BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) Need a mood change, or a season change, even if it's still warm outside?
Star 102.5 FM flipped the switch at midnight, kicking off the season of 24/7 Christmas music.
"The very first year we did this, was Black Friday in 2001, and the temperature
outside was 71 degrees. We were doing a live broadcast somewhere and people were ripping us for playing Christmas music all day long," said morning man Rob Lucas. "It turned out that those people were in the minority and we had some of our greatest ratings of all time. And now we're still doing it
22 years later."
Why November 1st? "It's just been a natural progression," said Lucas. "We started the day after Thanksgiving in 2001. That year we were just coming off the attacks of 9/11 and the country needed a mood change. Christmas music is the ultimate comfort food for your ear. After that, we backed it up to the Monday before Thanksgiving and then slowly and slowly people wanted more and more of it. And it just turned out that today was the natural day."
Reaction has been very favorable. "In the first several hours since the switch, Star has received 174 comments and 275 shares," which Lucas says is unbelievable. "People don't share things that they don't like, unless it's politics."
Mindful of the 60 degree day that is accompanying the launch, Lucas said weather dictates the playlist too. "You can't play, 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman', right now. There are certain songs that fit between Thanksgiving and New Year's, as opposed to between now and Thanksgiving."
Without giving away any secrets, Lucas said there's an art to scheduling Christmas music. "You might play one song a lot, then you back off, and then you bring it back a little more."
During the pandemic a lot of artists produced new Christmas music. Not so much this year. But a lot of ears are on a new release from the Backstreet Boys. It was produced two years ago, but they waited to release it this year. "They have a great version of 'Christmas in New York' and they do a version of Wham's 'Last Christmas."
What about Lucas, himself, does he ever get tired of it? "Check in with me around December 15. That is the time I start to get a little goofy. We'll be six weeks into it by then."
Lucas estimates just on the Star 102.5 morning show, he plays about 15 songs an hour. That's about 60 songs a day, 300 a week. Over eight weeks, it's 24-hundred Christmas songs. One of the things he does to get through it, is to make up nonsensical lyrics, such as , "Dashing through the snow, Maple Road looks ok," stuff like that," he said.
