One Milwaukee radio station switched to all-Christmas music Nov. 1. Which stations followed?
Chris Foran
We have a new winner in the which-radio-station-will-go-all-Christmas-music sweepstakes in Milwaukee.
In the wee small hours of the morning of Nov. 1 — after Milwaukee had its second-biggest Halloween snowstorm in history — "Pure Oldies 106.9" WRXS-FM (106.9) switched to all-Christmas music. Adult-contemporary station WLDB-FM (93.3) had been the first to go all Yule all the time in Milwaukee every year since 2016.
After teasing its followers on social media for several days — and for two hours during its morning show on the day of the switch — WLDB was the second Milwaukee station to go all-Christmas this year, making the switch at 7 a.m. Nov. 16.
WRIT-FM (95.7) rounded out the field, switching to all-Christmas music at 5 p.m. Nov. 17, shortly before the lighting ceremony for the city of Milwaukee's official Christmas tree in the Deer District (called the Cheer District for the duration of the holidays) adjacent to Fiserv Forum.
WRXS' switch was the earliest that a Milwaukee radio station went all-Christmas in decades. Last year, WLDB made the switch first on Nov. 17. Right behind it were WRXS and WRIT, which both made the jump the following day.
Keeping with its oldies format, typically playing music before the 1980s, WRXS' early Christmas playlist included such songs as Judy Garland's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby" and Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby," Stevie Wonder's "What Christmas Means to Me" and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)."
WLDB made the yuletide turn with Bing Crosby's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." WRIT, in sync with its 1980s-'90s hits format, started its yuletide ways with Amy Grant's "Winter Wonderland."
Actually, it was the second time WRXS has gone all Christmas in 2023. The oldies station switched to the holiday music format on July 25 as part of a "Christmas in July" promotion offering tickets to a live conversation with Chevy Chase following a screening of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" at the Riverside Theater on Dec. 28.
It's not unheard of for Milwaukee radio stations to make the switch to all-Christmas music much earlier; in the aughts, WRIT and WMYX-FM (99.1) routinely jumped to an all-Yule format as early as Halloween. But in recent years — excepting the first year of the pandemic, when the need for Christmas spirit seemed higher — mid-November is when the sleigh bells started ringing in earnest.
But Christmas did come much earlier to other parts of the radio landscape in 2023. This year, WMGA-FM in Huntington, West Virginia, flipped to all-Christmas music on Oct. 19, according to radio industry site Radio Insight.
Getting that Yuletide glow could be a trend. Radio Insight reported Wednesday that WRXS was one of about 20 radio stations to go all-Christmas on Nov. 1.
More than 85 radio stations around the country owned by iHeart — WRIT's parent company — made the switch to all-Christmas by Nov. 10, according to industry news site Radio Insight.