Christmas Music Already

[roadman65]

Well we sure like to jump the gun with decorations and other related stuff long before Halloween even.  Heck, we even bring out the Salvation Army with their ringing the bell outside your favorite grocery store and Santa coming to the malls way before Black Friday( in fact as a kid I remember in the malls Santa would make a grand entrance to the mall the morning after we ate turkey) and the Macy's Parade would spark TV stations to run holiday ads and the finale of the parade would bring out Santa's arrival to the media world.

No more, as Black Friday stole Thanksgiving and even the day before Turkey Day. 

Now 100.3 in Tampa (an I Heart Radio Station) is playing Bing Crosby, Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, as well as other popular Christmas Songs since the start of the month of November.  I assume it being I Heart Radio, that the other markets in this nation have followed suit with them and now playing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer as well.  Because our wonderful FCC is giving out frequencies too close together, I can't tell if Orlando's Magic 107 is already playing because the FCC gave a Spanish Music Station the 107.7 frequency also to them.  So now Magic 107 in Orlando, which once was heard in Tampa and Orlando markets is strictly Orlando now because the FCC can't use many of the other open frequencies to assign a new radio to it instead.  Enough rant on that as when you live between two markets you can't get a clear fix on either station assigned to the same frequency so close to each other.

Back to point, what is the world coming too, with really jumping the gun?  No politics or religion please.

[triplemultiplex]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

[Scott5114]

There's a station here that has already gone to 24/7 Christmas music. Like, not mixed with their regular stuff, just straight Christmas music. I don't understand how anyone could start listening to that in mid-November and not be absolutely sick of it by mid-December.

Then again, I despise Christmas music. Had to listen to too much of it working customer service and having no control over what was being played. And all of the customers that time of the year were all stressed out from Christmas shopping and became rude, entitled pricks. So hearing Christmas music just makes me have war flashbacks. Nah, not for me.

[SectorZ]

So hearing Christmas music just makes me have war flashbacks.

Some folks are born made to trim the tree
They're red, white and green
And when Mariah sings "All I Want Is You"
They point the torture at you, Lord

[formulanone]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

I thought of the Butterball Pact set forth guidelines on holiday music until the last Friday in November, so as to prevent the War on Christmas, in exchange for a year-round tinsel trade treaty? Also, please think of those who celebrate Happy Honda Days, a December to Remember,  Season of Audi, and Ho-Ho-Hupmobile.

Seriously it's not that big of a deal by mid-November. But honestly not my thing until mid-December.

[NWI_Irish96]

There are two circumstances under which I listen to radio stations:

1) I'm on the road during a big sporting event and will listen to it.

2) I'm driving a very short time/distance, generally < 15 minutes, and don't want to bother starting up my Pandora app.

So radio stations can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned.

[hbelkins]

A radio station in Lexington (Mix 94.5, which used to be WLAP-FM but may have changed call letters over the years) pulled the trigger on "Mixmas" on Nov. 1.

I saw a news story a few weeks ago that a station somewhere had already started playing Christmas music. Yes, that means before Halloween.

[Scott5114]

So hearing Christmas music just makes me have war flashbacks.

Some folks are born made to trim the tree
They're red, white and green
And when Mariah sings "All I Want Is You"
They point the torture at you, Lord

[wanderer2575]

Must be something about the 100.3 frequency.  Here in the Detroit area, radio station WNIC broadcasts only Christmas music, 'round the clock, starting sometime in the first week of November (it was the 5th this year).  I don't know whether they knock it off after Christmas or if it continues through New Year; I don't have the strength to listen.

[jeffandnicole]

Honestly, I think radio stations have held back this year on playing Christmas music. Last year right after Halloween there were numerous stations playing Christmas music on both FM and XM radios. This year there's only 1 station on XM so far, and 1 FM station here in the Philly market.

[snowc]

Well we sure like to jump the gun with decorations and other related stuff long before Halloween even.  Heck, we even bring out the Salvation Army with their ringing the bell outside your favorite grocery store and Santa coming to the malls way before Black Friday( in fact as a kid I remember in the malls Santa would make a grand entrance to the mall the morning after we ate turkey) and the Macy's Parade would spark TV stations to run holiday ads and the finale of the parade would bring out Santa's arrival to the media world.

