Posted by chicagomedia.org on December 04, 2008 at 23:16:58:
In Reply to: Fresh not letting up on WLIT posted by Healthy Competition on November 28, 2008 at 13:09:31:
More holiday cheer
WCFS becomes 2nd FM station to unleash Christmas tunes
The more the merrier? CBS Radio market manager Rod Zimmerman sure hopes so. That's why he took the liberty last week of making the big holiday switch at WCFS-FM (105.9), which now is the second FM outlet in Chicago trying to lure 25- to 54-year-old adult females with a round-the-clock diet of holiday music delights. With the switch, WCFS joins Clear Channel Radio's WLIT-FM (93.9) in vying for a heavily female audience base that, research tells us, loves to turn to holiday music at this time of year.
Zimmerman admits he made the decision to go with the all-holiday-music format at his station, in part at least, to keep as many of his adult female listeners as possible from defecting to the competition during December, when WLIT has turned in good numbers the past several years with its holiday music format. In fact, WLIT's history with holiday music dates back eight years, and it has become something of a tradition among hard-core radio watchers to guess how early the station will flip the switch on its holiday music each year.
The earliest it ever went all-holiday, per a WLIT spokeswoman, was Nov. 2 in 2007. Whatever bump WCFS may get in the ratings by wooing the holiday music crowd won't necessarily translate into significantly more ad dollars for the station, as Zimmerman knows. Down the line in 2009, advertisers will attribute any increase in the December 2008 ratings to the fleeting holiday music's appeal and little more.
So while WLIT and WCFS duke it out for adult females hankering for that holiday sound, that leaves Bonneville International's WILV-FM (100.3) as the only adult contemporary station in the Chicago market sticking with its regular format. Which means WILV just might wind up in an advantageous position when the ratings are released. Bonneville's Chicago management, anyway, is sure hoping that proves the case.
(Lewis Lazare, Chicago Sun-Times)