Columbus radio stations starting the holiday season early with Christmas music

Micah Walker, The Columbus Dispatch
·1 min read
Holiday music is already being played on some local radio stations.
Holiday music is already being played on some local radio stations.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Or at least sound like it.

Even with the holiday more than six weeks away, radio stations in Columbus have already started playing Christmas staples like "All I Want for Christmas is You" and "Jingle Bell Rock."

Sunny 95, WSNY (94.7 FM) made the switch Nov. 1. The Bus, WODC (93.3 FM), also kicked off its Christmas playlist early, beginning Nov. 4.

Sunny 95 operations manager Michelle Matthews said this is the earliest the radio station has made the switch.

"With inflation and the way this year has been, we needed something positive," she said. "Something to make people happy."

Matthews said Sunny 95 likes to play many of the Christmas classics everyone knows, like "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole and "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano.

Meanwhile, WOSU will wait until after Thanksgiving to start playing holiday music.

"Once we hit December, we’ll start mixing classical Christmas music into our daily mix," Cheryl Dring, program director for WOSU's Classical 101 radio station, 101.1 FM, said in an email.

During the week leading up to Christmas, the station will feature a holiday special each night at 8 p.m. in addition to festive and selections played by WOSU hosts throughout the day, said its website. Some annual favorites include "A Festival of Nine Lessons" and "Carols from King’s College, Cambridge," the traditional St. Olaf Christmas Festival, and "A Chanticleer Christmas."

In addition, WOSU will play music for Hanukkah Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. and Dec. 22 at 8 p.m.

mwalker@dispatch.com

@micah_walker701

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus radio stations starting season early with Christmas music