Can we all agree that November 9th is too early for 24-hr Christmas music?

[TommyO]

I love Christmas, I adore Christmas, I'm enthralled with Christmas, the decorations, the tree, the lights, the music, but I wait until after Thanksgiving. Not one of our local radio stations, they're already doing Christmas music 24 hours a day.

:puke:

[jakefrep]

1. Yes!

I'd like to celebrate Thanksgiving first.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Yes, I agree. Let's get past the Marine Corps Birthday and Thanksgiving first. nt

[MissMillie]

3. 24 hour per day Christmas music shouldn't start until 1 week before Christmas

Before that, I think the Christmas music can be woven into the regular playlist AFTER THANKSGIVING.

[hippywife]

4. I never listen to local radio, but

I was in my doc's office on Friday and they play the local easy listening channel over their system. I was amazed that it was ALL christmas music.

Thanksgiving first, I say! :puke:

[gmoney]

5. "Do you hear what I hear?"

Aaah... even right-wing talk radio is better than Christmas music.

[rurallib]

6. What station is it on?

I can't seem to find it!

The real story is that Clearchannel and Cumulus have such a monopoly in the to 150 markets (that is damn near everybody) that they literally have stations they don't know what to do with. So Nov. 1 one station in most every market is turned over to Christmas music 24X7. Since ClearChannel is for the most part run out of an office in Dallas it is about a 2 minute maneuver to make the change at 100 stations. Can anyone say "Monopoly?"
If not for ClearChannel those stations would be wasted doing local stuff or something.
BTW - you can tell what the lowest rated station in an area is. It is the one playing the xmas music.
And one more - the music selection isplanned to put one or two xmas "hits" in every half hour to keep people listening - the rest is crap.

[TommyO]

14. 101.1 WJRZ

You can even listen online!

http://wjrz.com

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Yes, there's a Facebook group whose title is something like

Not Starting Christmas Till After Thanksgiving.

I'm all for it.

Actually, in traditional Christian usage, the first 24 days of December are Advent, not Christmas.

Advent is a subdued season with its own customs and its own music, which is too little known outside of liturgical churches.

[CBHagman]

12. And the Twelve Days of Christmas are...

...of course something else entirely.

http://www.cresourcei.org/cy12days.html

[Coventina]

8. Advent begins Nov. 29th. No Christmas music allowed until then!!!

That's my policy.

[Kajsa]

52. +1

Yes!

[bikebloke]

9. Stores

Right after Halloween, they pulled down that candy, and shelved christmas candy.

[Xithras]

19. Yep, I was in Target yesterday

The giant snowflakes and Christmas ornaments were already hanging from the ceiling all over the store, and the Christmas trees and decorations had taken over the back wall and seasonal section. I made a comment about it to the checker as I was leaving, and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "It's dumb, but we have to put it up when the main office tells us to put it up."

[Louisiana1976]

10. I agree--no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.

[CBHagman]

11. Uh, yeah.

Before Halloween night even arrived, the local CVS had put Santa Claus figures in its display windows. Oh, for crying out loud, stop it!

And don't get me started on radio stations and stores that start non-stop Christmas music beginning in November, and early November at that. Just ridiculous. I love Christmas music but hate the cheesy Christmas pop song format that stations and stores adopt the day after Halloween and end right at December 26th. Uh-uh, Christmas is a season, not a day, and doesn't start on November 1st and end on December 25th.

[Coventina]

13. Good point. It always drives me crazy when people state the "rule"

that Christmas decorations have to come down Jan. 1st. Uh, no, Christmas doesn't end until Jan. 6th. And then begins Carnival!

:woohoo:

[charlie and algernon]

15. i actually think when they STOP playing christmas music pisses me off

more than when they START playing it. I hate that after MONTHS of hyping it up each year, christmas suddenly disappears the morning of the 26th. I'd MUCH rather radio stations play Christmas music the ENITRE month of December. It just goes to show how fake people are that they can suddenly drop the "christmas spirit" immediately after christmas day.

