We’re less than three short months away from Christmas Day, and there’s already a station in Youngstown, Ohio that has made the switch to all Christmas music. Oh the humanity.
All this to say in just a short while a good number of Christian music stations will do the unthinkable, completely change their format for a month or longer. It really is a radical move if you think about it. I mean would Coca Cola stop making Coca Cola for the month of December and only produce eggnog flavored soda? Of course not, but that’s what makes radio different, we’re a part of people’s lifestyle and not simply a consumable product.
So, if people are thinking Christmas, Christmas, Christmas from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, giving them all Christmas music as a sort of soundtrack to their life doesn’t sound as ridiculous now does it?
In a recent Mark Ramsey research study, we found that 75% of all 25-54 year-old female radio listeners tuned into Christmas music at some point during the previous holiday season. And a whopping 90% of our station’s 25-54 year-old female P1 listeners did the same. If you’re not going Christmas, you’re missing an amazing opportunity to open your doors to new listeners in your community. If you’re not providing it, they’ll go find it elsewhere.
A lot of these radio listeners might never tune into a Christian radio station, but they will tune into a station playing Christmas music. We may be changing what songs we play on the radio during this time, but we’re still selling our brand, our encouragement, our inspiration, our family, our community. It’s an open house where everyone is invited, so make them feel welcome.
What are the advantages of going all Christmas?
You can own the image in your market. You can bring in a bigger cume during this time. It’s an open house for the station to many new people so put on your best. The vast majority of these “new ears” will not be familiar with our music or our artists. We make it a point to be 90% or more familiar to a non-CCM listening audience during the Christmas season. This means we’re playing a lot of classic Christmas songs and covers. We will play a few new, original Christmas songs by CCM artists, but they’ve got to sound like Christmas and really pop on air. And you want to hold on to those people after the jingle bells stop jingling and into the new year. December at KLTY is our time of year to really show the world who we are and why we do what we do. We’re a kind, compassionate station with a heart for the Lord and our community. We’re the antidote to the negativity on every other form of media. We highlight our Christmas Wish campaign during this time where we give back to those in need across the metroplex. We highlight some of our biggest songs that we play the rest of the year, with a snippet of the song. And while it may be an unfamiliar artist and an unfamiliar song we’ll equate it to a need we all have. For example, we run a sweeper that will say “All year long, the music you need to be encouraged”, and play the hook from Zach Williams “Chain Breaker”. Or “the music you need to be uplifted” and play “Known” by Tauren Wells.
What are the disadvantages?
There is a small portion of your P1’s that may seek CCM music elsewhere. If you’ve built your brand well enough the rest of the year, they’ll still tune in and out and will be back full time on December 26th. Another thing you could do is provide another stream or an HD channel to carry your normal playlist.
When should you go all Christmas?
It depends on the market. In most markets, right after Thanksgiving is a great time to go all Christmas. In some markets, it may be earlier. We’ve gone earlier before to combat the other stations in DFW that go all Christmas but most years we go the week of Thanksgiving or so. That is also when Christmas music listening really begins to increase.
If my station can’t afford Christmas music testing where can I find the top testing Christmas songs?
Stick with the hits. Everyone loves the classic and you can’t go wrong with those. Look at what other stations are playing. If you have access to Mediabase or BDS, check playlists from last season and current playlists and build your list around that. Don’t just look at CCM stations, look at the mainstream stations in your market. It’s also very important that you’re looking at your market. What works in Dallas may not work in Seattle, etc.
When there are multiple all Christmas stations playing the same safe list, where does differentiation come into play? And how?
We share Christmas music with a mainstream competitor (Star 102.1) and a CCM competitor (WayFM) but we do not share exact playlists. We’ll play classic covers by our artists that Star wouldn’t play and we’ll play classic or fun Christmas songs that maybe WayFM wouldn’t play. I would ask, how is your presentation? How is the flow of your music? Is it mostly familiar or unfamiliar? If it’s only CCM artists and more new than familiar, who are you appealing to? Also, what other things are you doing to promote your station? Give back campaigns, like our Christmas Wish really showcase the hands and feet of Jesus that your station can provide to the community. Your mainstream competitors don’t do that, or if they try they don’t do it well. Which reminds me of a local mainstream station that attempted to copy our Christmas Wish campaign a few years ago. They told a story of a man who had his car stolen and had to rely on a bicycle to bike 9 miles each way to work every day in the cold and rain. When his bike got stolen he was in danger of losing his job. So, the station got him a new car! No, actually they got together with a local bike shop and got him a new bike. **face palm** So in reality, they had a bike shop that had money to spend if they gave away a bike, and that’s how they filled it. Not very sentimental or heart felt. They can’t do what we do! You can also get an edge on your competition through digital marketing and contesting during this time.
