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Jon Holiday's avatar

So, I've been doing this long enough and so has Sean Ross to remember before the All-Christmas format existed. Every year labels had a deadline to get new releases added to stations before the whole industry wide holiday shutdown happened within the radio and record industries. Some of those songs went on to become hits after the holidays and others didn't. Some simply weren’t worthy and others may have just gotten lost in the “holiday shuffle” for a variety of reasons.

Also, Sean with all due respect has been doing this long enough (as a researcher) to know that the strength of radio stations is not determined by “new music”. Plus, the fact that even before the All-Christmas format existed, the average listener has “checked out” during the holiday period with all the holiday/family things that they’re involved in.

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Matt Bailey's avatar

In my past life helping radio stations with callout research, I would routinely encourage station to simply skip the weeks after Thanksgiving, so they could focus their research on spring and fall. After all, the AQH share that radio quotes advertisers is a zero-sum game and most stations lose that game in December to The Christmas Station. If radio has a prayer of future relevance, however, radio must start thinking like music listeners. That's why I value examining streaming data--and streaming data shows music fans still want to hear the hits through December.

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Jon Holiday's avatar

Makes sense.

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