Hark & Hallelujah: Christmas Music a Big Winner for Radio Stations Playing All-Xmas Music, Doubles Ratings (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 6, 2011
From Thanksgiving on, I’m a self-professed Christmas music junkie. I just can’t get enough.
I listen to it over the radio in my truck and also listen to Christmas CDs at work and home. I have plenty of favorites, both traditional Christian and contemporary secular — “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Joy to the World,” “Mary’s Boy Child,” “White Christmas,” “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” and any of the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s instrumental arrangements from the 1960s TV classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” are among my favorites. There are only a few Christmas songs I can’t stomach — the “two-front-teeth” and “mom-kissing-Santa” songs both set me on edge.
I’m in the majority of American radio listeners — non-stop Christmas music this time of year is big, BIG radio music business.
Radio stations across the country are raking in hefty bucks if they switch to an all-Christmas music format.
From The Hollywood Reporter, Ka-Ching! How All-Christmas Music Doubles Radio’s Ratings:
More and more radio channels have been switching their formats to all Christmas, all the time — a consistent winner for radio even during a brutal 2008-2009 revenue downturn, which ended last year when the U.S. radio industry took in $20.1 billion, up 8 percent from the previous year.
Arbitron says it’s not unusual for ratings to double once a channel makes the temporary switch to Christmas music. KOST-FM in Los Angeles, for example, saw its share rise from 4.6 to 9.2 last year after it switched, and WLTW-FM in New York jumped from 6.0 to 12.3.
“There’s no other programming tactic in radio history that consistently delivers ratings increases better than Christmas music,” says Darren Davis, senior vp at Clear Channel, which is switching 100 of its 650 music stations to Christmas this year. And where there are ears, there are advertisers.
“If a station consistently does this year after year, it becomes an ‘upfront’ for advertisers looking to get holiday-minded customers in the final 30 days of Christmas,” says Greg Strassell, senior vp programming at CBS Radio. While commercial count doesn’t rise, ad rates increase, and sponsorship packages are created.
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Not all are receptive to the Christmas swap; switching from hip-hop or hard rock will alienate the audience, though adult contemporary, oldies and country listeners adjust better.
From The Dixie Sun, Christmas music repetitive, overplayed:
“Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” and other classics are great listening during the holiday season, but Christmas music is taking over earlier and earlier.
October has Halloween, November has Thanksgiving, and December has Christmas. If you go to the stores in late September you will find spooky costumes, skull decorations and black makeup, but before October is even over, stores are taking down their Halloween decorations and putting up Christmas. Thanksgiving gets completely overlooked.
By mid-November some stores are already playing Christmas music and decking their aisles with blow up Santas, mistletoe and more. And in St. George, the radio stations start playing Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day.
The cheerful tunes are wonderful in moderation, but when they completely overtake another holiday something is wrong. Even though there aren’t any great Thanksgiving songs, at least wait until December to start busting out the old Christmas albums.
And when you do start playing festive music, make sure it’s the good kind. Stay away from the oh-so-annoying ones like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” “Santa Baby,” and some of the others that are overdone. Hearing them once is enough.
The most popular Christmas songs on the radio, per Hollywood Reporter — these are the songs you’ll hear the most often in the Yuletide rotation:
1. John Lennon – “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)”
2. Andy Williams – “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
3. Burl Ives – “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas”
4. Mariah Carey – “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
5. Nat King Cole – “The Christmas Song”
6. Jose Feliciano – “Feliz Navidad”
For a handful of links to free, 24/7 online Christmas radio listening, click here.
Beautifully performing one of my favorite Christmas hymns, Faith Hill sang “Joy to the World” at New York’s Rockefeller Center in 2008:
Faith Hill – Joy to the World – Christmas in Rockefeller Center, 2008
Such a joyous, foot-tappin’ song celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ — this Boney M version is my hands-down favorite.
Mary’s Boy Child – Boney M
Nat King Cole is one of my most cherished singers of Christmas music — he, Andy Williams, and Karen Carpenter are tied for first place in my top-tier “Christmas artist choices” list.
Nat King Cole – O Little Town of Bethlehem
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This is very bad news for those in the minority who want CHRISTmas erased from public view!
As for Christmas music I can’t stand, I will ALWAYS shift the channel away from “Mary, Did You Know”. That one has been WAY overdone, at least for me!