Heritage Mainstream AC outlets WBEB (B101) Philadelphia and KESZ (K-EZ) Phoenix are among the major honorees in this year’s first Holiday Radio Readers’ Poll from Radio-Info.com and its AC newsletter, 25+. The year’s top non-AC prize went to KFKF (Country 94.1) Kansas City.

B101, a longtime AC powerhouse, was the winner of Best Mainstream FM AC Station in a Major Market, a category nominated and voted on by readers of Radio-Info’s 25+ and Ross On Radio newsletters.

B101, consistently strong throughout the year, often shows massive 6-plus ratings in Arbitron’s December and Holiday PPM reports. Its win was part of a sweep of the Mainstream AC categories by stations in the mid-Atlantic region.

K-EZ has been named “Best Heritage Holiday Station,” an editor’s award not included in the balloting. The station is one of the acknowledged pioneers of the all-Christmas format, with a success story dating back at least 15 years—well before switching to holiday music became a standard Thanksgiving (or Halloween) practice for AC stations.

KFKF, which assumed the holiday music mantle this year when both sister KCKC and rival KUDL left the AC format, was the winner in the Non-AC All Christmas Formats category. Without diluting its Country identity, KFKF is now the most successful example by far of an all-Christmas format on a Country station. In December, it was up 5.6–6.8 and second in the market.

In early December, 25+ solicited reader nominations for the best holiday format stations in eight categories, covering everything from Christmas formats on new platforms (such as satellite and online radio) to the all-Hanukkah format. Nearly 100 stations were nominated. Voting began on Dec. 12 and ended on Jan. 5. While it was only possible to vote once, stations were encouraged to conduct listener campaigns on their behalf. Ultimately, there were more than 3,100 votes cast.

The Mainstream AC categories were swept by three stations within 100 miles of each other. While New York/New Jersey stations dominated the 2009/2010 Ross On Radio Readers’ Poll for best Oldies/Greatest Hits format, B101 was joined by nearby WLIF (Lite 101.9) Baltimore, as best medium-market AC station, and WROZ (The Rose) Lancaster, Pa., the small-market winner.

While the spread of the all-Christmas format has been made easier by the post-consolidation rise of large groups and their ability to share programming resources, it’s noteworthy that three of the four American FM prizes went to stations that were individually owned (B101) or by smaller groups (Wilks’ KFKF and Hall’s WROZ).

Other winners included new AC outlet CKEA (Lite 95.7) Edmonton, Alberta, which pulled off an upset in its first year of holiday programming as best Canadian station; LiteFavorites.com, whose Christmas format won the New Platforms category for Mainstream AC holiday formats; Sirius XM’s Hanukkah 68 channel (which won a category now big enough to have at least five nominees); and iHeart Radio/Clear Channel’s R&B-oriented “Holiday Jams” channel (New Platforms/non-traditional formats).

Radio-Info.com and 25+ thank all the stations and readers that participated. Here’s the full list of winners:

• Mainstream/Hot AC (Top 10 Markets): WBEB (B101) Philadelphia
• Mainstream/Hot AC (Markets 11-60): WLIF (101.9 Lite FM) Baltimore
• Mainstream/Hot AC (Markets 61+): WROZ (The Rose) Lancaster, Pa.
• Non-AC All-Christmas Formats (AM/FM): KFKF (Country 94.1) Kansas City
• New Platforms (Mainstream Format): Lite Favorites Christmas
• New Platforms (Non-Traditional Format): iHeart Radio Holiday Jams
• Canada: CKEA (Lite 95.7) Edmonton, Alberta
• All-Hanukkah: Sirius Radio Hanukkah 68
• Heritage Holiday Station: KESZ (K-EZ) Phoenix