Merry Christmas Radio 2025

Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. 

A liturgical feast central to Christianity, preparation for Christmas begins on the First Sunday of Advent and it is followed by Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, is observed religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as celebrated culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the annual holiday season.

The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies. When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room, and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds, who then spread the word.

There are different hypotheses regarding the date of Jesus's birth. In the early fourth century, the church fixed the date as December 25, the date of the winter solstice in the Roman Empire. It is nine months after Annunciation on March 25, also the Roman date of the spring equinox. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. 

However, part of the Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 of the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity rather than knowing Jesus's exact birth date is considered to be the primary purpose of celebrating Christmas.

Radio: What Is It Good For?

by Dave Van Dyke, President Bridge Ratings Media Research

War...what is it good for?” was a question that defined a generation. 

In 2025, a similar question gets quietly asked about traditional radio. Not out loud. Not boldly. But in budget meetings, strategy decks, and hallway conversations.

Radio… what is it good for?

Let’s answer it clearly — without nostalgia, without defensiveness, and without pretending the world hasn’t changed.

It’s Good for Trust

In a world flooded with algorithms, fake virality, bot-driven engagement, and content designed purely to manipulate dopamine, radio remains one of the few mass media platforms built on human credibility.

Real voices. Real communities. Real accountability.

Listeners don’t just “consume” radio — they believe it. That matters more in 2025 than it did in 1995.

It’s Good for Companionship

Radio’s greatest asset has never been music alone. It’s the feeling that someone is with you in the car, at work, in the kitchen, or on the late-night drive home. While every digital platform fights for attention, radio quietly delivers presence.

Spotify gives you songs. TikTok gives you noise.

• Radio gives you company.

It’s Good for Local Identity

In a media world optimized for scale, speed, and sameness, radio still reflects place. Traffic. Weather. Local sports. Community disasters. School closings. Lost dogs. Charity drives. Local humor.
Radio didn’t abandon the concept of community. The rest of media did.

It’s Good for Stability in Chaos

As consumers manage an increasingly stressful world and bounce between platforms, formats, and fragmented attention, radio provides a consistent daily rhythm. Morning shows structure days. Drive times frame transitions. Even commercials — yes, commercials — tell us what matters locally.
In an overstimulated economy, radio offers a rare thing: media you don’t have to manage.

It’s Good for Business (When We Let It Be)

Radio sales people too often sell radio like it’s broken. It isn’t.

It remains:

• A trusted brand environment
• A high-reach local platform
• A powerful support medium
• A lower-cost entry for local advertisers

Radio doesn’t fail businesses. Businesses fail when they underutilize what radio actually does best: influence, frequency, and familiarity.

So… What Is Radio Good For?

Not perfection.
Not trends.
Not competing with TikTok on TikTok’s terms.

Radio is good for connection.
Radio is good for belief.
Radio is good for routine.
Radio is good for community.

And in 2025, as media grows louder, colder, and more automated — those aren’t weaknesses.

They’re advantages.

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Dave Van Dyke is currently President and founder of media consumption analysis research firm Bridge Ratings and its subsidiary StreamStats LLC, the company has been providing radio stations with proprietary on-demand streaming data based on format core listener music consumption behavior. 

More Information: HERE

Radio History: Dec 24

➦In 1818...The Christmas carol Silent Night was first performed at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach River in present-day Austria.

A young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. He had written the lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, his father's hometown in the Salzburg Lungau region. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf.

Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the Christmas Eve mass, after river flooding had damaged the church organ.  The church was eventually destroyed by repeated flooding and replaced with the Silent Night Chapel. It is unknown what inspired Mohr to write the lyrics, or what prompted him to create a new carol.

Reginald A Fessenden

➦In 1906... Quebec physicist Reginald A. Fessenden sent his first radio broadcast himself playing ‘O Holy Night’ on his violin for telegraph operators and other sailors aboard ships in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

In the late 1890s, reports began to appear about the success Guglielmo Marconi was having in developing a practical radio transmitting and receiving system. Fessenden began limited radio experimentation and soon came to the conclusion that he could develop a far more efficient system than the spark-gap transmitter and coherer-receiver combination which had been championed by Oliver Lodge and Marconi.

Wireless Station at Brant Rock, MA

On December 21, 1906, Fessenden made an extensive demonstration of the new alternator-transmitter at Brant Rock, showing its utility for point-to-point wireless telephony, including interconnecting his stations to the wire telephone network. A detailed review of this demonstration appeared in The American Telephone Journal.

