Christmas Music on WNIC

[rugratsonline]

50+ days of Christmas music is ridiculous. They're making it less special.

How soon before they start the Christmas music right after Labor day?

I have heard reports, at lest in past years, of some stations flipping to all-Christmas days BEFORE Halloween. Be lucky no station had the guts to start in September.

[ChrisWL1980]

In an impulsive moment of Baby Boomer nostalgia, I picked up a special issue of Mad magazine that satirizes the Christmas season. It has a January 1973 piece titled "The Mad Christmas Hate Book". It includes this:

"Don't you hate...Christmas music that starts right after Thanksgiving, and practically drives you out of your mind by Dec. 25th."

Little did they know...

The people of 1972 also didn't have to deal with Band Aid, Newsong, and Elmo and Patsy, not to mention Mariah Carey every 45 minutes. Hate to tell ya, people of 1972, but Christmas music doesn't get any better from here on out...

There's a holidays (not just Christmas, but holidays in general) themed episode of the old Nickelodeon show "You Can't Do That on Television" in which the dad (played by the incomparable Les Lye) makes a group of trick-or-treaters sing "Silent Night" for him, reasoning that if stores can start setting up Christmas decorations in October, he can have trick-or-treaters sing him Christmas carols on Halloween.

The show also did a Christmas episode with an opposite skit in which the dad yells at the carolers for singing "Silent Night" and tells them to try "something hipper." The carolers launch into Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It."

I've noticed that WNIC does deviate from the approved iHeart playlist when they take listener requests during the noon hour (which is normally all '80s).

[Bobbert]

If you're getting tired of Last Christmas by Wham!, here's a new way to experience it. At first it makes you feel a little crazy, then it's pretty fun.

[Bobbert]

50+ days of Christmas music is ridiculous. They're making it less special.

How soon before they start the Christmas music right after Labor day?

I have heard reports, at lest in past years, of some stations flipping to all-Christmas days BEFORE Halloween. Be lucky no station had the guts to start in September.

Hallmark started their Christmas movies this year on October 22. I'm sure a lot of radio programmers noticed that.

[Mega Hertz]

If you're getting tired of Last Christmas by Wham!, here's a new way to experience it. At first it makes you feel a little crazy, then it's pretty fun.

I love it. I have this thing for reverse speech and movements. Not just for the "backmasking/hidden messages" stuff, either, but to watch every day things we do like walking happening in reverse.

[Deleted User 15716]

When I program radio music I never play any Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. WNIC apparently couldn't even
wait for Halloween to flip to all Christmas. That's really pushing Christmas too far and WNIC should be ashamed of that.

I'm under the impression that iHeart does it because they ascertained people want it. The customer comes first.

[Musicrewired]

Incidentally, part of that period you charted (8am-12pm Sunday) is where they rerun the old Casey Kasem American Top 40/American Top 20 Christmas specials, in the same timeslot where they usually run AT40 The '80s. A lot of the older songs not on the corporate Premium Choice playlist (i.e. Yogi Yorgesson, or Connie Francis' "Baby's First Christmas") probably were played during that time.

Re: Yogi's "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas", quoting Casey from the 1973 AT40 Christmas special after playing only the first chorus of the song:

"You know, it starts out as a song, but then a little later on it goes into a comedy monologue, which must have been pretty funny back in 1949 because it hit #5 on the charts. But it really doesn't make it today, so well yust move along to the next song on the all-time Christmas countdown."

That's terrible that Casey said that then. I know they heavily edited their top 40 shows to fit into 3 hour time slots, but I didn't think Casey would stoop to starting a song, then criticizing it part way through before moving on. That's one of my favorite Christmas songs, too.

Then again, he later famously hated doing a Long Distance Dedication about a little dog named Snuggles, so I guess his stardom had gone to his head. He'd been voicing Shaggy on Scooby-Doo for a few years, and he appeared on an episode of Hawaii 5-0 about a year after this Christmas countdown.

[Mega Hertz]

50+ days of Christmas music is ridiculous. They're making it less special.

