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WNUW all christmas tomorrow at 5:00 PM.

Nick said:
A few years ago, didn't B101 wait till Thanksgiving when Sunny flipped the first week of November?
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From what I can recall, the last year Sunny flipped (2005 I think?), B101 kept pace and flipped soon after. B101 may have waited till Thanksgiving in 2004, though.

By the way, greetings folks! I'm a long-time observer/first time poster :) I usually only hop on here to check out the Christmas music chatter during this time of year...
 
Switching to Christmas this early is the same as retail merchandising Christmas merchandise in August and early September. It's added sales in retail and it's added billing for radio. I could load 3 aisles with Christmas items and actually see people buy ornaments or christmas cards with their normal day to day items. That increases sales. So maybe switching to Santa music early helps bring in more advertising dollars. In the end it's good for everyone. And in the end if it makes us get a little cheer from a gloomy world then so what? I say kudos to NOW!!
 
All the retailers do. You have to get the money while the getting is good. Perhaps that's the theory for radio as well. This year the window for success or even failure is much more narrow.
 
Whenever a station flips, there are always arguments about how it's too early. October 18 in Atlantic City? Yeah, I'll agree that was a little crazy. But November 1? No way! A precedent has been established year after year. Quite a precedent, in fact. People do listen. I'm listening to it right now and I would be listening to it even if I weren't a radio geek! I know a ton of people (family, friends, co-workers) who wait for this and listen to nothing but this until Christmas has passed.

Hopefully this will do a good job of illustrating things a little bit...

I was over at my mom's place yesterday and as 5:00 approached, we were just finished watching the parade--and listening to Chase Utley say the f-word on live television--and I told her we have to turn on the radio to hear the Christmas music start. (She knows that I am a freak just like you guys. haha.) We muted the TV and listened to the Christmas music for about an hour. We were just sitting around, talking and she suddenly said, "You know, it really does make you feel good." I asked, "What does?" And she replied, "The Christmas music. It makes you feel happy."
 
if 97.5 flips away from christmas music on monday and b101.1 goes lets say friday @ 3pm 97.5 will have to revert back to christmas music in a heartbeat
remember when sunny had that christmas music weekend in 2003 then on that wedsday @ 3pm b101.1 flipped and 104.5 did not flip back until 7pm that night
 
This seems like an opportunity missed. Was this the time to make the break from the recent 6-8 weeks of non-stop Christmas programming? If you are attempting to set your station apart from the market winner (especially when you're the upstart in the format), why not revert to the traditional way of handling Christmas? You know, back in the "good old days"? Are people nostalgic for Christmas programming pre-2001? Present an all Christmas Thanksgiving day, then start mixing in the songs slowly a week into December. Granted, this would be an uphill climb (on skis), but NOW could have promoted this "new" approach. Let's face it, NOW will not win the AC battle in Philly while Jerry Lee still draws breath, so why not approach this from another angle?
 
JamesZ said:
This seems like an opportunity missed. Was this the time to make the break from the recent 6-8 weeks of non-stop Christmas programming? If you are attempting to set your station apart from the market winner (especially when you're the upstart in the format), why not revert to the traditional way of handling Christmas? You know, back in the "good old days"? Are people nostalgic for Christmas programming pre-2001? Present an all Christmas Thanksgiving day, then start mixing in the songs slowly a week into December. Granted, this would be an uphill climb (on skis), but NOW could have promoted this "new" approach. Let's face it, NOW will not win the AC battle in Philly while Jerry Lee still draws breath, so why not approach this from another angle?
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AMEN!

Hearing there was Christmas music on the radio today, my wife recoiled in horror and then said if the were an advertiser, she'd take her ads off the station. :)

I figure now I can add WYSP to my presets and see if I like them enough to keep them on there. Three cheers and then some to B 101 for still playing the songs I listen to them for.
 
If the team at B101 is smart, they will just stick to last year's game plan.
1. They own the A/C hill
2. Listeners who have become fans of WNUW are more likely to go back to B101 then to listen to Christmas Music this early
3. When B101 turns on the tinsel tunes, those who don't like it will find the same thing on WNUW.
4. Finally, WNUW is only losing time building their A/C benchmarks by risking this Christmas music stunt.
 
