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WSPA FM and Christmas…when is enough enough?

Mikey Radio said:
Problem with doing something like that on radio is that Christmas programming works as it's a major holiday, people decorate and bake and shop and celebrate at work sometimes for weeks leading up to it, and carols remind them of their childhoods, spending time with friends, loved ones and relatives maybe no longer with us, where Halloween programming isn't really sentimental at all and is mostly song parodies and frivolity. Not exactly the same.
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I don't know that the songs I hear at Christmas remind me of anything specific. A lot of them I didn't know until only a few years ago when radio stations started playing all Christmas music for an entire month. They're just feel-good songs, except for the ones that aren't. Those that don't sound like Christmas songs don't generally make me feel good. Other new songs remind me of situations when I heard them and do bring back good memories, ana amazingly those don't have to be songs I actually like, or that seem to me to be Christmas songs.

Songs about Christmas do not qualify. They have to be songs that seem like Christmas songs, and no, sleigh bells or other sound effects with adult contemporary music won't get it done.
 
gr8oldies said:
There are enough for iHeart and SiriusXM to do short-term Halloween channels
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Actually, SiriusXM's only pop-up channel devoted 100 percent to Halloween is called Scream, and it is mainly scary sound effects, not music. Other channels may scrape up enough titles with "scary" or "witch" or "evil" in the titles to cobble together a lame-o Halloween show for an hour or three, but bottom line, there just isn't enough to the holiday to fuel a format.
 
b-turner said:
I see what you are saying, freqdev, but in reality money always dictates. It rules programming and dictates if the attracted audience to specific programming is adequate enough to continue. In both instances the product on the air has to produce results or it goes away.
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your first sentence says it all. it's sad that it has become that.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I don't know that the songs I hear at Christmas remind me of anything specific. A lot of them I didn't know until only a few years ago when radio stations started playing all Christmas music for an entire month. They're just feel-good songs, except for the ones that aren't. Those that don't sound like Christmas songs don't generally make me feel good. Other new songs remind me of situations when I heard them and do bring back good memories, ana amazingly those don't have to be songs I actually like, or that seem to me to be Christmas songs.

Songs about Christmas do not qualify. They have to be songs that seem like Christmas songs, and no, sleigh bells or other sound effects with adult contemporary music won't get it done.
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But you're inflecting your own personal feelings, tastes and experiences here; not all, or even the majority of listeners (especially those in the key demos) may think or feel the way you do. Obviously Christmas music is a hit with the key listeners that many stations are out to attract between Thanksgiving (and in some cases weeks earlier than that) and Christmas day or in some cases NYE, or there wouldn't be so many stations switching to holiday music at around that time of the year - and doing quite well in the ratings when doing so.
 
We really don't know why the switch to Christmas Music but one thing I do know as a former GM in a major market, such decisions are not made without some good supporting research. My job was always on the line based on performance of the station. Personal opinions or gut instincts never entered the picture. This was not a "I don't know what to do next" knee-jerk decision. This will play out in time. A station in this city is a high dollar investment and decisions are not just ideas or directives from someone that does not have conclusive research to back up the decision.
 
b-turner said:
We really don't know why the switch to Christmas Music but one thing I do know as a former GM in a major market, such decisions are not made without some good supporting research. My job was always on the line based on performance of the station. Personal opinions or gut instincts never entered the picture. This was not a "I don't know what to do next" knee-jerk decision. This will play out in time. A station in this city is a high dollar investment and decisions are not just ideas or directives from someone that does not have conclusive research to back up the decision.
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That's a nice idea, but no. There's no way they have legitimate research that justifies Christmas music on Labor Day weekend. And, there's no way that's a verifiably justified move in exactly one market, Greenville-Spartanburg. Hell, Christmas Music hasn't been working very well in Nov/Dec in this market recently.
 
G-Mack said:
That's a nice idea, but no. There's no way they have legitimate research that justifies Christmas music on Labor Day weekend. And, there's no way that's a verifiably justified move in exactly one market, Greenville-Spartanburg. Hell, Christmas Music hasn't been working very well in Nov/Dec in this market recently.
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My money is on one big advertiser's sponsorship money being the driving force. But it's not like the ratings tank every September, either, so there's no pressing reason for management to turn the extra bucks away.
 
How do you know G-Mack? How about some proof. I gather you have never owned a business which would explain why you feel somebody would, just for the hell of it, witch the format to something like Christmas music 'just because'. You don't make such decisions when you are dealing with a business worth millions unless it's your personal hobby. Common sense dictates making careful moves where the ability to generate revenue is concerned.
 
b-turner said:
How do you know G-Mack? How about some proof. I gather you have never owned a business which would explain why you feel somebody would, just for the hell of it, witch the format to something like Christmas music 'just because'. You don't make such decisions when you are dealing with a business worth millions unless it's your personal hobby. Common sense dictates making careful moves where the ability to generate revenue is concerned.
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I programmed that station for 10 years. I know the people involved. I know that research dollars have gone the way of marketing dollars for radio stations, at least at this level. They're simply not doing it.
 
