???????? No more Xmas music.. That's what I want for Xmas next year.
 
Shoppers in the stores? Most stores other than tiny mom-and-pops use unbranded, seamless Christmas music feeds piped in to every store in the chain. Even some mom-and-pops are more likely to use commercial-free Sirius XM's Christmas channels than a local FM. Unbelievable as it may seem, there are people who look forward to and enjoy this music every year; it never gets old. The ratings don't like. Christmas music attracts real listeners at home and in the car, not just captive audiences doing shopping.
 
I can see some people enjoying some christmas music ..but not eight or more hours straight everyday for 30 plus days .... It's more repetitive than listening to Top 40 radio.. My office may be an exception to the rule for office listening. Lots of people don't have money for xmas or as much as they used to and it gets depressing. I've been over Xmas a long time..like 35 years since i worked in retail in December of '78 and then later as a radio continuity director. Its just a greedy holiday to me.. Do B101 and OGL really get higher ratings than their regular music formats with xmas music?
 
I totally agree with you TGunn! I can't stand Xmas music at all.
 
We can walk both to a mall and the town's big supermarket, and this year got to hear the Holiday cheer less frequently because there were fewer gifts to buy. If there was an area radio station playing it full force -- WLEV is weak here -- then we missed it.

And as someone posted, if you as a listener don't care for it, there's always the tuning knob.

True, for a shopper there's no escape from it. Sears in our mall (closing soon, btw) plays their own source of it plus the other year-round music, while the concourses have Sirius XM.
The supermarket has their own source for it.
Two things, though:
The supermarket had Oldies playing the other day, rather than the Christmas music. It was standard-issue stuff .... 'Walk Like A Man', 'Venus' .... yet it appeared to be a break from the norm. Since you usually don't drive the car to a supermarket just to browse but to buy things, I'm supposing the channel switch was a supervisor decision -- whoever was running shift.

The second thought is for the poor mall employees. They get to go through eight hours of this, whether they enjoy it or don't care for it. The mall is in business to entice shopping any way it can, sure. Still, both Sears and the concourse shops had the sleighbells playing (to me) a little early. Sears, in fact, had their trim-a-tree section up in LATE SEPTEMBER!

Me, I listen purposely for it off the radio only on Christmas Eve, and that's to CJBC. They play some nice French versions of the favorites, which imparts even more variety. So the proliferation, repetition and inundation is minimized even further.

It is those who are subject to it against their will, for weeks, whose reactions should matter more than radio posters, I'd think.
 
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