It might have brought more publicity to 97.5 if they just stunted with Christmas music since the first week of September. Negative publicity at first would eventually become positive publicity.

There are some listeners who like hearing Christmas music this early, so they will flip from B101 to Now 97.5.

I like how they're using the quote from the Phillies ceremony yesterday "Christmas has come two months early" to promote the all-Christmas format.

Now 97.5 should stream its normal AC format online and on the HD2 for the people who don't like Christmas music.
 
I'm one of the ones that aren't listening to Christmas music.
Then again I'm one of those that is tapeing XM channels whom I like who I think may be blown outa the water, too.
Is there another HD2 doing classical? I know that first off on the HDRadio.com site 97.5 HD1 is stil called WJJZ.
Secondly if WJJZHD2 is classical, and there is an another markit classsical in HD, then i suppose they could switch to AC on the HD2 until the Holiday season is over..
Then again, does it really matter? No one owns HD' Radio's, and from what I know HD's are not rated in the PPM's, so Greater Media probably wouldn't be shooting themselves in the foot weather they went AC or stuck to the corse of Classical.
John
Bensalem, PA
 
This thread is hilarious. I hope the guys at Greater Media and over at B101 are paying attention!
 
Judging by how it sounds. It has a temporary feel. The promos keep saying NOW Christmas. I know that has do with the station's name. But I would think if it were Christmas music for the entire season. That it'd be "Christmas music now through the holiday or something"

As for B101. Don't they typically wait till Delilah starts giving the affiliates the option of using her Christmas show? Which typically is about now. But I would imagine they wait until that is sent out to the stations.
 
You're right about it sounding temporary. Although it's a good selection of songs, it's such a small number of them. It just sounds like stunting. And that tiny bit of repetitive imaging would probably drive people nuts if it's all 97.5 planned on using from now til December 25!

I could be wrong but I fully expect Now 97.5's regular format to be back on the air at 8:30 tomorrow morning. This weekend of stunting will get them more attention than the weekend they stunted before the launch so it was still a brilliant move. (And also maybe an attempt to force B101 to react.)

Of course, as I've said, I think all-Christmas could be a really good way for 97.5 to get some word-of-mouth they'd never get if they were simply Philadelphia's weaker-signaled also-ran Mainstream AC. Personally, I'd like to see the folks at 97.5 change course and keep the Christmas on but just blow the library open tomorrow morning. Really turn the screws on B101. I get the feeling, however, that if 97.5 is still all-Christmas at 9:00 tomorrow morning, B101 will be also before the end of the workday.

Also something to take into consideration: I saw 97.5's all-Christmas format advertised on a billboard on the Walt Whitman Bridge. But here's your grain of salt: It's an electronic billboard so they could revert to their regular ad as quickly as they could revert to their old playlist.

[Disclaimer: As you all know, I love Christmas music! I don't think that creates a bias in my opinions here because I have an iPod full of Christmas music and I was already listening to it before 97.5's announcement! LOL.]
 
Sunny started its all-Christmas format with a small library to build cume the first week, then they had an excellent variety the rest of the season. Now 97.5's Christmas music sounds a lot like Sunny.
 
I know, I know. But I don't think I ever remembering Sunny having a playlist this tiny. I can't imagine people working in retail settings this weekend were able to leave the station on for very long.
 
Soon Yi CIV.V said:
Personally, I'd like to see the folks at 97.5 change course and keep the Christmas on but just blow the library open tomorrow morning. Really turn the screws on B101. I get the feeling, however, that if 97.5 is still all-Christmas at 9:00 tomorrow morning, B101 will be also before the end of the workday.
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That would be pretty cool to se just how large of a library they have. 'corse, the next question that comes to mind after B goes christmas, do other AC's do it too?
People in allentown for example can get WBEB, and Willmington.
Of corse the folks at WLEV and WJBR may not give a damn about what other fringe markit FM's are doin.
John
Bensalem, PA
 
It would be a good idea for Now to claim to play all-Christmas till Christmas. When B101 flips to Christmas this week, Now should flip back to AC and grab the B101 listeners who hate Christmas music.
 
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