If your market already has two or more outlets who are already well known for owning that lane, is there a point to being the third…the fourth…etc.?
That’s a great question. Maybe not. In a market the size of DFW, we’ve been Christmas station #3 many years. It has worked for us because of the size of the market. However, if you’re in a small market, a third station may not make sense. We have done it consistently since 2005, no other DFW station has done that. But if you think that even being #3 could get you enough new cume to hold over into January, perhaps it would be worth it for your station.
What about ramping up to all Christmas music later in the month?
I would ask what is your goal? I tried ramping up in 2016 and 2017 and it backfired on us. We had already lost the position by the time Black Friday came along. Get in early and you’ll get a lot of businesses to carry your station. You’ll get on the radar of folks before they take time off for Thanksgiving. Mike Blakemore in Atlanta does a big Christmas music kickoff usually with an artist and a big community event. I say make a big splash, go all in. If you’re simply ramping up, then maybe don’t go all Christmas until the week of Christmas.
Only you know what is best for your station. This info is to help you make those decisions you may already know you need to make. Do what works for your station in your market.
Merry Christmas!
Mike Prendergast
Program Director, KLTY
Mike Prendergast, Program Director for Salem Dallas’ 94.9 KLTY has been with the station since 2005, serving as PD since 2009. KLTY has long enjoyed success in Dallas/Fort Worth most recently achieving an overall #1 Persons 6+ this past October and setting a station record for share and another #1 this past January 2020. Mike married his high school sweetheart Teresa 23 years ago and has two daughters, 18 & 16, the oldest about to head off to college. When Mike is not working in Christian radio, he’s spending his time with family, with the Youth at church or trekking across the country seeking all kinds of severe weather including tornadoes, hurricanes, and thunderstorms.
98.5 KTIS strives to point people in the Twin Cities to Jesus on the air, online, and on the street. Through remarkable service projects, 98.5 KTIS listeners are the hands and feet of Jesus to multiply the KTIS impact in our community. The first Friday of each month was 98.5 KTIS Drive-thru Difference Day, as listeners shared God’s love by paying for the order of the person behind them in the drive-thru. Moms overcame health, financial, and family difficulties through 98.5 KTIS’ Heart of a Mom initiative; meeting needs for a kitchen update, fulfilling a missed honeymoon with a cruise to Alaska, securing a reliable vehicle, and more. 98.5 KTIS’ Christmas Blessing resulted in remarkable stories of goodwill in the community, meeting needs by blessing people battling cancer, overcoming miscarriage, and recovering from financial devastation. Collecting thousands of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes filled with toys for kids around the world, the 98.5 KTIS Shoebox Showdown shared the hope of Jesus from the Twin Cities to children around the world. Listeners continued that generosity by working together to collect over 11,000 pencils for boys and girls in the Dominican Republic. 98.5 KTIS listeners ‘Shared the Warmth’ as a local business paid listener heating bills during the cold winter months, and listeners used those funds to bless their favorite Twin Cities nonprofits. 98.5 KTIS’ Ministry of the Month connected listener passions and talents to local ministries, highlighting the good being done in our community by these organizations on-air and online.
Through intentional, community focused service initiatives, Spirit 92.9 partners with listeners and businesses to help make their community better, together. The station’s first “Community Spirit” project in 2022 focused on showing God’s love to children entering foster care in the area after the ministry learned that there were more children than ever before in the system. During a weeklong collection drive, Spirit 92.9 listeners and business partners generously helped provide a new pair of pajamas and a stuffed animal for over 1,100 kids. Hoping to lead by example through serving, the Spirit 92.9 team helped prepare over 800 free meals for individuals and families in need for Easter, prepared and served a meal at the local homeless shelter, and helped clean up trash at an abandoned property near their studios. Hundreds of women in the community were served and uplifted in January at the station’s first Ladies’ Night Out-an opportunity to worship, laugh, receive support and prayer. In the fall, listeners and business partners joined together to help three local organizations provide free homemade, holiday meals to those in need. This ‘More Than A Meal’ on-air and online fundraiser helped feed over 3,000 in Central Minnesota. At the end of the year, Spirit 92.9’s “Share The Joy” promotion offered listeners the opportunity to nominate someone to receive a financial blessing. Single mothers, elderly homeowners, and the family of a father badly injured and hospitalized out of state were among the 12 people granted a $500-$1000 gift.
