Recently, radio industry news publications put out the word that Nielsen, the large research organization which, among other things, publishes the radio and television listenership reports, had done an analysis of the holiday songs most played on radio during the 2016 Christmas season.
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, even though we are now already a decade-and-a-half in.
Next, there are only two of the 10 which date only to the 1990’s. Then, you’ve got to go back nearly 50 years to Jose Feliciano’s masterpiece, “Feliz Navidad,” first released in 1970. It comes as no surprise to me that this one is #1 on the most-played list.
Well, that’s only three out of the 10 … what about the other seven? What are your thoughts and why?
Looking back to the 1960’s, I was “Mr. Christmas Music,” as in 1963 in Philadelphia, I conceived the idea of playing non-stop Christmas music on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, something that didn’t appear to being done at the time. And, we began including holiday melodies in our music mix immediately after Thanksgiving, with the percentage increasing as the days passed.
Compare that to 50 years later, when at least one radio station in every market of any size across the country plays non-stop Christmas music for as much as six weeks leading up to Christmas. Today, Chuck Knight is program director of that same station, More FM. As his station has been one of those stations for many years, I asked Chuck his opinion on why the all-Christmas radio station format continues to be so popular in cities throughout America, considering that the country’s population is becoming more secular and less Christian as each year passes. I found his response to be quite insightful: “It’s all about tradition. At almost any of our ages, the holidays are universally a trip down memory lane to a happy, simpler and easier time.”
Oh yes, those remaining seven songs? Five of them – even though they were vocals – were being played on our mostly-instrumental Easy Listening-formatted station back in the 1960’s and 70’s. 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.
The remaining two most-played and sitting near the top of the list were both released in 1962 … were released 60 years ago, in 1957 and 1958 respectively: “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Why not tune in to your local station playing all-Christmas music and see how long it takes before you hear one or more of these 10 recordings?
After all … it’s all about tradition and sweet memories!
Most of the Christmas music stations play the same old tired chestnuts year after year. If I want to find a greater variety of Christmas music, I have to go to the internet.
Richard – as noted in my book, radio programmers have found that Christmas music is all about tradition … and most listeners want Johnny Mathis and Bing Crosby versus something new and unfamiliar. However, I know how you feel … I worked to bring in new sounds and melodies over the years.