It is increasingly rare to find a market, particularly a large one, where there was not one station that went all-Christmas annually.
One such place was Miami where Entercom AC “101.5 Lite-FM” WLYF usually held the holiday hits to just nights and weekends in December. Sure, Alpha Media’s “Sunny 107.9” WEAT West Palm Beach was heard in parts of the area but the last time a station did it 24/7 was in 2010 when what was to become Cox Media Group Soft AC “Easy 93.1” WFEZ did it in as part of its stunt mode and iHeartMedia Rhythmic AC 93.9 WMIA both did it.
That will change this year as WLYF will move to all-Christmas music on Wednesday, November 21 at 3:00pm through December 26.
Entercom, the #1 creator of live, original, local audio content in the United States, announced that 101.5 LITE FM (WLYF-FM) in Miami will switch to an all-holiday music format, effective November 21 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The station will return to regular Adult Contemporary format on December 26.
“We’re excited to share that for the first time ever, 101.5 LITE FM will play continuous sounds of the season as we look to bring joy to our listeners during this special time of year,” said Keriann Worley, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Entercom South Florida. “Our listeners will be able to turn to our station 24/7 throughout the holiday season for a great blend of holiday favorites.”
The station will feature holiday classics from artists like Bing Crosby, Andy Williams and Brenda Lee, along with contemporary artists like Kelly Clarkson, Jon Secada, Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé.
I guess it’s understandable considering that Miami never really gets cold. So Christmas music seems out of place.
When you keep in mind that Phoenix usually has one of the highest ratings shares of any market for Christmas music, it blows that theory out of the water.