[Coventina]

16. Excellent point! Even though I'm not especially religious,

I feel that if I'm going to celebrate Christmas, it's going to mean more to me than just an orgy of materialism. Therefore, I've researched into the traditions, and try to practice them to the best of my ability while cultivating what I believe to the the true "spirt" (in an inclusive, ecumenical way) of the holiday.

When it all comes to an abrupt halt on the 26th of December, as it seems to for most of our culture, I get exactly the same feeling that you do.

[charlie and algernon]

17. as you said above, the religious christmas season ends on January 6th

It would be too much to expect non-religous people to celebrate it all the way to the 6th, but at least give us till the end of the year. With New Years so close to Christmas, a lot of people stay with their families through both holidays. I'd MUCH rather the Christmas season go from the start of Advent to New Years as opposed to starting before Halloween and ending abruptly 12/26. At least then you're actually celebrating in line with religous/pagan traditions. As it is now, it's just two months of over-hyped commercialism.

[Coventina]

20. When I was in SE Asia in late Dec.-early Jan of 2007-2008

I got there just after Christmas and Christmas decorations were everywhere! (This was in Thailand, a Buddhist-majority country, which was very interesting because you would see Buddhist symbolism right next to Christmas trees!)

I crossed over into Cambodia on New Year's Day, and still, Christmas decorations everywhere!
(The banner in my Cambodian hotel read: Merry Happy Christmas!).

I thought, wow! I guess they celebrate it through Epiphany!

Epiphany came and went, and still the decorations stayed! By now I was in Vietnam. Finally, I asked a local, and he explained that the Christmas decorations stay up in SE Asia until Chinese New Year! Now that's a festival!!!

:-)

[Drunken Irishman]

21. Not here. It ends on January 2nd.

Most stations will play Christmas music through the remainder of December and until the day after New Years.

[CBHagman]

25. Carnival!

Or Fasching. Or Mardi Gras. Or Karneval. Whatever floats your boat.

[Bertha Venation]

18. Oh, HELL yes, it's too early!

SHEESH!

I don't know when XM begins their xmas music channels, but I hope it's after TG.

[charlie and algernon]

22. i think it's right around thanksgiving

that alone makes me want to renew my XM subscription. I LOVE the classical christmas channel. I've discovered so many wonderful choirs listening to that channel.

[mvd]

41. They start Monday, and I'm happy about it!

That's actually late for them. I love the songs so that's part of why I don't mind early Christmas music.

[logosoco]

23. Agreed!

I noticed an article where they said the new "Christmas Carol" movie with Jim Carrey didn't do well this weekend. Did they really think it would do good so early.

[Brigid]

24. Yes.

It's stupid, because by the time the holiday actually gets here, you don't want to hear another Christmas song as long as you live.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Agreed. I don'r want to hear it any more than 2 weeks before the holiday. If that.

[arcadian]

27. Several stores had decorations up a week before Halloweeen.

[mvd]

42. True, but it goes for all big days/holidays

4th of July stuff goes up beginning of May. Halloween stuff the end of August. It's not just Christmas stuff.

[Sanity Claws]

28. Yes too early

The stores are already ready for Christmas. Displays are yo and Christmas items are for sale.

[Sheltiemama]

29. Yes. Yes, we can.

Christmas music should be banned until the day after Thanksgiving.

[tigereye]

30. yes.

[Moondog]

31. Yes. Absolutely. n/t

[TommyO]

32. I'm glad to see I'm not alone

Now I have to find another station with traffic that I can tune into. Yes, I know there's 101.5 (NJ residents probably know this one), but reception is spotty where I have my clock, and I can't stand their right-wing attitudes. Based on what I heard during the NJ gubernatorial campaign, they must have had orders not to say a single good thing about Corzine. The only thing worse than 24-hour Christmas music before Thanksgiving is 24-hour Democrat bashing.

edited to fix a few minor typos.

