As the calendar prepares to change to November, the annual scramble to switch to all-Christmas music has begun.
While 103.1 KLO-FM Salt Lake City was the first station this year to move to Holiday Hits in preparation of a format change back on October 7, the list of stations making their annual move began today with Pillar Media Christian AC “Star 93.3” WAKW Cincinnati OH making its regular Halloween change.
It will be far from alone by next week. Townsquare Media AC “The New 96.1” WTSS Buffalo NY and iHeartMedia Soft AC “105.3 The Breeze” WNOH Norfolk VA will switch over at 12am on Saturday morning with many more including WLIT Chicago and WNIC Detroit making their annual playlist shifts early next week. SiriusXM will debut its suite of Christmas channels on Tuesday, November 4.
Two large markets will see new Christmas music stations. WNOH takes annual mantle from sister CHR “Party 107.7” WMOV-FM to compete against Audacy AC “101.3 2WD” WWDE. iHeart launched AC “B97.3” WRNW Milwaukee last month after acquiring the IP of Milwaukee Radio Alliance’s “B93.3” WLDB following its sale to K-Love Inc. WLDB used to compete for the Christmas audience with iHeart Classic Hits “95.7 Big-FM” WRIT-FM through 2023.
