SYRACUSE -- There are now two Syracuse radio stations offering holiday hits around the clock. Clear Channel adult contemporary station Y94 (WYYY) made the switch during morning drive today.
Thanks to an observant CNYRadio.com reader who noted, "at 6:15am, it was not Christmas music. But I turned it on again at 9AM and it was." Your editor also verified Y94 had indeed gone all-Christmas, hearing two tunes back-to-back, separarated by a brief holiday-themed imaging element.
One week ago, we reported that Y94 had created an online poll, asking listeners to choose the day the station would make the annual switch to holiday music. The options included a mid-November date, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. However, the results of voting were not made available to the general public.
Out of the stations that typically go all-Christmas at some point or another, there are just a couple of holdouts.
In the Utica-Rome market, Townsquare's Lite 98.7 (WLZW) has been known in recent years to make the flip sometime before Thanksgiving. (Last year, WLZW flipped on November 10.) As of this morning, the normal adult contemporary playlist remains in place. In the Ithaca/Cortland region, Saga's Lite Rock 97.3 (WYXL) seems to have varied its plan of attack from year to year.
No word yet from either station on what they're planning for this year. Until then, Syracuse-area listeners who aren't quite ready to "Deck the Halls" yet might be able to pull in either of those signals.
Last year, WCNY-FM offered an all-Christmas jazz format on its HD-3 channel. We haven't heard whether the station will repeat the effort this year.