Originally posted Wednesday, December 11, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Star 94.1, for the first time in its 30-year history, changed to an all-Christmas format this morning.
Jenn & Friends at 7 a.m. launched with the most popular Christmas song of recent times "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey, which is now 25 years old.
Star is the first secular station in metro Atlanta to go all Christmas since B98.5 in 2011.
The station, which identifies as “adult pop,” has struggled in recent years in the ratings, typically behind the three other pop stations B98.5, Q100 and Power 96.1.
The hope is that this might give Star a little pop in December ratings that may extend into the new year, though the Christmas glow (based on ratings of other stations who have taken this route) doesn’t last long once a station goes back to its regular format.
Fish 104.7 is the only major-market signal in town that has played all Christmas in recent years. Since 2002, it has mixed secular and religious Christmas tunes by both mainstream and its core Christian artists spanning decades. (Rival Joy 93.3 does the same thing.)
Here is the Star 94.1 Christmas mix during the 9 a.m. hour, according to Mediabase 24/7, which tracks radio airplay:
9 a.m. Amy Grant "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
9:05 a.m. Leroy Anderson "Sleigh Ride"
9:08 a.m. Michael Buble "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"
9:11 a.m. Mavis Staples "Christmas Vacation"
9:21 a.m. Elvis Presley "Blue Christmas"
9:23 a.m. Frank Sinatra/Cyndi Lauper "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
9:26 a.m. Luther Vandross "The Christmas Song"
9:30 a.m. Paul McCartney "Wonderful Christmastime"
9:34 a.m. Percy Faith & His Orchestra "We Need a Little Christmas"
9:36 a.m. Boston Pops Orchestra "Sleigh Ride"
9:39 a.m. John Lennon "Happy Xmas/War is Over"
9:50 a.m. Beach Boys "Little Saint Nick"
9:52 a.m. Amy Grant "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
9:55 a.m. Johnny Mathis "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"
9:57 a.m. Ray Conniff "Ring Christmas Bells"
Star is hedging its bets by starting now, just two weeks before Christmas. Fish launched 16 days ago, three days before Thanksgiving.
Most music stations that don’t go all Christmas are salting in a few Christmas songs each hour, usually increasing the volume until Christmas Eve. B98.5 this week is playing about two Christmas cuts an hour, Majic does one or two an hour while Q100 throws in one an hour. Some stations go all Christmas for 24 to 36 hours around Christmas itself, often commercial free.
Sirius XM debuted its core holiday stations in early November and now has 15 different holiday formats, from jazz to country to electronic to rock to acoustic.
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