Two additional demonstrations took place a few days later, which may have been the first audio radio broadcasts of entertainment and music ever made to a general audience. (Beginning in 1904, the U.S. Navy had broadcast daily time signals and weather reports, but these employed spark transmitters, transmitting in Morse code).

On Christmas Eve 1906, Fessenden used the alternator transmitter to send out a short program from Brant Rock. It included a phonograph record of Ombra mai fu (Largo) by George Frideric Handel, followed by Fessenden himself playing on the violin Adolphe Adam's carol O Holy Night, singing Gounod's Adore and be Still, and finishing with reading a passage from the Bible: 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of goodwill' (Gospel of Luke 2:14).

He petitioned his listeners to write in about the quality of the broadcast as well as their location when they heard it. Surprisingly, his broadcast was heard several hundred miles away; however, accompanying the broadcast was disturbing. This noise was due to irregularities in the spark gap transmitter used.

➦In 1922...the BBC broadcast the first British radio play. It was entitled, "Truth about Father Christmas".

➦In 1928...the first broadcast of “The Voice of Firestone” was heard on the NBC Blue Radio Network, Monday night at 8:30. “The Voice of Firestone” became a hallmark in radio broadcasting, keeping its same night and sponsor for its entire 27-year run. Beginning September 5, 1949, the program of classical and semi-classical music was simulcast on television.

Lionel Barrymore

➦In 1939...The radio version of the classic “A Christmas Carol” with Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge aired live for the first time on Orson Welles’ Campbell Playhouse on CBS.  On prior Christmases Barrymore had just read the story beginning in 1934.

➦In 1944...The Andrews Sisters starred in the debut of “The Andrews Sisters’ Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch” on ABC radio. Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne ran a fictional dude ranch. George “Gabby” Hayes was a regular guest along with Vic Schoen’s orchestra. The ranch stayed in operation until 1946.

➦In 1948...Perry Como made his television debut when NBC televised the Chesterfield Supper Club 15-minute radio program.

Radio History: Dec 25

➦In 1931...Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera broadcast was “Hansel und Gretel”, heard on the NBC network stations. In between acts of the opera, moderator Olin Downes would conduct an opera quiz, asking celebrity guests opera-related questions.

The program’s host and announcer was Milton Cross, who stayed with the weekly broadcasts for 43 years.

Arturo Toscanini

➦In 1937...Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of “Symphony of the Air” over NBC radio.

➦In 1945...Gary Lee Sandy born. Sandy played program director Andy Travis on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.

➦In 1948...92.3 FM NYC frequency signed-on as WMCA-FM. (Today the station is WINS 92.3 FM and is owned by Audacy Communications, simulcasts All-News 1010WINS).

For the next year, it operated daily from 3p-9p, simulcasting WMCA, 570 AM.

The WMCA Happy Face logo

In December 1949, Nathan Straus, president of WMCA, announced he was closing down the station because he was losing $4000 a month.

He had said several times that baseball games were cut short on the FM, deliberately to elicit response from listeners and he had received only 2 letters in regard to this practice during all of the summer of 1949.

Straus cited several reasons for the failure of FM: drifting of receivers, difficulty in tuning them, the union rule that announcers who were simulcast on FM and AM be paid double in New York and he said people could already hear WMCA on AM.

Further, Straus said that he had twice tried to give WMCA-FM away and couldn't.

This announcement drew sharp criticism from Major Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of the FM system of broadcasting, who said that Straus was not giving FM a fair chance.

Straus announced that WMCA-FM would quit permanently on December 31, 1949, but the day before, a group of businessmen and people associated with WIBG in Philadelphia announced their intention of buying WMCA-FM for $7500.

So, WMCA-FM continued its 3p-9p schedule throughout 1950, however the negotiations with the WIBG group fell through.

In late 1950, WHOM 1480 AM, announced that it would purchase WMCA-FM. An agreement was reached and 92.3 became WHOM-FM on February 26, 1951.

By 1975, the station had evolved into a Pop/Rock leaning AC format, with calls of WKTU.

On July 24, 1978, WKTU abruptly switched to an "All Disco" format as "Disco 92", which eventually evolved into more of a Rhythmic CHR by the Fall of 1979.

In the summer of 1984, WKTU became a mainstream CHR.

Then, in July of 1985, after airing the Live Aid concert, the station switched to a mainstream AOR format, featuring new and classic rock as WXRK "K-Rock".

