If it seems like you’re hearing a lot of Christmas music on the radio lately, you’re probably not imagining it. At least 10 radio stations in the top 20 markets flipped over to all-Christmas on or around Thanksgiving, according to Media Monitors, joining several others that had already made the switch.
Detroit now has three all-holiday stations.
During the Thanksgiving weekend, the New York market got two, with FM stations WLTW and WPLJ duking it out on the holiday format turf. That’s a first for WPLJ, which normally is a hot AC station.
The monitoring service notes that there are only two AMs on the all-Christmas list in the top 20 markets.
Below is a list of the full-time/all-Christmas stations in the top 20 markets as of Friday Nov. 26, as reported by the AirCheck service of Media Monitors.
The designation “new” following a station means this station was not full-time/all-Christmas as of Wednesday noon on Nov. 24.
Full-time, All-Christmas Radio Stations In USA’s Major Markets as of Friday, November 26, 2004, 11AM.
Market Rank – Market Name – Call Letters
1. NYC: WLTW-FM (new), WPLJ-FM (new)
2. LA: KOST-FM
3. CHI: WLIT-FM
4. SF: KOIT-FM
5. DFW: KVIL-FM, KEGL-FM
6. PHI: WSNI-FM, WBEB-FM
7. HOU: KODA-FM
8. DC: WASH-FM
9. BOS: WODS-FM
10. DET: CKWW-AM (new), WNIC-FM, WMGC-FM
11. ATL: WFSH-FM (new), WLFM-FM
12. MIA: WLYF (new), WFLC-FM
13. SEATTLE: KCMS-FM (new), WRWM-FM
15. PHX: KOY-AM (new), KESZ-FM
18. NASSAU/SUFFOLK: WKJY-FM (new), WALK-FM (new)
20. ST.LOUIS: KEZK-FM (new), WRDA-FM
