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| Edison, the Lite-Nosed Reindeer is at the controls |
Clear Channel’s Chicago’s WLIT-FM (93.9) flipped Friday to holiday music 24 hours a day seven days a week.
The switch, albeit temporary, has happened every year around this time for the past 12 years. But each year WLIT executives keep the exact date a secret until the format change actually happens.
Still when WLIT does go all holiday music, it’s invariably a cause for major celebration among WLIT executives, even as bosses at competing stations in the Chicago market start to grind their teeth.
Yes, the rest of the radio market can only stand by and watch as the same miracle of sorts happens every year: WLIT quickly rises to the top in the Arbitron ratings and stays there for the couple of months that holiday music is on tap.
Nobody has been able to say with certainty why WLIT’s holiday format is so hugely popular, but most observers suspect it may have something to do with a midwestern sensibility that hungers for — and fervently embraces — everything to do with the Christmas holidays each year.
But while they may begin rejoicing today at WLIT over the gift of an instant ratings boost, WLIT executives also know the station is just as likely to fall from that top berth in the ratings as soon as the festive holiday music format is canned right after Christmas.
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