No more, as Black Friday stole Thanksgiving and even the day before Turkey Day. 

Now 100.3 in Tampa (an I Heart Radio Station) is playing Bing Crosby, Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, as well as other popular Christmas Songs since the start of the month of November.  I assume it being I Heart Radio, that the other markets in this nation have followed suit with them and now playing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer as well.  Because our wonderful FCC is giving out frequencies too close together, I can't tell if Orlando's Magic 107 is already playing because the FCC gave a Spanish Music Station the 107.7 frequency also to them.  So now Magic 107 in Orlando, which once was heard in Tampa and Orlando markets is strictly Orlando now because the FCC can't use many of the other open frequencies to assign a new radio to it instead.  Enough rant on that as when you live between two markets you can't get a clear fix on either station assigned to the same frequency so close to each other.

Back to point, what is the world coming too, with really jumping the gun?  No politics or religion please.

Hey, stop everyone before I say this.
MIX 101.5 has Christmas music playing November 1 - December 25 every year, and it is on HD2.
Want to hear the Sounds of the season? Click here! https://prod-107-22-14-56.wostreaming.net/capitolbroad-wralhd3aac-hlsc1.m3u8/?source=v7player
Heck, I play it with a virtual fireplace! 

[vdeane]

Warm 101.3 in Rochester went all-Christmas right after Veteran's Day (same time as Star 92.9 in Vermont, actually).  Now, I'm not really a fan of blasting all Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but that in and of itself I can deal with.  What's problematic, particularly for Warm 101.3 (which is the one I end up listening to since any trip this time of year is going to be to Rochester or a day trip out of Rochester), is how heavy the Christmas song rotation is on crooners.  It's not my style of music, and when you've been driving on the Thruway for 2-3 hours, you really need something more upbeet.  The slower, older music combined with the driving tends to put me to sleep.  It's to the point where I'm thinking of kicking Warm 101.3 off my presets in favor of an Audacity station (98.9 The Buzz), even though I normally avoid Audacity and iHeart Radio in favor of more local stations.  It feels like it's getting harder over time to find stations that play music I like consistently and have enough range to fill out my preset network, or maybe I'm just getting more picky.

[Rothman]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

You, sir, win the Internet for the day.

[kurumi]

Spotify and the internet in general (replacing radio, good riddance) and online shopping (replacing in-store) have made the 12 weeks of Retail Advent much easier to handle. So far I have not had to hear "Sleigh Bells" (the worst Christmas song) yet, and it's almost Thanksgiving.

[Henry]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

I thought of the Butterball Pact set forth guidelines on holiday music until the last Friday in November, so as to prevent the War on Christmas, in exchange for a year-round tinsel trade treaty? Also, please think of those who celebrate Happy Honda Days, a December to Remember,  Season of Audi, and Ho-Ho-Hupmobile.

Seriously it's not that big of a deal by mid-November. But honestly not my thing until mid-December.

Not to mention thinking what fun it is to ride in a '57 Chevrolet or seeing Santa Claus come back to town in a big, black Cadillac.

Safe to say that 93.9 Lite FM in Chicago, KOST 103.5 in L.A. and Warm 106.9 in Seattle are in 24/7 Christmas music mode by now. Of course, it plus Delilah's nighttime show would be brought to you by Cadillac (which is the right way to do it in anyway).

[jlam]

Northern Colorado's Retro 102.5 FM is switching to Christmas music tomorrow at noon. They couldn't even make it to Thanksgiving.

[spooky]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

How dare you, I celebrate Happy Honda Days.

[Scott5114]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

I thought of the Butterball Pact set forth guidelines on holiday music until the last Friday in November, so as to prevent the War on Christmas, in exchange for a year-round tinsel trade treaty? Also, please think of those who celebrate Happy Honda Days, a December to Remember,  Season of Audi, and Ho-Ho-Hupmobile.

Seriously it's not that big of a deal by mid-November. But honestly not my thing until mid-December.

Not to mention thinking what fun it is to ride in a '57 Chevrolet or seeing Santa Claus come back to town in a big, black Cadillac.