It's a holiday weekend with traditionally low listening levels. You mean a random 35 year-old-woman is going to drive around, hear Christmas music and say "that's it, I'm not listening at my desk Tuesday morning!". They've got a sponsor, they remind whoever's out there that they're the Christmas station. Why is everybody triggered?
 
gr8oldies said:
It's a holiday weekend with traditionally low listening levels. You mean a random 35 year-old-woman is going to drive around, hear Christmas music and say "that's it, I'm not listening at my desk Tuesday morning!". They've got a sponsor, they remind whoever's out there that they're the Christmas station. Why is everybody triggered?
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Not triggered here. I wouldn't do it for Labor Day, but that's just me. I just wanted to point out the fallacy of the "they'd never do it without good supporting research" statement. Unfortunately, they would.
 
gr8oldies said:
It's a holiday weekend with traditionally low listening levels. You mean a random 35 year-old-woman is going to drive around, hear Christmas music and say "that's it, I'm not listening at my desk Tuesday morning!". They've got a sponsor, they remind whoever's out there that they're the Christmas station. Why is everybody triggered?
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Just to clarify ... this is a full-scale flip, all-Christmas until Dec. 26, not just a Labor Day weekend stunt, right? When the random 35F goes back to work, she's still going to hear Gene and Brenda and Burl and Mariah, right?
 
CTListener said:
Just to clarify ... this is a full-scale flip, all-Christmas until Dec. 26, not just a Labor Day weekend stunt, right? When the random 35F goes back to work, she's still going to hear Gene and Brenda and Burl and Mariah, right?
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I'm thinking this is just the holiday weekend, and they'll be back to the A/C format at midnight Monday/Tuesday if not before.
 
The PD of WSPA-FM has never programmed a format outside of CHR and was given the station on the side to “program.” WSPA-FM hasn’t had its own PD that specialized in AC since 2009. It’s common for PD’s to share a couple of stations, but normally they’re formats like AC and classic hits, rock and classic rock, alternative and Hot AC, etc. CHR and mainstream AC are VERY different formats and audiences.

Pretty sure the advertiser had the $$$ and Audacy was of course happy to take it and that’s why we have Brenda Lee and Perry Como right now. Since the sporadic Christmas music flips started in 2020, they’ve all been sponsored. The $$$ outweighs the minimal negative ratings effect in an off listening time such as this weekend, I’d guess.
 
G-Mack said:
The WSPA-FM studios have been in Greenville for more than 20 years.
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A bit pedantic, but thanks, I guess. All I wanted was a clarification on whether WSPA-FM, wherever its studios are, is all-Christmas from Labor Day through Dec. 26 or just did a Labor Day weekend Christmas stunt and then returns to its normal AC format until .... who knows when. That's the last bit of clarification needed here: When does the station go 24/7 ho-ho-ho?
 
101tm said:
The PD of WSPA-FM has never programmed a format outside of CHR and was given the station on the side to “program.” WSPA-FM hasn’t had its own PD that specialized in AC since 2009. It’s common for PD’s to share a couple of stations, but normally they’re formats like AC and classic hits, rock and classic rock, alternative and Hot AC, etc. CHR and mainstream AC are VERY different formats and audiences.
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I've done both formats, and AC is simply an age variant on the same base, contemporary music. The spectrum from CHR to Hot AC to AC has huge overlap, but it's the same music with different rotations and percentages of currents and gold and slightly different textures.

If you look at audience sharing, the amount that AC and Hot AC share with CHR is significant.
101tm said:
Pretty sure the advertiser had the $$$ and Audacy was of course happy to take it and that’s why we have Brenda Lee and Perry Como right now.
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I'll bet the station looked for the advertiser, not the other way around. Likely sold as "this will get lots of curiosity listening and positive word of mouth".

AC stations tend to have very poor AQH levels during holiday weekends, and it's very possible they thought that any lost audience due to the stunt would be made up for by the noveltyvalue.
101tm said:
Since the sporadic Christmas music flips started in 2020, they’ve all been sponsored. The $$$ outweighs the minimal negative ratings effect in an off listening time such as this weekend, I’d guess.
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There we agree entirely. And in smaller markets, stunts like that still have the ability to generate some talk and publicity. It would not surprise me if I heard that at least one TV station did a bit on their local news about it... TV has long weekend doldrums, too.
 
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