For the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown, the first change to all-Christmas has come in September, while for the second year in a row the first station to make the move is Capital Broadcasting’s 103.1 KLO-FM Coalville/Salt Lake City UT.
While last year’s change on October 7, 2025 was done as part of a format change from 1980s New Wave “103.1 The Wave” to Soft AC “Coast 103.1“, this years move comes as part of the established brand. KLO-FM will offer three hours of music commercial free from 9am to 12pm as part of its brand.
The September move is the first time since 2020 that a station began playing Christmas music before the start of October. It is still well behind the earliest launch date, when iHeartMedia launched a Christmas music stunt in Albuquerque on August 31, 2013.
INSTANT INSIGHT: This year will not bring another post-Holiday flip as the station is branding as “Christmas 103 on Coast 103.1” as it uses the early move to continue to help expose the new Holiday music competitor to Bonneville AC “FM 100.3” KSFI. In the Holiday 2025 Nielsen Audio ratings, KLO-FM registered a 2.4 share with KSFI at a 15.8 and iHeartMedia Hot AC “My 99.5” KJMY at a 7.3 share with Christmas music. But KSFI was down from an 18.5 in Holiday 2024.