In September 1985, Howard Stern (who had been fired from WNBC earlier that year) joined the station, initially for afternoons and in early 1986 switched to mornings.

In 1987, WXRK had instituted a classic rock format and on January 5, 1996, evolved into an alternative/active rock format.

On April 4, 2005, WXRK debuted a mainstream rock format, encompassing music from the 60's to today.

On December 16, 2005, Howard Stern broadcast his last show on the station, before his anticipated move to Sirius Satellite Radio on January 9, 2006.

On January 3, 2006, 92.3 became an "all-talk" station (with the exception of weekends when it features a rock format) using the "Free FM" slogan and featuring David Lee Roth in mornings. Calls were officially changed to WFNY on January 1. In April 2006, David Lee Roth was replaced with Opie & Anthony.

On May 24, 2007 at 5pm, "K-Rock" returned to 92.3. Calls were changed back to WXRK on May 31, 2007.

On March 11, 2009, 92.3 switched to a CHR format as "92.3 Now FM", with the "K-Rock" format moving to 92.3's HD2 channel.

92.3 changed calls to WNOW on November 8, 2012.

On May 22, 2014 at 2pm, 92.3 re-branded themselves as "92.3 AMP."

Calls changed to WBMP on June 23, 2014.  In 2017, the station was sold by CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy).  The format was flipped to Alternative upon the deal closing and calls were changed once again to WNYL.

➦In 1964...In New York, "Murray The K's Big Holiday Show" featured the Zombies, the Nashville Teens, and the Hullabaloos.

➦In 1995...legendary singer/crooner, actor, comedian, and Rat-Pack member Dean Martin died of respiratory failure at age 78.

➦In 2006...the “hardest working man in show business,” urban star James Brown died of pneumonia at an Atlanta hospital. He was 73.

The one-time radio station owner was nicknamed the "Godfather of Soul", died.

➦In 2008... actress & chanteuse Eartha Kitt, best known for her hit songs C’est Si Bon & Santa Baby, who was the 2nd Catwoman on the 1960’s Batman TV series, succumbed to colon cancer at age 81.

Gary Sandy is 80

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Hanna Schygulla (“Barnum,” ″Casanova”) is 82. 
• Actor Gary Sandy (“WKRP In Cincinnati”) is 80. 
• Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 77. 
• Actor Sissy Spacek is 76. 
• Actor CCH Pounder is 73. 
• Guitarist Robin Campbell of UB40 is 71. 
• Singer Annie Lennox is 71. 
• Singer Steve Wariner is 71. 
• Actor Klea Scott (“Millennium”) is 57. 
• Guitarist Noel Hogan of The Cranberries is 54. 
• Singer Dido is 54. 
• Singer Mac Powell of Third Day is 53. 
• Country singer Alecia Elliott is 43. 
• Singer Jess and Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas are 41. 
• Actor Perdita Weeks (2018′s “Magnum P.I.”) is 40. 
• Singer-guitarist Lukas Nelson of Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real is 37.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1946..W C Fields, writer and comedian (Bank Dick, It's A Gift), dies at 67
• In 1977..Charlie Chaplin, British actor and comedian (Modern Times, The Kid), dies in Switzerland at 88
• In 1979..Joan Blondell, American actress (Real McCoys), dies of leukemia at 73
• In 1989..Billy Martin, American baseball 2nd baseman (MLB All Star 1956; World Series 1951, 52, 53, 56; NY Yankees) and manager (World Series 1977 NY Yankees), killed in a car accident at 61
• In 1995..Dean Martin, American singer ("That's Amore"; "Everybody Loves Somebody"; "Sway"), comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), dies of throat cancer at 78
• In 1996..Jon Benet Ramsey, Colorado child beauty queen, murdered at 6
• In 2006..James Brown, American R&B, gospel, soul and funk singer-songwriter known as 'The Godfather of Soul' ("Sex Machine"; "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"; "Hot Pants"), dies of heart failure at 73
• In 2008..Eartha Kitt, American singer (Santa Baby), dancer, comedian, actress and activist (Catwoman-Batman), dies at 81
• In 2009..Tony "T-Bone" Bellamy, American rock guitarist (Redbone), dies of liver failure at 63
• In 2016..George Michael, English singer-songwriter and pop superstar (Wham! - "Careless Whisper"; "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"; solo - " I Want Your Sex"; "Faith"), dies of suspected heart failure at 53