Sarah Palin is the latest attention getter who claims in her new book that there's a "war on Christmas". Has she been in a Walmart lately? She obviously hasn't driven through Rhode Island this week. On November 6th, WWBB (B-101) in Providence went to an all-Christmas music format. That's seven weeks before Christmas! This station is owned by broadcasting giant Clear Channel, so they must have some audience research showing the wisdom of such an early and drastic switch. That apparently meant Cumulus Media, another force in that market with WWLI (Lite Rock 105), felt the need to jump into the holiday fray early so as not to be outdone. Obviously they're out there, but who are these people who can't wait until Thanksgiving to hear wall to wall holiday hits?
I'm not the most nostalgic broadcaster for the way everything used to be before big conglomerates gobbled everything up, but this level of saturation makes the seasonal music seem less special than it was back in the day when most stations would gradually ramp things up after Thanksgiving. This all or nothing strategy caters to the increased polarization we find in media today. They may be a distinct minority, but the early holiday music listeners make up enough of an audience to justify the trend. Once you get into December it becomes less of an issue anyway, but right about now it's a love it or hate it thing. Sarah Palin is taking Bill O'Reilly's cue by aiming at the crowd who mistakenly feel our traditional attention to the holiday is under attack. She'll make lots of money propagating that idea when she finds her audience. I won't be buying her book, and I don't plan on tuning in Christmas music until December. On both issues, neither the nonstop Christmas station operators nor Governor Palin will care. They've already pinpointed their niche.
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