It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas: When to tune in to Columbus-area radio stations
Ready for the holidays? Radio stations are.
The Bus, WODC (93.3 FM), started cranking out Christmas tunes in time for the evening commute at 5 p.m. Friday.
“We've been starting early the last couple years,” said Michael McCoy, who is in charge of programming for the station and hosts its morning program. “I think, like last year, people are really ready for Christmas this year, ready to think about some better things.”
Christmas music will run through Dec. 26.
“Then we'll go back to the regular format, though we'll still add some Christmas music in, just to recognize that the season is still going.”
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Sunny 95, WSNY (94.7 FM), is waiting a bit longer.
“We have a tradition of starting our Christmas music on Thanksgiving,” said Operations Manager Michelle Matthews. “There are stations that start so early it will make your eyes explode. We like to make sure that we have time to eat our Halloween candy.”
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For those who can't wait that long, Sunny 95 does provide an option.
From mid-October on, the station has been offering a Christmas music stream, which at this point, several hundred people take advantage of every day.
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Once Christmas music starts on Thanksgiving, the streaming option will switch, so that those who prefer that their listening be Rudolph-free can listen to streamed regular Sunny 95 programming. On Christmas Eve, 30 hours of commercial-free Christmas music will start running on the regular radio station, then it will revert back to its usual programming.
The River, WCVO (104.9 FM), will start its Christmas programming the day after Thanksgiving and it will run through Dec. 26.
“We play all the Christmas favorites that will transport you back to your childhood, Nat King Cole and Andy Williams and Bing Crosby. But we also have songs that you won't hear anywhere else,” said Todd Amblin, who is in charge of programming for the station.
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“Our artists, being faith-based, write a lot of original Christmas songs. So you're going to get a balance of songs that you know and love and original songs that are new and interesting.”
Not all stations are ready to dive straight into Christmas.
WOSU, for example, gives Thanksgiving its due.
“One of our local producers, Jennifer Hambrick, has for the last several years, produced a Thanksgiving special that we offer to other stations around the country,” said Cheryl Dring, program director for WOSU's Classical 101 radio station, 101.1 FM.
“This year's program is 'Thanksgiving With The American Sound: Seed and Soil.'”
The station will also air a special, “Giving Thanks,” featuring actor and food guru Stanley Tucci and poet and songwriter Naomi Shihab Nye.
“It's a lovely, thoughtful meditation on gratefulness and the meaning of Thanksgiving,” Dring said.
Hanukkah is recognized with “Candles Burning Brightly” on Dec. 2, then attention turns gradually to Christmas, with local holiday programs on Sunday afternoons and specials in the 8 p.m. slot later in December.
Those interested can check out the program schedule, which is still being finalized, at wosu.org/holiday later in November.
“We usually start mixing holiday music in pretty lightly early in December,” Dring said. “By mid-December, it is noticeably holiday-ish, and if not holiday-ish, very festive, lots of trumpets and that sort of thing. We keep it light and bright through the holiday season. But you're not going to get Rudolph up on the roof with us. It's all going to be classical.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Where and when to listen to Christmas music on Columbus radio
