More and more radio channels have been switching their formats to all Christmas, all the time -- a consistent winner for radio even during a brutal 2008-2009 revenue downturn, which ended last year when the U.S. radio industry took in $20.1 billion, up 8 percent from the previous year. Arbitron says it's not unusual for ratings to double once a channel makes the temporary switch to Christmas music. KOST-FM in Los Angeles, for example, saw its share rise from 4.6 to 9.2 last year after it switched, and WLTW-FM in New York jumped from 6.0 to 12.3.
First off, let it be known that I'm not a fan of Christmas music, outside of the classic Alvin and the Chipmunks album. They're just so talented. But the rest of it, I find irritating. Michael Buble? Come on people, the guy is an imitation artist. Josh Groban? Snooze fest. Mariah Carey Christmas? Still crazy. Justin Bieber? Biggest phony on earth, and hopefully soon people realize that.
With that said, you can imagine how I feel when I jump in the car and my standard presets have changed to Christmas music. I find nothing, NOTHING, more upsetting than when this happens. It's just the clearest sign we have that as a society, we're a really simple people. Just because of the month of the year, everyone's musical tastes change, from whatever you were into before, to just tacky lyrics, cheap melodies, and bells ringing. Its ridiculous. It's like cheating for the radio stations, pandering at its finest. I mean, if you want to win that way, fine, but I prefer you have some dignity and respect and not sell out.
Take me for example, I'd rather toil away in relative obscurity, than make one simple change to the name of this blog and call it The X-Alt-Tab, or iAlt-Tab, and see the hits come rolling in. Just wouldn't feel right, I like to treat you like you're all a bit more intelligent than that. I don't need to be copying the extreme dorritos trend, or the business plan where you put "i" in front of something and it becomes wildly successful. It just wouldn't seem fair.Call me crazy, but I guess I just have more standards than that.
