It happened a month or so ago. I had an industry person ask me if he thought there would be less Christmas music on the radio. He thought that this year might be the one where broadcasters feel that their holiday franchise has finally been usurped by streaming.
I could probably lead my first Christmas radio column of every year with that question. Instead, by last weekend, it felt like I had more potential holiday stations to write about than I usually do at this time. I was able to lead off with early entrants from not just iHeart, but Cox, Townsquare, and Salem. (I could have written about Cumulus and Audacy as well, but had led with their stations in previous years.)
I’ve noticed that the holiday season is always when the format sounds most foreground and engaged. That’s particularly true at a time when some radio stations talk about personality, but rely on carelessly inserted random blocks of voice-tracked content. I heard more over-the-intros energy from Christmas radio this week than anywhere else. I didn’t hear any of yesterday’s celebrity news. I even heard on-air talent hitting the post.
I’ve also heard tighter rotations overall this year. It wasn’t from the stations represented here, but I have heard at least one station already where different versions of one of the major holiday titles played within the same hour. In a well-received recent guest column, former WTSS Buffalo, N.Y., MD Rob Lucas’s recommendation was 90 minutes.
Then there’s the question of lateral separation. Readers say they’d still rather not program or hear the same song during the same hour for two days in a row.
For anybody who programs (or listens to) Christmas music on the radio:
We know people are used to a tight list of hits. But are they really OK with them?
If you programmed "Carol of the Bells" at 2p on Wednesday, and it was set to come up again at 2p Thursday, would you … ?
— Sean Ross (@RossOnRadio) November 7, 2023
Recently, however, I looked at a very successful Christmas station and compared its 1 p.m. hour to the day before. Of 16 songs, eight titles had played in the same hour on the previous day (not always the same version). Six had played within a one-hour window yesterday. One song was 1d 3h separate. One song wasn’t played the same day at all.
We’ll be covering holiday radio from now through the end of the year. Here’s a look at four early entrants.
WLIT (Lite FM) Chicago
iHeart’s 93.9 Lite FM is always one of the first-launched, most-successful holiday formats. We heard it on its second day of Christmas music, just before 4 p.m. on November 3 with PD/p.m. driver Mick Lee during two hours of commercial-free music. Lite FM was part of the $1,000 national Christmas Cash giveaway, but it also had front-row tickets to Mariah Carey to give away last Friday. (It was also promoting CHR sister WKSC’s Jingle Ball.)
Here’s Lite FM on the second day of Christmas music, just before 4 p.m.:
- Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, “Winter Wonderland”
- Vince Guaraldi, “Linus and Lucy”
- Johnny Mathis w/Percy Faith, “Sleigh Ride”
- Bing Crosby, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
- Ray Conniff Singers, “Frosty the Snowman”
- Michael Bublé, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
- John Denver, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”
- Bobby Helms, “Jingle Bell Rock”
- Lindsey Stirling, “Carol of the Bells”
- Nat King Cole, “Deck the Halls”
- Perry Como, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
- Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
- Air Supply, “Sleigh Ride”
- Faith Hill, “Joy to the World”
- Burl Ives, “A Holy Jolly Christmas”
- Jessica Simpson & Rosie O’Donnell, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
- Vince Guaraldi, “O Tannenbaum”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
- Amy Grant, “Winter Wonderland”
- Peabo Bryson, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
KFIS (The Fish) Portland, Ore.
Salem’s Christian AC KFIS (The Fish) Portland was one of the most uptempo Christmas stations I’ve encountered in recent years. It had very uptempo ReelWorld jingles and very bright imaging (including one of a ho-ho’ing Santa asking, “Do you hear what I hear?”) The Fish’s ticket giveaway was for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. There were promos for the “Christmas Mortgage Miracle,” with up to $18,000 a year toward your house next year.
While most AC Christmas stations run hook promos for their regular 11-months-a-year format, most stations have avoided talking about the problems of the world outside, at least since 2020, when the first year of COVID made it unavoidable. The Fish runs a promo that begins with “you don’t have to look far to hear how hurt and divided the world is now” with a news actuality from the Middle East in the background. Morning hosts Chris Kelly (also the PD) and Crystal Thornton encourage new holiday listeners to get the “feeling of love and belonging to something” all year.
