Holiday spirit (Photo – daveynin)
According to the Andy Williams recorded and popularized song from 1963, right now “It’s (supposed to be) the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” In 2010 this song ranked #4 on the Billboard magazine list of the “Top 10 Holiday Songs” (since 2001). Why 2001, you might ask? Well, that was the year ASCAP began tracking the radio airplay of holiday songs. While this song isn’t necessarily my all-time favorite Christmas song, it certainly qualifies as a classic, and I can easily tolerate listening to it.
By Peter Stuber
As you know, ColoradoBoulevard.net originates in the Los Angeles area. Our weather (after a record-breaking hot summer) has taken a sudden turn since Halloween into cooler, more seasonal temps. This change, I think, tends to put people into the holiday mood and spirit. A certain local radio station switches to an all-holiday programming line-up this time of the year. This year they switch to their holiday fare, I’m told, on Friday, Nov. 10. It just seems to get earlier and earlier every year, and while I don’t know what drives their decision, I suspect ratings might have something to do with it. Heck, they might as well switch on the day after Halloween and milk it for all it’s worth.
I can remember in years gone by that the “Holidays” included New Year’s Day, and Christmas music could be heard through the 1st of the year. Well, not with this particular station. They start early and stop at midnight on the 25th of December. In spite of their scheduling choices, I do still hear Christmas music past the 25th in other places — like at the airport, for example.
Radio sound mixer (Photo – Clubfungus, pixabay).
Nauseating programming choices
Now, it’s not the choice of schedule that bothers me. It’s the programming choices that have made an otherwise seasonal pleasure turn into a nauseating experience of overplayed and run-into-the-ground songs. I decided this year to give this radio station another opportunity to win me over as a listener during this coming holiday season. So on Sunday evening, I somewhat reluctantly tuned in to see if they would disappoint or surprise me. To my shock and horror, during the first 30 minutes of listening, they played all three of the songs I’ve come to despise due to their incessant and excessive repeat play. I’m not going to name the station, but I am going to name the songs. Now, before I do, just know I am not in any way denigrating these songs or the artists. This is not about that. You may actually like these songs, and that’s okay. (I’ll forgive you. There may be other songs that fall into this category for you.)
The issue for me is that no matter how great a song might be, it simply can’t stand up to being run into the ground by being played ten times a day or more for a period of nearly two months. Am I alone in this?
Radio microphone (Photo – pexels.com).
Three ruined holiday songs
The songs in question are “Last Christmas” by Wham, “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney, and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey. Our local radio station in Los Angeles has literally ruined these three songs for my personal listening pleasure by playing them ten plus times per day throughout the holiday season, and they’ve been doing it for probably more than ten years. It’s really time to change things up a bit, folks. After thirty minutes of listening on this past Sunday evening and hearing these three songs, I decided to personally boycott this station for the holiday season. I will not be tuning it in again until after the holidays are over. They have officially lost me as a holiday listener. Again, this is not a commentary on my like or dislike of the artists or the songs. I do feel these songs are a bit on the cheesy side and don’t really qualify as true holiday classics, but that’s my opinion. You may well like them, but I think you’ll agree hearing them once per hour every day is just downright annoying and sickening.
Extreme favoritism
According to my online research, Paul McCartney makes approximately $400,000 a year from royalties for “Wonderful Christmastime.” Ironically, of the three songs I mentioned, his is the only one that doesn’t show up on the Billboard Holiday 100 list from January 10, 2015. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” actually holds the #2 spot on that list. Obviously, these songs are getting a lot of airplay to show up on that list. I’m just not sure why these radio stations have chosen to give extreme favoritism to certain artists and songs. It makes me wonder if the royalties have been reduced or even waived for certain songs on certain stations. I can’t really see any other explanation for the overbearing play of some songs. If someone from the industry or one of these stations would like to enlighten us on this subject, it would be most welcome.
I’m still planning to have a “Wonderful Christmastime” myself — it just won’t include listening to Christmas songs on the radio. Instead, I will make my own playlist and shuffle it carefully so I will never hear the same song twice in succession. Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season with (or without) the radio on in the background.
Peter Stuber is an IT Technician, an experienced audio engineer, and musician.
Fun read! Thanks for sharing.
I absolutely hate “The Little Drummer Boy!” Everybody who thinks they can sing give it a go, and it always gets slower and slower and slower. Rather have a poke in the eye than listen to that song.