From entertaining the airwaves on KFRC-FM in San Francisco, to dancing away the late 90s on WKTU-FM in New York City, to encouraging and uplifting Atlanta on WFSH-The Fish every afternoon, Beth Bacall’s three decades on the air have had a lot to say. In 2003, she embraced CMB and the CCM sphere when she started working at Star 99.1 FM in NY/NJ. Since 2005, she has served on the Momentum Leadership Team while also offering mentorship to CMB’s Women in Radio community. Beth is a champion for others, taking a sincere stance of integrity and leading by example with her on air work, community engagement, and show prep. As a top talent coach, she equips multidisciplinary broadcasters and artists to embrace their authentic self, grow awareness, share stories effectively, and create meaningful Christ-centered content with all audiences. Beth specializes in moments that matter and is a driving force behind The Fish Christmas Wish Program and Fish Acts of Love. Working on all aspects of creating promotional, reward-based content, including research and execution, Beth is a dot connector that the Lord uses to bring joy and experiences into the lives of others. Even after these promotional seasons, she’s always looking for the next opportunity to be a blessing.
For over four decades, Rick Dunham has been at the forefront of marketing and fundraising for Christian nonprofits. In 2002, he founded Dunham+Company, which has become a global leader in providing multi-channel strategies across some of the world’s most influential sectors. Through radio and television, local churches and overseas missions, medical relief and philanthropic initiatives, Dunham+Company is multiplying the reach of the Gospel. The company currently serves nearly 100 clients in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand – whose collective effort is reaching nearly every corner of the globe. Rick is the author of Secure: Discovering True Financial Freedom and If God Will Provide, Why Do We Have to Ask for Money? He serves as a member of the board of The Giving Institute and is a former chair of the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the most widely respected annual report on giving in the U.S. He has been published and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post and more. From devotionals to blogs, webinars to books, Rick’s personal faith in Jesus and his Biblical training are the driving conviction of his communication.
Over the decades, Jacobs Media has become known for advising broadcasters on strategic planning and digital transformation, championing forward thinking of the in-car audio experience, developing its innovative Techsurveys, and driving research initiatives with some of the most influential companies in media. In partnership with Radio Ink, the Jacobs duo created the DASH Conferences in 2013-15, bringing together leadership from both automotive and radio broadcasting industries. Working with CMB, Jacobs Media launched the first of its annual tech surveys for Christian music radio in 2014. Working in collaboration with the NAB’s Connected Car Committee, they developed the original “Best Practices” report in 2017. Fred Jacobs, a 2018 Radio Hall of Fame inductee, is credited with the creation of the Classic Rock radio format in the mid-80’s. Paul Jacobs specializes in revenue generation for Jacobs Media’s clients including heading up jācapps – the industry’s first, and now largest, mobile application development company with more than 1,300 apps worldwide. In 2022, Fred and Paul were recipients of the National Radio Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. They were the first duo to receive the award as well as the first consultants.
Jim Leightenheimer has passionately pursued the mission of teaching, mentoring, and preparing college students to serve Christ in radio since 1982. A 30-year radio veteran, Jim implemented and developed a student radio station that started as an AM carrier current, transitioned to a low power FM, and is currently streaming as Resound Radio. Under his leadership, student radio has served to jump-start the careers of many current leaders in Christian radio stations and networks across the United States. His students, both past and present, credit Jim for being the catalyst in building their love for radio. Throughout his career, Jim has enlisted graduates and other professionals to serve as mentors to his student radio staff. He has introduced scores of students to CMB by bringing them to Momentum and, more recently, CMB University. Jim currently serves on the board of directors at WCVO (104.9 The River) in Columbus and continues to be a resource not only for his current students, but for those who are living out his legacy in radio.
Joe Paulo has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hope Media Group since 2018. With an extensive background in media and leadership, he began at KSBJ (now Hope Media Group) as Vice-President of Operations in 2017 after serving at Educational Media Foundation (K-LOVE/Air1) as the Director of Donor Stewardship and Communications. Prior to that, he led a division of Columbia International University as Director of Broadcasting until 2014, overseeing the growth of successful radio stations in Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC. Joe has also provided volunteer leadership at the board of directors and advisory levels for other nonprofits such as Youth Commission International, CMB, and Crime Stoppers of Houston. In addition to speaking on leadership, fundraising and media, Joe and Kelly, his wife, have spoken at marriage and parenting events to share their passion for marriage, parenting and adoption.