Which Milwaukee radio station was the first to switch to all-Christmas music this year? And which was second? Which was third?

Editor's note: This story published in November 2021. Go here to find out which station first went all-Christmas in 2023.

Sleigh bells do ring — on Milwaukee radio, nearly two weeks later than they did last year.

At 8 a.m. on Nov. 18, WLDB-FM (93.3) was the first Milwaukee radio station to switch to an all-Christmas-music format this year. 

The adult-contemporary station made the switch with Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." For the past few days before then, the station had been taunting Christmas music fans on its Facebook page. 

Earlier on Nov. 17, morning host Joe Krauss asked listeners on Facebook what Christmas song the station should play first. One listener replied: "Please, just make the switch!!!! We need a little Christmas right this very moment."

In 2020, WLDB also filled the all-yule switch first, opting for all Christmas tunes starting on Nov. 5. That was the earliest any local radio station had gone all-Christmas in at least a decade. 

Last year, oldies station WRIT-FM (95.7), WLDB's main all-Christmas music rival, switched to the holiday format exactly 24 hours later, on Nov. 6.  WRIT often times its switch to Christmas tunes to coincide with the launch of the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival downtown, one week before Thanksgiving. 

This year's Holiday Lights Festival kicked off Nov. 18. But WRIT stayed with oldies music until about 6 a.m. Nov. 19, starting it's all-yule-all-the-time programming with John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." (Like last year, WRIT was nearly a full day behind its Christmas-switching rival.

ARCHIVE:Which Milwaukee radio stations switched their formats to all-Christmas-music in 2020?

WLDB has been the first Milwaukee radio station to go all-in on Christmas every year since 2016. 

Usually, WLDB makes the move a little closer to Thanksgiving; in 2019, the station made the jump on Nov. 18. But last year, with the COVID-19 pandemic having a full grip on the nation, more stations around the country went all-Christmas earlier. By early November 2020, more than 50 had done so. 

And, for the first time in years, a third Milwaukee station joined the all-Christmas-music fray. On Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, WRXS-FM (106.9), which switched to a "pure oldies" format in April, went all-Yule. 

So far in 2021, it seems fewer radio stations have gone all-Christmas early than last year, at least based on the running tally compiled by radio industry newsletter All Access. One of the earliest was WSJY-FM (107.3), the Magnum Media-owned adult-contemporary licensed to Fort Atkinson, which flipped on Nov. 6.  

Contact Chris Foran at chris.foran@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cforan12.