The All-Christmas Flip Timing Is Key for AC Radio Success

Somewhere in the history of mankind, someone had to be the first person to eat an egg. That person cracked the egg, saw the watery whites and the round milky yolk, and said, “I’m going to put this in my mouth.” People around that person must have thought he or she went loony.

A similar reaction came when the first Adult Contemporary station—decades back—went All-Christmas. Certainly, the programmer must be loony? Depending on which radio archive you research, the answers vary on who went first.

Phoenix’s KMEO-AM flipped to All-Christmas in 1989, the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas of the same year. Other records indicate that the first FM radio station to go All-Christmas is credited to WWYZ/Hartford in 1998. Recent trade publications claim that in 2003, KEZK/St. Louis was the first major-market station to normalize the All-Christmas trend. Prepare for spirited discussion following this piece as to who took the first All-Christmas crown.

Clearly, boxcar-type numbers follow stations when they flip the All-Christmas switch. Nearly every Adult Contemporary brand has adopted the All-Christmas banner.

The debate as to when to go All-Christmas is all over the place. If you go too early—say November 1—you will hear the boo-birds on the phone and read about it on your social media platforms.

If you wait until late in November, you risk being the second station to flip—as we know, first in wins.

Keys To A Christmas Flip Success Story

After discussions with AC programmers all over the country, there are flexible best practices and opinions as to All-Christmas timing. This includes when to stop the All-Christmas format and return to your regular programming.

That is—everyone has a different answer.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

• First in wins. The AC brand that launches first (mostly) wins the season.
• The vast majority of AC brands launch sometime the week of Thanksgiving.
• If you are the All-Christmas market leader, you need to be prepared to go All-Christmas every day after Halloween in case a competitor launches before you do.
• Flipping back to regular programming varies from midnight Christmas Day to New Year’s Eve.
• An early snowfall assists people in mentally adapting to an early All-Christmas format flip.

We specifically turned to a handful of Adult Contemporary programming champions for their thoughts on the All-Christmas flip.

Ask The Expert – Steve King (NRG Media)

First up is Steve King, who successfully blows the doors off Christmas ratings with his All-Christmas approach for NRG Media in Nebraska.

“We normally launch Christmas the week of Thanksgiving. It has fluctuated over the years, but that sometimes depends on the weather. If we see that the weather is going to look wintery (snow, cold and overcast), we will go early to bring spirits up and embrace the special feel of when we see snow for the first time,” said King. “We have gone earlier, but we have seen mixed results. We find the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday have worked out best and have seen a nice ratings spike because of it. The weeks leading into Christmas we treat as an anticipation with teasing and spiking of songs prior to. We have, in some years, done a ‘Christmas Preview Weekend,’ which has been successful for retailers getting in the habit of making us their soundtrack for shopping.”

Since B107.3 owns the Christmas position, “We put a bow on it and go back to regular programming the day after Christmas.”

When it comes to a special sauce, “I am like my grandma who would give me a recipe for her cookies and stuffing but leave out that key ingredient that you know is missing but still tastes great,” said King. “I will share the one thing I tell the staff: make the station’s sound smell like the holidays. Lean into the warmth of the good memories, as well as the love of family and friends, present and past.”

Steve King has worked in formats from Active Rock to AC. He has held down the OM/PD chair from major to small markets, occasionally simultaneously, for three decades. Steve is currently OM/PD with NRG Media for Lincoln and Omaha, NE. Reach Steve at SteveKing@nrgmedia.com.

Ask The Expert – Jim Lawson (KOSI – Denver)

Jim Lawson put up lights-out numbers during the holiday season for Bonneville International’s KOSI in Denver. Now Jim is a partner in the Collective Heads consultancy firm. Here are his thoughts:

“When should a station flip to Christmas music is always the debate at stations who use this programming tactic. Listeners have said in research—around or after Thanksgiving. However, Christmas stations want the lift the music brings to impact the fall quarterly, which it does… significantly,” notes Lawson. “The problem is by the time we reach Thanksgiving, the Nielsen calendar is not in sync with the yearly calendar. If a station flips on or the week of Thanksgiving this year, that is Nielsen’s December week 4. Not a lot of time to impact the monthly, never mind the quarter.”

He continued to say “Considering it takes 5-7 days to churn the audience, I recommend early in the second week of the December book, the week of November 11 this year. Or, if you have the patience to handle the vocal minority who will complain, flip on the first day of the book, November 7.”

Lawson added “That will give you the time to impact the December book and most likely bring in the quarter. As for when to return to regular programming, most stations go back to their regular format at midnight on December 26. After some experimenting and tracking the daily ratings, I recommend giving the listeners one extra day—December 26—and then flip back to your regular format. In my experience, while there is a drop in listenership on the day after Christmas, the Cume and AQH are still significantly above the average and then begin to drop on the 27th.”

Jim Lawson is a partner in Collective Heads, an audio programming and marketing consultancy. He was also program director of KOSI Denver, and SVP/Programming–Colorado for iHeartMedia. Reach Jim at JLaw@CollectiveHeads.io.

It’s a completely different All-Christmas animal with non-commercial radio brands. Your donors pay to be attached to your normal programming. A premature flip could disenfranchise your donor base.

In a future piece, we’ll discuss your Christmas List—and All-Christmas counter-programming for those blasted by a cross-town competitive All-Christmas tsunami.

Market-leading Adult Contemporary brands—be at the ready with your list and imaging, as your competitor could flip any day.

Last year, Louisville’s True Oldies WLRS-AM turned on All-Christmas October 1.

You never know.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Kevin Robinson

Kevin Robinson is a passionate award-winning programmer, consultant and coach – with multi-formats success all over the country. He has advised numerous companies including Audacy (formerly Entercom Communications), Beasley Broadcast Group, Westwood One, Midwest Communications, Townsquare Media, Midwest Family Broadcasting Group, EG Media Group, Federated Media, Kensington Media, mediaBrew Communications, Starved Rock Media, and more. He specializes in strategic radio cluster alignment, building lean-forward tactics and talent coaching – legacy and entry-level – personalities.

Known largely as a trusted talent coach, Kevin is the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different brands in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, and he has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi Award-winning talent. He is also in The Zionsville High School Hall of Fame as part of the 2008 inaugural class. Kevin is an Indiana native – living near Zionsville with his wife of 39 years, Monica and can be reached at kevin@robinsonmedia.fm.