It’s my third day of Christmas radio listening this season, and I’ve just heard Christian AC KSRC (Star 101.5) Denver say something that I haven’t heard during holiday programming in recent memory. A sweeper promises that the station is “connecting you to your favorite Christmas songs and some brand-new ones, too.”
After six months, Star 101.5 is still new to a market that now has six stations in either that format or Praise/Worship. Since it’s introducing artists and (in fewer instances) songs unfamiliar outside the format, it has more reason than most to talk about new Christmas music than most stations. But it’s nice to hear a station unafraid to use the word “new” in conjunction with holiday music, since it doesn’t happen often.
I’m writing this story on Monday, November 4 — three days after Radioinsight noted a larger-than-usual number of early holiday launches this year. So far in my listening, I would have already lost Whamageddon twice — although the official avoidance of “Last Christmas” doesn’t start until December 1. I’ve also heard the song I’m always most waiting for, “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway, on AC KBEB (The Breeze) Sacramento.
In general, I feel like I’ve heard a few different titles/versions to keep Christmas from sounding like Groundhog Day. Some of that is because I divided my listening between Christian AC, AC (also including WHUD Hudson Valley, N.Y.), and SiriusXM’s newest celebrity-hosted channel, Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning Radio.
My “First Listen” to the earliest Christmas format flips always looks for a theme in how stations are talking about the holidays and themselves. In 2020, it was unsurprisingly somber. In 2021, it was more sentimental. In 2022, like Mainstream AC itself, there was more of a whimsy to the positioners. Think of it as “An Observational Comedy Christmas.”
Last year, Christmas stations sounded brighter. So far, that seems to be the pattern for this year as well. I’ve long appreciated holiday radio as a time when AC radio sounded its hottest and most foreground. As more AC stations across North America take up the “feel good” positioning being heard elsewhere, it makes sense that there would be noticeable energy.
Like Top 40 sister WSPK (K104) Poughkeepsie, N.Y., WHUD is a good-sounding radio station considered to be punching above its market size even before Hudson Valley became market No. 41. On Friday, the holiday music was punctuated by a “Go Army Update,” a day before the station’s Mike Bennett was set to broadcast from outside Michie Stadium for the Army/Air Force game. Here’s WHUD with p.m. driver Andy Bale, just before 4 p.m. on November 1:
- Elton John, “Step Into Christmas”
- John Lennon, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
- Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
- Chuck Berry, “Run Rudolph Run”
- New Christy Minstrels, “We Need a Little Christmas”
- Faith Hill, “Where Are You Christmas?”
- Andy Williams, “Sleigh Ride”
- Dean Martin, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
- Burl Ives, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
- Thurl Ravenscroft, “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch”
- Eartha Kitt, “Santa Baby”
- Vince Guaraldi, “Linus and Lucy”
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Canon”
- Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
- Kelly Clarkson, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
- Paul McCartney, “Wonderful Christmastime”
- Idina Menzel, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
iHeart’s Soft AC KBEB had a strong variety of imaging — one ID declares it to be “live from atop the North Pole.” I’ve noticed recently that stations have been doing a better job of following up on their :00 text-to-win contests. There were two different “Christmas Cash” winners heard in the hour, and both of them talked about listening specifically to iHeart Radio — the first time I’ve come across that in my listening.
Here’s The Breeze just before 4 p.m. on November 1 with Chris Davis:
- Ray Conniff Orchestra, “Twelve Days of Christmas”
- Vince Vance & Valiants, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
- Crystals, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
- Martina McBride, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
- Perry Como, “Home for the Holidays”
- Toni Braxton, “The Christmas Song”
- Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
- Goo Goo Dolls, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
- Dean Martin, “Silver Bells”
- Amy Grant, “Winter Wonderland”
- Vince Guaraldi, “Linus and Lucy”
- Beach Boys, “Frosty the Snowman”
- Bing Crosby, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
- Donny Hathaway, “This Christmas”
- Percy Faith Orchestra, “Deck the Halls”
- Air Supply, “Sleigh Ride”
- Ronettes, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
Holiday music was indeed a good introduction to Star 101.5. (In previous years, I’ve listened to owner Pillar of Fire’s WAWZ Middlesex/Union, N.J., and WAKW Cincinnati, which also launch holiday music early.) It’s a good-sounding radio station. It was also notable to hear middayer Slim talking six times an hour (although that could have been a function of shorter songs and 55 minutes of music that hour). Here’s Star 101.5 at 10 a.m., November 4:
- Burl Ives, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
- Amy Grant, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
- Mercy Me, “Gloria (Angels We Have Heard on High)”
- Sidewalk Prophets, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
- Beach Boys, “Little Saint Nick”
- Chris Tomlin, “Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)”
- Plumb, “Christmas Vacation” — cover of the Mavis Staples soundtrack song
- Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
- Frank Sinatra, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
- For King + Country, “Joy to the World”
- Michael Bublé, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
- Harry Connick Jr., “Sleigh Ride”
- BarlowGirl, “Carol of the Bells/Sing We Now of Christmas”—a vocal version
- Colton Dixon, “Jingle Bells”—rockin’/uptempo; a similarly hot version of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by MercyMe played a little while later
- ’N Sync, “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays”
- Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Jingle Bell Rock”
SXM’s latest artist-driven channel is promoting Fallon’s new Holiday Seasoning album, featuring the Jonas Brothers on lead single “Holiday.” The station is promising a “12 Days of Christmas” with a different themed playlist each day, (along with a Thanksgiving-dinner playlist), but so far it’s a mix of new and old, as well as a few songs that you wouldn’t hear on Mainstream AC Christmas.
Some of Fallon’s bits are indeed observational comedy Christmas, including a rant about holiday family newsletters. (“Look, I’m glad your kids are in college, okay?”) There was also a stager for a previous holiday single with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion that came about after Fallon’s collaborators heard his attempt to do the rap himself. Here’s Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning just before 10:30 a.m., November 4:
- Johnny Mathis, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
- Jimmy Buffett, “Mele Kalikimaka”
- Michael Bublé, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
- Stevie Nicks, “Silent Night”
- Jimmy Fallon f/Ariana Grande & Meghan thee Stallion, “It Was a … (Masked Christmas”
- Eartha Kitt, “Santa Baby”
- Pogues f/Kirsty MacColl, “Fairytale of New York” — unedited
- Kelly Clarkson, “Underneath the Tree”
- Temptations, “My Christmas Tree”
- Pretenders, “2000 Miles”
- Bobby Helms, “Jingle Bell Rock”
- Andy Williams, “Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season”
- Kinks, “Father Christmas”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com