Posted by chicagomedia.org on September 12, 2008 at 10:32:26:
It's beginning to look a lot like…Christmas countdowns. And format changes?
Last year the website for Clear Channel's WLIT-FM, Chicago (93.9) featured a second-by-second countdown to its all-Christmas format, for several weeks before the flip. That didn't lead to a format change at the soft AC station, but some of this Fall's all-Christmas stunts undoubtedly will. (I'm hearing about one particular top-30 market station.) The Chicago "Lite" is in a very different competitive situation from last year, which might affect its Christmas planning. It’s now facing a "Fresh" competitor in the form of CBS Radio's WCFS at 105.9. (I hear Fresh ranked #3 with 25-54 women in the latest pre-currency month for Chicago PPMs.) Nationally, there may be less enthusiasm in some quarters about going all-Christmas, after some recent PPM research presented at the Arbitron Fly-In. And there may certainly be fewer stations cranking up Santa's sleigh really early, like in late October or early November. In fact, look for more ACs to start offering Christmas music as a separate stream on their website, and to handle it that way, at least until Thanksgiving. Wouldn't it be interesting if some station's all-holiday stream "made the book" in a PPM market?
(Tom Taylor)