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Programming & Music
This essay, Four Christmases V: KOIT, WBEB, XmasMelody, SomaFM, was written by Sean Ross for Radio-Info.com's Programming & Music column.
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Four Christmases V: KOIT, WBEB, XmasMelody, SomaFM
After a few weeks of checking out the more eclectic offerings from the all-holiday world, I was planning for this final installment of “Four Christmases” to return to the genre’s holiday HQ and focus entirely on Mainstream ACs and their execution of the format.
Then RadioTime released their list of users' favorite holiday music stations. Internet only stations comprised seven of the top 10 stations, which sent me to check out two more Internet outlets. They’re joined this week by AC powerhouses WBEB (B101), perhaps the PPM-era’s most potent display of the format’s power, and KOIT San Francisco.
I've also spent some time this holiday season thinking about why there are so few new holiday standards, and why it takes a new Christmas song several years (or ten, or twenty) to get traction. For those thoughts, click here.
Taylor on Radio-Info reports that holiday music has already returned KOIT to No. 1 in “December, Week 3” (actually the week beginning on Thanksgiving day). Of the stations I've heard, it’s done one of the best balancing acts of providing the right holiday atmosphere and maintaining the 12-month-a-year utility of its regular AC format. (I heard great promos about the emotions evoked by both holiday and regular format songs over the course of an hour’s listening.) KOIT also had the best Web-only stopset filler: the “30 Second Meditation,” which is way better than filling up your stopset with PSAs about toxic waste.
Here’s KOIT at 2 p.m. on Monday (21). (Disclosure: Edison Research, where the author is VP of music and programming, has a working relationship with KOIT.)
Kenny Loggins, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
Leroy Anderson, “Sleigh Ride”
Josh Groban, “The First Noel”
Carnie & Wendy Wilson, “Hey Santa”
Bing Crosby, “White Christmas”
Beach Boys, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
America, “Winter Wonderland”
Johnny Mathis, “We Need A Little Christmas”
Bette Midler, “Mele Kalikimaka”
Carpenters, “Merry Christmas Darling”
John Mellencamp, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
Celine Dion, “The Christmas Song”
Mariah Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
After four weeks of Christmas listening, much of it to AC stations that have tightened their lists with nearly a decade’s experience in the format, listening to RadioTime’s No. 1 holiday station is a lot like the difference between hearing an Adult Top 40 station and a particularly broad Bob- or Jack-FM for holiday music. It also has a slightly odd vibe in other ways — one of the jingles is “Christmas Melody/we wish you well.” Well, okay, thanks. But it’s a very enjoyable experience.
Here’s XmasMelody.com at 10:10 ET on Dec. 22:
Darlene Love, “All Alone On Christmas”
Moonglows, “Hey Santa Claus”
Sheryl Crow, “Blue Christmas”
Tom Petty, “Little Red Rooster” (the blues standard with Christmas lyrics)
Faith Hill, “A Baby Changes Everything”
Chicago, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
Kenny G, “Jingle Bells”
Olivia Newton-John, “White Christmas”
Asleep At The Wheel, “Merry Texas Christmas, Y'all”
Seekers, “Morningtown Ride”
Ella Fitzgerald, “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” (features what would now be called an extrapolation of the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley.”)
Grant Davis, “Bah Humbug (Merry Merry Christmas)”
Celtic Women, “Paris Angelicus”
Another RadioTime fave, offering a combination of Christmas chillout instrumentals and swinging ‘50s/'60s lounge MOR—some of which glancingly intersects with the Dean Martin/Andy Williams end of the Mainstream AC holiday music spectrum. And many of the titles here are as familiar as their AC counterparts. Xmas lounge does play “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby. They just play the Kaskade Remix.
If AC stations use (or don’t use) their Christmas cume to market for the rest of the year, the SomaFM site did a good job of turning me on to at least three other channels I want to listen to later. They also gave space on the Website to MD Rusty Hodge, something that I wish more terrestrial stations would do in this recommendation-conscious age.
Here’s SomaFM at 7:45 ET on Dec. 23:
Neurobic, “Silent Night”
Rose Marie, “Winter Wonderland”
Tetsumi Nagaka, “Feliz Navidad”
Stan Kenton, “What Is A Santa Claus”
Bryan Ogden, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
Ella Fitzgerald, “Sleigh Ride”
Nancy Wilson, “The Christmas Waltz”
Farro In The Dark, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
Madison Park, “Winter Wonderland”
Sunday People, “The First Noel”
Al DiMeola, “Greensleeves”
Jon Kennedy, “The Goose Is Getting Fat” (electronica version of “Jingle Bells” that also samples various holiday TV specials)
Dave McKenna, “Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem”
We wrap up our look at holiday radio this year with the station that became its PPM-era showplace. In its post-Thanksgiving week, B101 had a 14.5 share, the kind of number that some stations don’t post until the December PPM report gives way to the holiday special numbers. B101, which was playing a very tight, hit-driven list in the hour or so I heard did break format with one of the genre’s best special features, a song from one of the contestants in its “B101 Christmas Idol Choir Competition.”
I also noticed something on B101 this year that represents a change from previous years—a morning show promo emphasizing the show’s celebrity guests. This on a station that had never really needed a destination morning show. But if you can get Robert Pattinson on the air, you should talk about it.
Here’s B101 at 8:45 on Dec. 23:
Dean Martin, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
John Lennon, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
Amy Grant, “Sleigh Bells”
Frank Sinatra, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
Lonestar, “The Little Drummer Boy”
Andy Williams, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”
Josh Groban, “Oh Holy Night”
Fred Astaire, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
Paul Young, “What Christmas Means To Me”
Nat King Cole, “The Christmas Song”
Carpenters, “Carol of the Bells”
Thurl Ravnescroft, “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Haddon Heights Baptist Regional School, “Jingle Bells” (choir competition act)
Mariah Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
Thanks for sharing Four Christmases. I hope it’s a great holiday season for you, and a consistently brigtening 2010 for all.
About the Writer
Sean Ross, one of the radio and music industry’s most widely respected writers and programming analysts, is the author of the newsletter Ross On Radio, an extension of his long-running column of the same name.
