Properly Gift Wrap Your CHR For The Holiday

1. A well-executed "All Christmas" format on a competing radio station, even one with which you don't traditionally share audience, can and will hurt your Women 18-34 numbers in December, even if they do not market it, if you take no action.

2. As with any other ongoing genre competitor, DO NOT attempt to defend your broad appeal W18-34 position by attempting to beat the "All Christmas" station at its own game.

3. The secret to "All Christmas" that most "All Christmas" stations don't fully realize is that the universal appeal for holiday songs is actually confined to a small and exclusive list of songs.

4. Recognize that most "All Christmas" stations play too many titles, and too many marginal/sub-par titles, to fill up time in their 24-hour format.

5. Don't fear repetition. As with your currents, you're better off playing the best songs more frequently!

6. Continue to play today's mass appeal contemporary hits, mix in some superstar sounds of the holiday season, continue to provide strong personality content, and you should enjoy great W18-34 results in Fall without the Phase Three December evacuation.

Implementation:

1. For some CHR stations this will be the only time of year that "Title Separation" may be used. Enable it on Christmas song categories only, and confirm proper coding of different versions of each song to ensure protection. Recommended threshold: Three (3) hours.

2. Please pay attention to detail to ensure that Christmas songs are properly labeled, title, and artist. Take a few minutes to educate the talent about the titles and artist names, and album information, if any.

3. Don't be afraid to be a little "hokey." Christmas is a family-fun time of year. "Too hip for the room" is especially irrelevant around the holidays and will not connect. Use your personalities, and other interesting persons that you have access to, to help create the holiday vibe. Loosen up and have some fun.

4. Take a walk through the mall or your community's holiday displays for inspiration before you lay your holiday plans in place.

5. Brainstorm with your air talent, your family, your interns, and your entire building staff for holiday traditions and happenings that have custom appeal to your marketplace. Utilize talk positions around holiday songs you play to weave your station into the fabric of your listener's way of life - it is different from Thanksgiving weekend through New Year's Day.

6. Know When To Say When. Commit to this, but exit properly. No Christmas music should play after 11:59pm on Sunday, December 25th. "Holiday Overload" sets in rapidly following family holiday gatherings on Christmas Day, so begin to taper airplay of "Secondary" and "Tertiary" holiday songs after 8pm.

7. Check any weekend programs or syndication to make sure they follow rule (6) above. Pre-empt or edit programs that do not.

Timelines:

Day Before Thanksgiving:
"Adam Sandler/The Thanksgiving Song" - 2 Hour Rotation

Thanksgiving Day:
"Adam Sandler/The Thanksgiving Song" - 2 Hour Rotation
Two (2) Holiday "Power" Songs Per Hour

Friday After Thanksgiving
Two (2) Holiday "Power" Songs Per Hour
Two (2) Holiday "Secondary" Songs Per Hour

Saturday, November 26th thru Friday, December 2nd
Two (2) Holiday "Power" Song Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Secondary" Song Per Hour

Saturday, December 3rd thru Friday, December 9th
One (1) Holiday "Power" Song Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Secondary" Song Per Hour

Saturday, December 10th thru Friday, December 16th
Two (2) Holiday "Power" Songs Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Secondary" Song Per Hour

Saturday, December 17th thru Friday, December 23rd
Two (2) Holiday "Power" Songs Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Secondary" Song Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Tertiary" Song Per Hour

Saturday, December 24th
Three (3) Holiday "Power" Songs Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Secondary" Songs Per Hour
One (1) Holiday "Tertiary" Song Per Hour

Sunday, December 25th
Three (3) Holiday "Power" Songs Per Hour
Two (2) Holiday "Secondary" Songs Per Hour (End 6pm)
One (1) Holiday "Tertiary" Song Per Hour (End 6pm)

Holiday "Power"
98 Degrees - This Gift
Band-Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
'N Sync - Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays
Newsong - The Christmas Shoes
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song Part One *
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song Part Two *
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song Part Three *
Adam Sandler - The Thanksgiving Song (11/21/05 - 11/24/05 Only)
· Rotate evenly. Note that in 2005, Chanukah will be celebrated for eight days beginning the evening of December 25th. We recommend that airplay of these be "backloaded" toward the end of your holiday music airplay window.

Holiday "Secondary"
Leroy Anderson - Sleigh Ride
Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry... (Medley)
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song
Elmo & Patsy - Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock
Burl Ives - Have A Holly Jolly Christmas
Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
Madonna - Santa Baby
Thurl Ravenscroft - You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)
U2 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Wham - Last Christmas

Holiday "Tertiary"
Bon Jovi - Please Come Home For Christmas
Chipmunks - The Chipmunk Song
Bing Crosby - White Christmas
Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra - We Wish You The Merriest
Celine Dion - O Holy Night
Jimmy Durante - Frosty The Snowman
Eurythmics - Winter Wonderland
Whitney Houston - Do You Hear What I Hear
Elton John - Step Into Christmas
John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Lonestar - Little Drummer Boy
Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
Mannheim Steamroller - Silent Night
Pretenders - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Ronettes - Sleigh Ride
Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Andy Williams - Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Carnie & Wendy Wilson - Hey Santa

Important Warning About Christmas Currents:
Be prepared to be flooded with "new release" Christmas music and a proportionate amount of industry pressure to get them on your air. Be very clear that, with very rare exceptions, there is little audience demand for "Christmas Currents." A well-proven, timeless holiday anthem will beat a new-release Christmas song almost 100% of the time without fail. Each holiday season, there is a chance that one, or even more rarely, two of the year's new Christmas releases may actually become a hit. The life cycle of this always follows the same ascent as any other current "hit" on your station. Only once one of the new-release holiday songs becomes a legitimate, proven hit, it can be rotated as a current on a CHR. Simply move it through the categories as you would any other song with the same positive performance.

Reduce your hourly Christmas song count from above by one (1) during hours that a new Christmas current is scheduled. Replace the lowest level of Christmas song on the Matrix for that day with the current - keep the powers in play as much as possible. Remember, enter the holiday season with the predisposition that none of the new release holiday material will have traction, but be prepared to rotate only a very, very strong new holiday song as a Current, once you've been proven otherwise!

My thoughts are with you and all of those you care about this holiday season. I hope you have a great one.