You can’t deny the research behind it, but one of the disappointments of the holiday format as heard in on AC radio in the U.S. is how few R&B Christmas classics make the cut. A lot of the records that mark the holiday season for me—“Silent Night” by the Temptations, “Christmas Ain’t Christmas Without The One You Love” by the O’Jays, “Merry Christmas Baby” by Otis Redding, etc.—are exiled to Urban AC, if anywhere, now.

In the U.K., however, AC radio has always been a little more soulful. And Smooth Radio, the station that launched the first national Digital Radio/online Christmas format, evolved from Smooth Jazz to a unique Supersoft AC format with a strong Classic Soul element. So while it might have been interesting to hear the American game plan executed with a different set of records, Smooth Radio Christmas is something entirely different and more soulful—and very much in keeping with the spirit of the parent station.

There’s a lot of ’60s/’70s R&B Christmas on Smooth Radio Christmas that you won’t hear on Mainstream AC or Urban AC in the U.S. There was also, in the stretch that I heard, a surprising “peace for Christmas” element in the music—a sentiment that John Lennon gets away with in the States with on “Happy X-mas (War Is Over),” but not every other artist could.

Launched on Nov. 1, Smooth Radio Christmas’ liners include, “It’s never too early to celebrate Christmas.” But they also include one instructing listeners to check out Smooth Radio “when all these Christmas songs get to be a bit much,” something you can do in a country where DAB side channels are actually heard by a sizable audience.

Here’s Smooth Christmas at 2:15 p.m. on Nov. 5:

Love Unlimited, “It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It’s Spring)”
Johnny Mathis, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”
Ronettes, “Sleigh Ride”
Marvin Gaye, “I Want To Come Home For Christmas” (told from the viewpoint of a P.O.W.)
Jackson 5, “Frosty The Snowman”
Mary Chapin Carpenter, “On A Quiet Christmas Morn”
Elton John, “Step Into Christmas”
Otis Redding, “Merry Christmas Baby”
Boney M, “Mary’s Boy Child”
Lou Rawls, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
Gladys Knight & Pips, “Do You Hear What I Hear”
Jona Lewie, “Stop The Cavalry” (another anti-war song from the early ’80s new wave artist)
Stevie Wonder, “Lighting Up The Candles”