Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

Bobbert wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 6:33 pm

ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:39 pm 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

Bobbert wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 6:33 pm

ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:39 pm 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

ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:51 pm WLEN in Adrian plays a decent variety of Christmas music, but they wait until after Thanksgiving to do it and break on Fridays for their usual oldies programming. Home.FM in Jackson has had a decent variety in the past too, but with 89.3 and all the translators now airing separate programming, I wonder whether Home or The Arbor will be the one to switch this year. (Incidentally, 107.9 Dexter is going to Ave Maria to rebroadcast 990.)

ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:55 pm 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.

"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."

SoutheastMIViewer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:26 am Its the day after thanksgiving! You know what time it is?

Christmas Music time!! After thanksgiving on Friday afternoon, Wnic gets added to the preset.

Bobbert wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:28 pm 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...