Here’s the Fish at 4 p.m., Saturday afternoon, Nov. 4, when the station was running Chris & Crystal bits from the previous week.
- Carpenters, “Merry Christmas Darling”
- Aaron Shust, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
- Francesca Battistelli, “Joy to the World”
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”
- Matt Maher, “Go Tell It (Gloria)” — an interpolation of “Go Tell It on the Mountain”
- Martina McBride, “Do You Hear What I Hear”
- Nat King Cole, “Caroling Caroling”
- Marc Martel, “What Christmas Means to Me”
- Brian McKnight f/Josh Groban, “Angels We Have Heard on High”
- Cochren & Co., “This Christmas”
- Carrie Underwood, “O Come All Ye Faithful”
- Chris Tomlin, “He Shall Reign Forevermore”
- Vince Guaraldi, “Linus and Lucy”
- Danny Gokey & Natalie Grant, “The Prayer”
- Crowder, “Carol of the Bells”
- Johnny Mathis, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
- Tommee Profitt f/Tauren Wells, “O Holy Night”
WDUV Tampa
Cox’s WDUV Tampa has had one of the most interesting and successful evolutions in recent years, from Soft AC to a distinctive pop-leaning take on Classic Hits, still billed as “lite favorites.” WDUV’s holiday ticket giveaway was Mannheim Steamroller tickets, through the station app. Holiday activity also included a “Feed the Bay” food drive with Met Ministries.
WDUV also had one sweeper reminiscent of the early days of Adult Hits, when those stations actually called attention to their stopsets. (“Here’s a quick shift change at Santa’s workshop.”) Here’s WDUV’s “Continuous Christmas favorites” at 4 p.m., Nov. 4:
- Percy Faith & His Orchestra, “Deck the Halls”
- Michael Bublé, “Holly Jolly Christmas”
- James Taylor, “Winter Wonderland”
- Mariah Carey, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
- Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters, “Jingle Bells”
- Elvis Presley, “Silver Bells”
- Michael Bublé, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
- New Christy Minstrels, “We Need a Little Christmas”
- Taylor Styles, “Last Christmas”
- Gene Autry, “Here Comes Santa Claus”
- ‘N Sync, “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays”
- Celine Dion, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”
- Nat King Cole, “The Christmas Song”
- Bob Seger, “Little Drummer Boy”
- Frank Sinatra & Cyndi Lauper, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
- Martina McBride, “Do You Hear What I Hear”
WTSS (The New 96.1) Buffalo, N.Y.
Townsquare’s WTSS Buffalo, N.Y., launched this summer with the intent of picking up both the “Star” name and Christmas-music franchise after Audacy’s WTSS (Star 102.5) was sold and became a K-Love Christian AC affiliate. Instead, it made a recent name change to “The New 96.1.” WTSS is also doing a more-traditional brand of Christmas than what Rob Lucas, the MD of the former station, wrote about recently.
Despite the name change, a sweeper reminds listeners that “the Buffalo Christmas tradition continues.” The station’s holiday concert is a special family matinee featuring Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Here’s WTSS at 2 p.m., Nov. 8:
- Train, “This Christmas”
- Andy Williams, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
- Elmo & Patsy, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”
- Beach Boys, “Little Saint Nick”
- Burl Ives, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
- A-Strings, “Sleigh Ride”
- Nat King Cole, “O Come All Ye Faithful”
- Harry Connick, Jr., “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
- Darlene Love, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
- Mannheim Steamroller, “Deck the Halls”
- Gene Autry, “Here Comes Santa Claus”
- Coldplay, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
- Percy Faith & His Orchestra, “We Need a Little Christmas”
- Michael Bublé, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
- Perry Como, “Twelve Days of Christmas”
- Kimberley Locke, “Frosty the Snowman”
- Bing Crosby, “White Christmas”
- Sia, “Snowman”