Safe to say that 93.9 Lite FM in Chicago, KOST 103.5 in L.A. and Warm 106.9 in Seattle are in 24/7 Christmas music mode by now. Of course, it plus Delilah's nighttime show would be brought to you by Cadillac (which is the right way to do it in anyway).

Magic 104.1 here pre-empts Delilah when they're doing their 24/7 Christmas music. Normally I would be happy something has taken that mawkish, treacly sap off the air, but Christmas music is even worse than she is...

Also I'm cracking up that "Warm" is an appellation that not just one, but multiple radio stations seem to have adopted. "Hot" I get, "Cool" I get, but "warm"? "Get all your lukewarm hits! Music that was hot 40 years ago but is now closer to room temperature!"

[D-Dey65]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

I thought of the Butterball Pact set forth guidelines on holiday music until the last Friday in November, so as to prevent the War on Christmas, in exchange for a year-round tinsel trade treaty? Also, please think of those who celebrate Happy Honda Days, a December to Remember,  Season of Audi, and Ho-Ho-Hupmobile.

You just made me think of some remarks The Cinema Snob made in his review of "Last Ounce of Courage."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-h0Jm-i184

[plain]

Gotta fill the gap between Labor Day and Toyotathon somehow.

I thought the Progressive Homeandautobundlextravafestasaveathon was supposed to fill in that gap? 

[hotdogPi]

Part of the problem is that most Christmas stations don't play enough variety. Many of the religious ones aren't played or are played very rarely; this even includes Silent Night. Even some of the secular traditional songs (Here We Come A-Wassailing, Good King Wenceslas) aren't played. Then there are the ones such as We Are Santa's Elves, We're a Couple of Misfits, and Silver and Gold all from the Rudolph movie; the station I listen to plays the first two (very rarely) but not the third, and I believe the station is unusual in that it does play the first two.

[kurumi]

Secular Christmas music is predominantly from a certain time in history: https://xkcd.com/988/

[vdeane]

Part of the problem is that most Christmas stations don't play enough variety. Many of the religious ones aren't played or are played very rarely; this even includes Silent Night. Even some of the secular traditional songs (Here We Come A-Wassailing, Good King Wenceslas) aren't played. Then there are the ones such as We Are Santa's Elves, We're a Couple of Misfits, and Silver and Gold all from the Rudolph movie; the station I listen to plays the first two (very rarely) but not the third, and I believe the station is unusual in that it does play the first two.

That is certainly true, especially with respect to type of music.  I'd be much less annoyed by all-Christmas if they even had a 1:1 ratio of crooners to more modern stuff, but it's usually 5:1 if not 10:1 in favor of crooners, which really isn't my preferred type of music.

Secular Christmas music is predominantly from a certain time in history: https://xkcd.com/988/

That hover text is spot-on.  "An 'American tradition' is anything that happened to a baby boomer twice."  It's amazing how many things we assume are normal or "the way things are" (or were) even if they were actually a historical aberration that existed only in the 1950s and 60s.

[Scott5114]

It wouldn't be so bad if we actually got to hear covers of the 1940s/1950s songs instead of solely playing the original recordings. Is it any wonder Mariah Carey gets played so much? She's the most recent person to actually make it past the gates of the Bing Crosby Industrial Complex.

I will modify my previous post by saying I don't mind Christmas music so much when NPR starts including it in their jazz programs. Jazz has a long tradition of "standards" that individual musicians are encouraged to put their own spin on, and they treat Christmas music just the same. So it's interesting because while you might hear two versions of the same Christmas song on the same night, they'll sound totally different.

[1995hoo]

It wouldn't be so bad if we actually got to hear covers of the 1940s/1950s songs instead of solely playing the original recordings. Is it any wonder Mariah Carey gets played so much? She's the most recent person to actually make it past the gates of the Bing Crosby Industrial Complex.

....

On the other hand, I don't care who sings it, I get very sick very quickly of hearing about Mommy kissing Santa. It might have been cute whenever that song was written, but by now it's so overplayed that I find it very tiresome. I could name several other similar-era songs that I turn off, if possible, as soon as I hear them ("Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" are the two that most readily come to mind).

I do greatly enjoy Twisted Sister's version of "O Come All Ye Faithful," which of course you'll never hear most places because it's a religious song.