Unwrapping Christmas - An Urban Holiday Hook-Up

How Soon ... How Many Songs?

Again this year we want to briefly take a look at how Urban stations can best handle Christmas jams. We start with the notion that Christmas is very important to the Urban audience. The question becomes, "When should Urban and Urban AC station begin playing Christmas favorites?" Most stations we've spoken with say they are going to begin playing Christmas jams the day after Thanksgiving. This year that means Friday, November 26th.

At that time most stations are going to play at least one song per hour and gradually increase that number by at least one until Christmas Day -- when they will be playing 50% or more Christmas music. The same policy extends into the weekends. The day after Christmas, these same stations will drop all their Christmas music, begin to count down the biggest songs of the year and prepare for 2011.

But let's examine the Christmas phenomenon a little closer and look at what Christmas songs should be played. The answer for most Urban and Urban AC stations is Christmas classics. Some stations have included certain Christmas songs in their research. Others will simply rely on the proven traditional Christmas classics. So far this year, the only new song that seems to be developing interest is "Oh Santa" from Mariah Carey.

Keep in mind that if you're in a market currently being measured by Arbitron's PPM, "unintended listening" will definitely affect you. Here's why. Those listeners who are shopping and wearing a meter will inevitably shop in a store that is playing an AC station featuring all-Christmas music. Guess what? Even though they did not and would not have chosen the station that the store is playing, nevertheless the encoded signal will be picked up and credited to their side of the board. If it's any comfort (and misery loves company), the all-Christmas stations will be capturing some cume from all music-formatted stations. That trend will continue as Christmas Day gets closer.

Now for those of you who might say that the all-Christmas AC stations don't play enough of the type of music or feature the kinds of artists that our research shows most Urban listeners want to hear, you'd be right. While that is a fact, what is also a fact is that at some point traditional Christmas music becomes the great equalizer. You're much better off competing by gradually spiking in those Christmas jams you know your audience wants to hear than either going all-Christmas or worrying about losing listeners during the holidays.

Also there will probably be some stations, such as a Smooth Jazz formatted ones -- that will switch to all-Christmas music this season. There's no telling if these stations will switch back to their regular format when the holidays are over. There's no way to avoid what we call "casual cumers" - those of your P1 listeners that may occasionally want to instant Christmas flavor fix that you can't give them. So you lose them for a few hours to an all-Christmas AC station. You're going to get them back as soon as they tire of it.

There are other things you can do in addition to spiking in favorite Christmas jams. Remember, people will eventually tire of hearing all-Christmas music and want to hear some hits. Too much holiday music too soon can be irritating, even for those who really love Christmas. You could be an alternative to them and they could re-set their pre-set so that after the holidays, they will have found a new station and you will have captured some new cume.

Word.