[Initech]

33. I can't help but think this is all Bill O'Reilly fault

[Taverner]

34. Personally, I don't give a rat's ass

Muzak is muzak

[asdjrocky]

35. Christmas is too early for 24 hour Christmas music.

[Art_from_Ark]

36. Stores here in Japan started playing Christmas music

one day after Halloween. And they've already got their decorations up in some places around here.

[Zomby Woof]

37. Is it a Dennis Kucinich Christmas album?

:hide:

[old mark]

38. I love Christmas, too and I'm already getting the holiday feeling,

but I'd never listen to that shit til;l maybe a week or so before the day.

I used to work in a place that played it all day from the first workday after Thanksgiving, and I hav had enough for a few years.

mark

[krispos42]

39. I was in Wal-Mart on October 16th

(yeah, yeah, I know, I know)

When I was checking out I noticed, way down on the far side of the store, Christmas wreaths going up for sale.

:banghead:

[mvd]

40. I can never get into the spirit too early. I start..

getting ready for the holidays Nov. 1 and by now I'm very receptive to Christmas stuff. The cheer can uplift me.

[AwakeAtLast]

43. Absolutely, positively YESSSS!!!!

Radio, TV ads - I'm going to hate Christmas before Thanksgiving! ARRGGGHHHH!!!

[Odin2005]

44. I love Xmas music, but this is too early.

[LibDemAlways]

45. I can top that. I stopped by a friend's house today,

November 14th, and she has her fake tree fully decorated and her entire living room awash in Christmas stuff. I haven't even put away all the Halloween crap yet, and by my calendar, Thanksgiving is still almost two weeks down the road. I've heard of loving Christmas, but that's over the top.

By the way, she's an R, and her theme this year is "a patriotic Christmas." The decorations are all red, white, and blue and she has fake firecrackers coming out the top of the tree. It has to be seen to be believed.

[LeftyMom]

48. Wait a minute,

so 2,000 or so years ago a baby was born to a single mother in a cowshed in the Roman province of Judea, so she's celebrating that by dragging a tree inside like she's a Druid and then hanging American flags and sparklers off of it?

That is the most hilariously syncretic mixed up bastard holiday observation I've ever heard of, and Christmas was already a mess so making it crazier was going to take some work.

[LibDemAlways]

51. Every year she goes to a local Christmas decorations store and goes

crazy. This year she spent $300.00. Then she drags the plastic tree out of the garage and goes to town. Last year she chose a peacock theme. There were fake peacocks and peacock feathers all over the place. Two years ago she went Disney. I've seen her do nutcrackers. (No comment necessary)

This summer they took a vacation to DC, and she bought a bunch of ornaments there -little Capitol domes, etc.

She isn't particularly religious - raised non-Churchgoing Methodist - so I don't think she cares that she's completely out of whack with the true meaning of the holiday. For her, it's a hobby and it's all about the bling.

I thinks she may have gotten some "inspiration" from the nearby Reagan library. Every year they fill a room with a bunch of fake "theme" trees supposedly representing different countries.

She's really not a bad soul - pretty harmless, actually - and told me yesterday that she plans to vote for a local Dem acquaintance who's running for Congress in 2010. Nevertheless, it is still only mid-November and seeing those decorations had me thinking "WTF?"

[Tabasco_Dave]

46. It's the corporate Xmas season

The music is there to inspire you to do your civic duty and spend lots of money so the economy doesn't fail.

[kentauros]

47. somafm has their Christmas channel up now, too

http://somafm.com/christmas/played

Of course, they play better cuts than most ;)

[zanne]

49. It's never too early for Christmas music!

I've been known to play Christmas music in the summer. I just like it; who cares what time of year it is?

[timtom]

50. Absolutely too soon!

I haven't even finished listening to Halloween music. And let's not even talk about Thanksgiving music...

[Kajsa]

53. It's way too early.

[MorningGlow]

54. Hear hear!

Went shopping in a nearby suburb that is chain-store hell yesterday (to return some of MG Jr's birthday presents that he didn't like) and could NOT believe the crowds. It was like Black Friday already. And then Jr turned on the radio in the car and...Christmas music! NoooOOOOoooo...!
:scared: