In the early days of my Christmas radio listening, I thought for just a moment that I might be hearing just a little less of “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” One of the stations I monitored most carefully wasn’t powering it (although that was the difference between 42x a week and 34x a week). I was hearing other Mariah songs — her “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and even “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” But in recent weeks, “All I Want” has clearly become as ubiquitous as ever. (Vulture’s Chris Molanphy has a more systematic look at what’s up and down this holiday season.)
At the station I schedule, there was also a little more listener grumbling about “too much Mariah” and “not enough older music,” even though there’s more pre-rock/’60s MOR than ever: Andy Williams, Perry Como, Dean Martin, and particularly Bing Crosby. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” was already rivaling “White Christmas” in the pantheon, but now I feel like I’m hearing Bing a lot more on songs with multiple hit versions.
The older-music request is sometimes phrased as a request for more traditional music. It’s worth noting that CHFI Toronto, a station that always does a great job with holiday music, launched with “O Holy Night” and “Silent Night” — songs that some stations phase in during December — right away.
We’ve been listening to various holiday stations since the first ones launched in November. Here are three more takes on the format.
WKQC (K104.7) Charlotte, N.C.
I’ve enjoyed Beasley’s K104.7 a lot in recent years as it straddles the line between gold-based AC and Classic Hits. Besides a list roughly split between Classic Hits and MOR Christmas, there are also a lot of ’70s- and ’80s-flavored jingles that give the station a unique feel. Today the station is scheduled to do its 11th annual radiothon for Hemby Children’s Hospital. Here’s K104.7 just before 2 p.m. yesterday, Dec. 7.
- Wham!, “Last Christmas”
- Ronettes, “Sleigh Ride”
- Sarah McLachlan, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
- Andy Williams, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
- Whitney Houston, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
- John Lennon, “Happy X-mas/War Is Over”
- Faith Hill, “Where Are You Christmas”
- Beach Boys, “Little Saint Nick”
- Bing Crosby, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
- Al Jarreau, “The Christmas Song”
- Nat “King” Cole, “Deck the Halls”
- Brenda Lee, “Jingle Bell Rock”
- Amy Grant, “Sleigh Ride”
- Ray Conniff, “Ring Christmas Bells”
- Barry Manilow w/Expose, “Jingle Bells”
- Gene Autry, “Here Comes Santa Claus”
- Jessica Simpson, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
CHQM (Move 103.5) Vancouver
Canadian Christmas has always been somewhat more contemporary than its U.S. counterparts — a parallel that extends to Canadian AC throughout the year, although it too seems to get more traditional over the years. We profiled Rogers’ CHFI several years ago. Here’s Bell Media’s version of Christmas AC as heard on the former “QM-FM,” a heritage FM that was part of Bell’s national Move rebranding.
Part of what has always driven the newer feel of Canadian Christmas is the amount of product from newer artists, whether that’s “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber or new hitmaker Preston Pablo’s cover of “Winter Wonderland.” Canada’s broadcast regulator has just revised its Canadian Content rules in a way that would suddenly disqualify Canadian artist covers of non-Canadian songs, so it will be interesting to see how that changes the format going forward.
Here’s Move just before 2 p.m. on Dec. 7:
- Justin Bieber, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
- Barenaked Ladies, “It’s Christmas Time (Oh Yeah)” (Cancon)
- Dean Martin, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
- Andy Williams, “Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season”
- Jann Arden, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (Cancon, currently)
- Faith Hill, “Where Are You Christmas”
- U2, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
- Tyler Shaw, “It’s Christmas” (Cancon)
- Ryland James, “Last Christmas” (Cancon)
- Jose Feliciano, “Feliz Navidad”
- Alyssa Reid, “Mistress Claus” (Cancon)
- John Legend, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
- Carly Rae Jepsen, “Mittens” (Cancon)
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”
- Preston Pablo, “Winter Wonderland” (Cancon)
- Ariana Grande, “Santa Tell Me”
- Meaghan Smith, “Christmas Time Is Here” (Cancon)
Sirius XM Holiday Soul/49
One of my ongoing frustrations with the last 15 years of holiday radio is the relative paucity of R&B. More than a decade ago, in the early days of the safe list, I complained about “This Christmas” disappearing from the radio, something that has fortunately been rectified. The further ascent of “All I Want for Christmas” and all things Mariah also seems to have had an effect.
Sirius XM is again doing an all-R&B Christmas format, Holiday Soul, as a seasonal replacement for its Soul Town format. Perhaps because it replaced an R&B oldies station, Holiday Soul has a lot of parallels to the AC version of Christmas — mostly older songs and established titles with a few newer versions of the classics. Here’s SiriusXM Holiday Soul around 5 p.m. on Dec. 7:
- Diana Ross, “Someday at Christmas”
- Lena Horne, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
- Luther Vandross, “My Favorite Things”
- Aretha Franklin, “This Christmas”
- Donald Lawrence & Tri-City Singers, “Carol of the Bells”
- Ray Charles, “Christmas Time”
- Dionne Warwick & Wanya Morris, “The Christmas Song”
- Whispers, “Happy Holidays to You”
- Take 6, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”
- O’Jays, “I Can Hardly Wait ’Til Christmas”
- Jackson 5, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
- Patti Labelle, “What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas?”
- Stephanie Mills, “White Christmas”
- Lou Rawls, “Merry Christmas, Baby”
- Lionel Richie, “The Christmas Song”
- James Brown, “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto”
