Christmas & Precious Memories

By the time you will read this in the early days of December, numerous radio stations in all corners of our nation will have already been playing Christmas and holiday melodies around the clock for a full month! While the concept of playing seasonal tunes non-stop for an extended period prior to the Day itself had its beginnings at a small group of stations in the 1990s, it didn’t become nearly universal across the land until the first decade of the 21^st century, and most did not launch the holiday format until close to Thanksgiving; however, in recent years it’s been creeping earlier and earlier … from what I’ve seen, in this year of 2021, we’ve seen the earliest start to date for a large number of stations.

As I wrote in my radio career memoir:

Just recently, my longtime radio industry friend, Jerry Del Colliano, who writes a daily critical commentary discussing current issues challenging the industry, wrote on this subject — confirming Chuck’s analysis — here is how Jerry defines it:

The 10 Most-Played Christmas Recordings

In my first writing on this subject on this page four years ago, I noted an analysis of the holiday songs most played on the radio during the previous Christmas season, followed by this review of those songs themselves:

What really attracted my attention to this is the list of the 10 most-played recordings and their age. What’s most interesting is that not a single one of the ten – which has obviously been extensively researched to determine which songs have the greatest magnetic attraction with the most devoted listeners and lovers of holiday music – is new here in the 21st century.

Next, there are only two of the 10 which date to the 1990s … including Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” released in 1994. Then, you’ve got to go back 50 years to Jose Feliciano’s masterpiece, “Feliz Navidad,” first released in 1970. It should come as no surprise that this one continues to rank high on almost everyone’s playlist.

The remaining seven songs? They all go back even further. With that clue, some you can likely guess:

• Nat King Cole’s “Christmas Song,”
• Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,”
• “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams,
• Burl Ives “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and
• “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” by Johnny Mathis.

And how about these two which sit near the top of the list, both released 60+ years ago, in 1957 and 1958 respectively:

• “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms and, of course,
• 13-year-old Brenda Lee belting out “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

Carols

To be considered a Carol, the song’s focus must be the birth of Jesus.

Here in 2021, on a list of the 60 best-testing songs (meaning among persons who plan to be listening to an all-Christmas music station), there is only one that can be classified as being a Carol… the “reason for the season” … Pentatonix singing Hallelujah:

I’ve not done much research in analyzing exactly what stations are playing these days. I do remember from days past that there was a percentage of the sacred carols included in the mix. In fact, as I write this, Philadelphia’s B101.1 is playing David Foster’s recording of “Carol of the Bells,” considered to be among the Carol repertoire.

While on the subject of carols, here is a song that I classify as the only one that fits the sacred carol category to gain true popularity in more than one hundred years. It has been recorded by numerous artists since the words were set to music 30 years ago: “Mary, Did You Know” is sung here by the writer of the message, Mark Lowry, and his fellow members of the Gaither Vocal Band. By the way, they were not written to be sung, only hastily conceived as a spoken word presentation at his church … his friend Buddy Green would add the melody seven years later.

What Radio Station are Playing This Holiday Season

A more recent listing of top favorites shows stations choosing to add a more up-to-date feel to their mix — while not dropping the original version — but by adding Michael Buble’s recordings of some of the long favorite, much-loved titles such as this one:

Christmas Music Radio in the 1960s

The way radio stations do Christmas music today is quite different compared to what I did for the first several years following conceiving the playing of all holiday music at WDVR Philadelphia in our first Christmas on the air in 1963. While beginning to include holiday favorites in the overall mix soon after Thanksgiving, the station did not go to a full schedule of Christmas/holiday songs until the 27-hour Christmas Festival of Music began at 9 P. M. on Christmas Eve!

Other Holiday Favorites

Now, you must be asking “Where’s “Rudolph?” Have no fear … versions by Gene Autry, Dean Martin, and Burl Ives rank just below the top 10 favorites listed above. You’ll certainly be hearing plenty about this beloved reindeer on your local all-Christmas station soon enough!