Mar 22, 2015 4 min read

Pittsburgh may have finally found that lump of coal in that lucrative stocking that is its all-Christmas music programming.

Since continuous holiday music became popular at the turn of the century, WWSW has seen its ratings skyrocket when it annually adopts the format from mid-November to Christmas Day. And while those ratings predictably spiked again in 2014, there’s been a more pronounced post-holiday letdown in January and February.

During both of those ratings periods, WRRK (Bob-FM) toppled 3WS, and all other major Pittsburgh stations for that matter, to become Pittsburgh’s top radio outlet. (Virtually none of Western Pennsylvania’s suburban stations, including Washington’s WJPA and Waynesburg’s WANB, as well as a few second-tier Pittsburgh stations, has opted in to these monthly ratings).

Some radio insiders theorize that 3WS’s nonstop holiday music, while attracting thousands of listeners who don’t typically listen to the station, also drove some listeners, particularly males, to the somewhat similar Bob-FM. The difference this year is that evidently, some listeners who moved down the dial never looked back.

Perhaps part of the reason is that 3WS’s ever diminishing “safe list” of songs for both holiday and typical programming finally reached a breaking point with a portion of its audience. A decrease in the variety of Christmas songs was evident this year – too few songs were being rotated far too quickly. That’s also true of the station’s regular format. Songs such as “American Pie,” “Piano Man” and “Cat’s in the Cradle” may test well with audiences, but may have reached the saturation point.

Conversely, Bob-FM continually emphasizes its expanded play list. While veering off a “safe list” certainly presents opportunities to hear a song that a faction of the audience may not like, it’s unlikely to do permanent damage to the station’s reputation. For instance, a few weeks ago, Bob-FM played “Seasons in the Sun,” not one of my favorites. But I actually got a kick out of hearing it for the first time in years. Radio refers to those songs – and that reaction – as a “wow moment.” It’s considered to be a good thing. And 3WS has few of those “wow moments” these days in regular, holiday or specialty programming. And while it’s certainly part of a growing trend in radio, not always having “live” disc jockeys in the studio removes an engaging personal element that once was 3WS’s forte.

Still, the all-Christmas music format isn’t going away. Indeed, a few stations nationwide began its holiday music in October last year. The bottom line is that many stations see a double-digit percentage increase in audiences when they play all Christmas music, and advertisers not only savor the large audience, but also are keenly aware that the audience is primarily female – exactly what most advertisers prefer.

• The top five radio stations in February were WRRK-FM, WDVE-FM, WWSW-FM, KDKA-AM and WKST-FM.

• WPGB-FM’s attempt to be a major player in the country music field is off to a tentative start. WDSY-FM continues to hold a commanding ratings lead, and its ratings, in fact, have nudged upward.

• In a city known for its enthusiasm for sports, neither sports talk stations, KDKA-FM nor WBGG-FM, did particularly well in February. That hasn’t stopped swirling rumors that another FM station will soon opt for an all-sports format.

• WDDZ-AM (the long-ago WTAE-AM) was recently sold and is shifting to a conservative talk radio format. It won’t, however, be the new home of talk show host Jim Quinn, formerly of WPGB, but evidently, he’ll soon be heard in Rochester, N.Y. The WYSL-FM website has this post: “The War Room with Jim Quinn returns to WYSL.” Show will air from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays, beginning April 1.

• Longtime 3WS and veteran disc jockey Don Berns died March 1. He was 67.