How soon before they start the Christmas music right after Labor day?

I have heard reports, at lest in past years, of some stations flipping to all-Christmas days BEFORE Halloween. Be lucky no station had the guts to start in September.

We flipped 105.1 to Christmas on October 28 in 2011. How did I know? I did a Halloween countdown on the HD2 channel and when I checked on it with 3 days left, the normal AC format was on the HD2 and Christmas was on FM. But that was the year Harper retired and we "rebranded" on the 26th.

[MWmetalhead]

Soft Rock 105.1 - where the highly talented Chris Edmonds was turned into a time & temp reader twice an hour.

That said, the Soft Rock 105.1 era was great compared to the absolutely rotten "Today's 105.1" era of the station. I always wanted to punch the speakers whenever hearing the male-female voiceover duet proclaim, "One Song Newer! One Song Older!"

Some true morons must've been calling the programming shots in 2012 & 2013.

[radioandtventhusiast]

Soft Rock 105.1 - where the highly talented Chris Edmonds was turned into a time & temp reader twice an hour.

That said, the Soft Rock 105.1 era was great compared to the absolutely rotten "Today's 105.1" era of the station. I always wanted to punch the speakers whenever hearing the male-female voiceover duet proclaim, "One Song Newer! One Song Older!"

Some true morons must've been calling the programming shots in 2012 & 2013.

The Soft Rock 105.1 era only lasted 6 to 8 months before moving to Today's 105.1. I wonder why they rebranded so quickly.

[rugratsonline]

[Casey Kasem] later famously hated doing a Long Distance Dedication about a little dog named Snuggles, so I guess his stardom had gone to his head.

As I heard, he was having a tough day that day -- eventually, a proper Long Distance Dedication for Snuggles made the cut of that week's AT40, though the one that ticked casey off can easily be found on YouTube.

I always wanted to punch the speakers whenever hearing the male-female voiceover duet proclaim, "One Song Newer! One Song Older!"

Whatever happened to slogans such as "the best of yesterday and today?" I'd rather have imaging come from professionals, not by someone who saw an old Miller Lite commercial ("Less Filling! Tastes Great!").

[Mike]

[Casey Kasem] later famously hated doing a Long Distance Dedication about a little dog named Snuggles, so I guess his stardom had gone to his head.

As I heard, he was having a tough day that day -- eventually, a proper Long Distance Dedication for Snuggles made the cut of that week's AT40, though the one that ticked casey off can easily be found on YouTube.

The issue was, as that clip reveals, that he was none too pleased at having to read a death dedication (which that was) immediately following an uptempo song (in this case, "Dare Me" by The Pointer Sisters).

Even in what did make air, it didn't really make for the smoothest transition. And jarring transitions like this would also happen many many many more times over in the years to follow.

[MichiganEx-Pat]

Mediabase is showing the first Christmas song played as "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" by the Jackson 5, at 8:15am.
http://www.mediabase.com/whatsong/whats ... 7045070077

Shockingly, "that song" has only played twice since then.
No Christmas music on 101.5 Toledo yet, they're doing Friday Night '80s as usual. WRVF has shown a little more restraint in the past few years, waiting until close to mid-November to pull the switch. Their sister station in Grand Rapids apparently just switched at 5pm today.

Me, I miss the days when stations waited until Christmas Eve to go wall-to-wall holiday music, and playing only 30 hours of Christmas music during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was a big deal. Remember the old WJOI Joy 97 "Christmas Festivals of Music" sponsored by NBD?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQB9_sq4ITs

Thanks for that link. That list is easy to paste into Excel so I checked to see what was being played the most from midnight Friday night to about 6 p.m. today (42 hours). Here's a sample:

JOSE FELICIANO Feliz Navidad (11 times played)
FRANK SINATRA Jingle Bells (10)
BOBBY HELMS Jingle Bell Rock (10)
ANDY WILLIAMS Winter Wonderland (10)
MICHAEL BUBLE Holly Jolly Christmas (10)
MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER Carol Of The Bells (9)
BRENDA LEE Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (9)
DEAN MARTIN Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (9)
JOHNNY MATHIS It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (9)
PAUL MCCARTNEY Wonderful Christmastime (9)
RONETTES Sleigh Ride (9)
JOHN LENNON Happy Xmas/War Is Over (8)
DAVID FOSTER Carol Of The Bells (8)
LINDSEY STIRLING Carol Of The Bells (8)
ANDY WILLIAMS Most Wonderful Time Of The. Year (8)
BURL IVES Have A Holly Jolly Christmas (8)
BURL IVES Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (8)
ELVIS PRESLEY Blue Christmas (7)
MARIAH CAREY All I Want For Christmas Is You (7)
MARIAH CAREY Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (7)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (6)
THURL RAVENSCROFT You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch (6)
NAT KING COLE The Christmas Song (6)
BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA Sleigh Ride (4)

In the Last Christmas contest, the Glee cast led with 8 plays, followed by Taylor Swift and Wham with 7 each.
In the Santa Baby contest, Madonna and Taylor Swift were tied with 5 plays apiece, followed by Earth Kitt with 1.

Biggest surprise:
DRIFTERS White Christmas (4)
TAYLOR SWIFT White Christmas (2)
BING CROSBY White Christmas (1)
DARLENE LOVE White Christmas (1)

I'm guessing they're saving Bing for after Thanksgiving.

Songs that got only one play apiece include:

SPIKE JONES All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
NORAH JONES Christmas Don't Be Late
STAN FREBERG Christmas Dragnet
CARRIE UNDERWOOD Favorite Time Of Year
BEACH BOYS Frosty The Snowman
JIMMY DURANTE Frosty The Snowman
JUDY GARLAND Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
DARREN CRISS I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
YOGI YORGESSON I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas
HARRY SIMEONE CHORALE Little Drummer Boy
BUCHANAN & GOODMAN Santa & The Satellite
RAY STEVENS Santa Claus Is Watching You
ARIANA GRANDE Santa Tell Me
DAVID WHITFIELD Santo Natale (Merry Christmas)
TRAIN Shake Up Christmas (2015)
ROYAL GUARDSMEN Snoopy's Christmas
CHIPMUNKS The Chipmunk Song
ELTON JOHN Step Into Christmas

One song that got no plays:

Santa Got Run Over By a Reindeer

Not surprised to see "White Christmas" by The Drifters played that many times.

Of all the older Christmas songs, that one's probably amongst the most memorable for the Millennial audience because of that classic scene from Home Alone.

[Musicrewired]

[Casey Kasem] later famously hated doing a Long Distance Dedication about a little dog named Snuggles, so I guess his stardom had gone to his head.

As I heard, he was having a tough day that day -- eventually, a proper Long Distance Dedication for Snuggles made the cut of that week's AT40, though the one that ticked casey off can easily be found on YouTube.

The issue was, as that clip reveals, that he was none too pleased at having to read a death dedication (which that was) immediately following an uptempo song (in this case, "Dare Me" by The Pointer Sisters).

Even in what did make air, it didn't really make for the smoothest transition. And jarring transitions like this would also happen many many many more times over in the years to follow.

https://youtu.be/AVroc7RvNeU

...and Negativland made the famous leaked recording into a subversive one of their own that rankled U2. It was fun to hear back then, and won't ever make a Christmas music format, especially since it hasn't anything to do with the holiday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_(EP)

Hallmark running their Christmas movies starting in October isn't a surprise. What is is that they haven't spun off a channel to run just Christmas movies 24/7. Hallmark Movies and Mysteries isn't specific enough to do only that.

[Bobbert]

If you're getting tired of Last Christmas by Wham!, here's a new way to experience it. At first it makes you feel a little crazy, then it's pretty fun.

I love it. I have this thing for reverse speech and movements. Not just for the "backmasking/hidden messages" stuff, either, but to watch every day things we do like walking happening in reverse.

My favorite part is where they go backwards over the fence.

https://youtu.be/Cichv4l-z1s?t=71