WITH VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS

[Ill alert the media]

Oh by the way 3 months from today will be the last day people will have to endure wall to wall Christmas music.That means 2 months from 2 days ago both Coast and Lite will hold their annual "let's pretend we invented the holidays" pissing contest.Who will turn insufferably jolly first this year hoping the world will be too lazy to change their listening habits on 12/26?

 

[Skynet74]

As far as I'm concerned, whoever starts playing Christmas Music first is the station that gets the Retard award. 12 days of Christmas is acceptable. 47 days of Christmas is the sign of a Program Director who is a complete Moron!

 

[and.u.r?]

It is a good business decision for the right statio though.If Coast doesn't do it they risk losing listeners to Lite and those are listeners that will stay with Lite after Christmas.Supposedly as one poster commented recently Coast is sold out every month so theoretically they shouldn't have to do it,but how successful Coast really is is another matter.This has gone on for years with these two stations and it won't stop now but Lite will always come out the long term winner.The Christmas format actually sounds better there.As far as the PD who makes the decision I think we have to admit we're beyond the point where we can look at any Providence PD as being that expert on what actually entertains people.It's all programming from the point of view of what move will result in better numbers.

 

[MarcB]

As far as I'm concerned, whoever starts playing Christmas Music first is the station that gets the Retard award. 12 days of Christmas is acceptable. 47 days of Christmas is the sign of a Program Director who is a complete Moron!

Maybe when there's more than one all Christmas Station in the market, otherwise it's a good thing. There was an article in The Hartford Courant in Hartford, CT back in January (that I can't find right now) that quotes WRCH's program director as saying ratings and revenue went up when they went non-stop Christmas the week of Thanksgiving. He says the station will be making the non-stop Christmas Music an annual tradition. Last year was the first year WRCH went non-stop Christmas.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

There is no need for TWO Christmas stations.Especially if both AC stations go all Christmas,leaving the market with none.
The smart thing to do if Lite wants to go all Christmas,flip the Bee to Christmas.So you have at least one so called at work station still doing thier thing.

The other scenerio if you want to try keep WSNE's listeners in the cluster.Add late 80's and 90's(Hootie,Blues Traveler,Sheryl Crow,Paula Abdul) sprinkled in that would blend in with what the bee plays now. ONLY while WSNE is all CHRISTMAS.
They are BIG HIT's and that gives them alot of play with the playlist.

 

[Skynet74]

It seems to me that every year the Christmas music starts earlier and earlier. It's so irritating. I love Christmas as much as the next guy, but look at the calender. There is only one day designated as Christmas. Not 6 Weeks!

 

[gtdradio]

And come on now, what about Chankuah! lol

 

[jockitch]

As was posted it has nothing to do with what the market needs. It has to do with one station not doing it & risking losing listeners permanently to the other. What irritates me, and it's not a station issue but an agency one, is that a station gets the numbers bump in a Christmas book. Then buys are made based on that period but the spots are running after the Christmas music has long ended & playing to possibly a whole different audience than the one the agency bought. This isn't an issue if a station's numbers are consistent before,during,& after the Christmas music period but it is an issue to me if the ratings bump levels off in the next trend or book. You end up running spots during a period when the numbers aren't as favorable. Anyway that's just me & I have this thing about media buyers I won't go into.

 

[wknd92]

There is no need for TWO Christmas stations.Especially if both AC stations go all Christmas,leaving the market with none.
The smart thing to do if Lite wants to go all Christmas,flip the Bee to Christmas.So you have at least one so called at work station still doing thier thing.

The other scenerio if you want to try keep WSNE's listeners in the cluster.Add late 80's and 90's(Hootie,Blues Traveler,Sheryl Crow,Paula Abdul) sprinkled in that would blend in with what the bee plays now. ONLY while WSNE is all CHRISTMAS.
They are BIG HIT's and that gives them alot of play with the playlist.

Swing and a miss....why would they tinker with B when B's numbers have been higher than Coast for about 5 years now!?! All x-mas on the B makes no sense, even from your attempt to keep an A/C station in play, as that would disenchant the B's core audience, which is doing better for the cluster than Coast.

I actually think Lite would be foolish this year to go all X-mas any sooner than 2 weeks prior to the holiday for the reason that was mentioned about the at work audiences and there already is backlash against the stations as it is for starting so early.

 

[xtreme11678]

both stations have been going "all christmas " the week of thanksgiving for about 4 yrs now.... i would have to think from a business stand point if this did not work neither station would continue to do this.... so apperantly someone is doing the right thing...... even though 6 wks of frosty is alot

 

[Skynet74]

I've found my own solution. I only listen to talk radio the final two months of the year and I don't go into stores until December 20th. It works for me. LOL

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

I've found my own solution. I only listen to talk radio the final two months of the year and I don't go into stores until December 20th. It works for me. LOL

Then there's IPODS,XM and Sirius

 

[Skynet74]

I've found my own solution. I only listen to talk radio the final two months of the year and I don't go into stores until December 20th. It works for me. LOL

Then there's IPODS,XM and Sirius

You are correct. I have Sirius. With more choices than ever it's pretty easy to stay away from the stuff you don't want to hear. That is unless you get stuck in an office someplace where you can't change the station. The Dentist would be one such place. Every dentist that I've ever had always seem to have COAST-FM on. I can't do a damn thing about that when I have a drill stuck in my mouth.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

I've found my own solution. I only listen to talk radio the final two months of the year and I don't go into stores until December 20th. It works for me. LOL

Then there's IPODS,XM and Sirius

You are correct. I have Sirius. With more choices than ever it's pretty easy to stay away from the stuff you don't want to hear. That is unless you get stuck in an office someplace where you can't change the station. The Dentist would be one such place. Every dentist that I've ever had always seem to have COAST-FM on. I can't do a damn thing about that when I have a drill stuck in my mouth.

Some of us would rather have a drill in our mouth than listen to Coast.

;D

 

[Moonstruck]

AC is a dispensible format unless you're more current based like Hot AC. It's the logical format for a flip to all Christmas. If you're a listener you're more passive when it comes to music and more likely to just shrug and deal with the holiday playlists. Even if you do find another station that isn't playing all Christmas you'll most likely come back 12/26. This is the reason both 93.3 and 105 will both do what they've been doing. Personally I think the one that doesn't do it stands a good chance of keeping listeners who abandoned the other because of Christmas music but obviously stations don't see it that way. Play a good amount of well known Christmas music (and I mean well known versions of those songs) along with your usual songs would be my choice but I don't make those choices. One thing I will say is that the all Christmas station stands a better chance of picking up stores, etc that have the radio on so that's something to think about. I just wish everyone would dispense of the garbage filler Christmas music and be as selective with their Christmas songs as they are the rest of the year.

 

[wknd92]

AC is a dispensible format unless you're more current based like Hot AC. It's the logical format for a flip to all Christmas. If you're a listener you're more passive when it comes to music and more likely to just shrug and deal with the holiday playlists. Even if you do find another station that isn't playing all Christmas you'll most likely come back 12/26. This is the reason both 93.3 and 105 will both do what they've been doing. Personally I think the one that doesn't do it stands a good chance of keeping listeners who abandoned the other because of Christmas music but obviously stations don't see it that way. Play a good amount of well known Christmas music (and I mean well known versions of those songs) along with your usual songs would be my choice but I don't make those choices. One thing I will say is that the all Christmas station stands a better chance of picking up stores, etc that have the radio on so that's something to think about. I just wish everyone would dispense of the garbage filler Christmas music and be as selective with their Christmas songs as they are the rest of the year.

Moon-excellent post.

I concur....we had to switch to the B because we were getting complaints from people coming to our place of business when both Coast and Lite switched BEFORE Thanksgiving last year. When they eventually switched it back to one of those stations (and God forgive me, couldn't tell you at the moment who it was) there was absolutely no separation of songs....you could hear in 3 consecutive hours 3 different versions of the "Christmas Song" or "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Hearing Feliz Navidad once a day is enough, not 3-4 times....Dominic the Donkey is a one time a day song; but both stations hit it at least 2 times a day (and sometimes more).

When I had to program 24 hrs of Christmas on Lite...it was a nightmare trying to keep artist separation (2 hours for Classic artists like Andy Williams, Gene Autry & The Carpenters) and at LEAST 90 minutes for titles; but that logic has seemed to go thru the window over the past couple of years (I don't think Lite has been doing X-mas since Turkey Day for 4 years; but to be honest, I didn't really pay attention prior to last year when I noticed both stations doing it)

Doing it on the day after Thanksgiving and weekends leading up to the week prior is fine and during the week, sprinkling in some songs during the hour is fine as well as it will keep the burn off of the songs because I can tell you, my coworkers were complaining the Monday after Thanksgiving last year that they had had enough and we got the switch over to B to get some respite from it...I fear the same thing will happen this year.

 

[Moonstruck]

You brought up one good point. When both stations are all Christmas does anyone even know which one they're listening to after morning drive? And in morning drive the music matters the least.

Oh and I wouldn't mess with Domenic in this market.

 

[wknd92]

You brought up one good point. When both stations are all Christmas does anyone even know which one they're listening to after morning drive? And in morning drive the music matters the least.

Oh and I wouldn't mess with Domenic in this market.

I wouldn't play it more than once a day, though. I don't care what the make up of the market is, that song (much like the Bobby Rivers' songs) should only be played once a day...MAYBE once during mornings or middays and once at night

 

[RadioHead06]

both stations have been going "all christmas " the week of thanksgiving for about 4 yrs now.... i would have to think from a business stand point if this did not work neither station would continue to do this.... so apperantly someone is doing the right thing...... even though 6 wks of frosty is alot

Exactly!! If it didn't work for them numbers wise they wouldn't do it.
I love having this music available 24/7 leading up to and through Christmas.
It is a much welcomed change of pace in our busy, loud and nasty world.

 

[and.u.r?]

And in Coast's case it's a break from what is probably the worst lineup of music in the history of the market.Lite 105 at least seems to have a handle on what they want to accomplish with the music.Coast is as unfocused as it ever was.