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Motown Mike
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1#
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Rank:Silver
Posts:70
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/16/2009 12:25:02)
Both "Holly" and "Holiday Traditions" sound very different this year than they have in the past.
The former seems to have shifted to a 100% contemporary pop format, playing nothing older than the '80s. (In past years, they would toss in the occasional chestnut from a Crosby or an Andy Williams, in the manner of a typical FM soft-AC station that goes all-Christmas.)
The latter appears to have expanded its reach to encompass many more 1940s and early-'50s recordings, which makes sense, as it's pre-empting the regular '40s channel on Sirius XM's service.
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log_fan
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2#
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Rank:Silver
Posts:83
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/16/2009 17:41:55)
I listened to "Holiday Traditions" quite a bit today and I like what I'm hearing! They're coming up with quite a number of Big Band takes on traditional carols, like Glenn Miller's "Yuletide Medley #1 and #2". There was Les Brown doing his take on "The Nutcracker Suite". The crooners Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme and others are well represented. There was also Jo Stafford, Doris Day and Ella Fitzgerald. Mostly vocals so far. The only orchestral instrumentals I've heard so far were Henry Mancini and the master, Mr. Percy Faith. It's still early, but I hope we'll hear more of them. Let me not forget, the great pop pianist, Roger Williams. Also, there was a saxophone version of "The Christmas Song". My first thought was Kenny G. I looked at the dial and it was King Curtis, who played on many R & B hits in the 50s and 60s. King Curtis is certainly more appropriate for this channel than Kenny G! The Beach Boys and The Ronettes from the 60s were also represented, which is OK. Even The Platters from the 50s were played. I never knew they even did Christmas music! I haven't checked out "Holly" just yet, but I think I'll likely be spending most of the season listening to "Holiday Traditions". I'm likely to discover many holiday chestnuts from the 40s, 50s and 60s I never knew existed! That'll make it a fun listen! 
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pdmddirector
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4#
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Rank:Bronze
Posts:12
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/17/2009 15:06:57)
Hopefully Escape XM Channel 28 will play Christmas music as they have in the past.
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Christmas Always
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5#
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Rank:Platinum
Posts:242
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/19/2009 08:08:40)
I was going through Music channels on DirecTV last night and noticed that they finally started playing Christmas Music. On channel 801 "Holiday Traditions" (formerly 40's on 4) they were playing Brenda Lee, Roger Williams, Pearl Bailey, Elvis Presley, just to name a few. I went back a couple times and they were still playing a lot of older artist's. I did notice that a lot of the "CD's" they were playing some of the music from were Compilation and not from one particular artist. Though I can't remember which Roger Williams song they were playing, I did notice that under the information for it, they had listed the CD: just as 45 RPM or something like that. (Sorry folks that my memory isn't that great right now. I'm still under a lot of stress from moving and trying to unpack and put things where they belong and get rid of what we don't need anymore) On channel 819 "Holly", they were playing Mariah Carey. I didn't notice any other stations playing Christmas Music yet. I really miss Music Choice "Sounds Of The Seasons" One of our local area FM Radio Stations is playing Christmas Music 24 hours a day and an online live stream http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/entercom/player/?id=WTSSRight now they are playing "The Little Drummer Boy" by The Harry Simeone Chorale and they also show about an hour's worth of the previous tracks they played.
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Christmas Isn't Just A Day In December, It's A Way Of Life
Susan
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log_fan
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6#
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Rank:Silver
Posts:83
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/20/2009 09:26:24)
What I'm enjoying the most about "Holiday Traditions" is the fact that I'm discovering recordings by artists I'm certainly familiar with that I never knew existed or perhaps haven't heard for decades. Bing Crosby did lots of Christmas music beyond "White Christmas" and I'm getting a chance to hear it. If Guy Lombardo was Mr. New Year's Eve, Bing Crosby was Mr. Christmas. As I've already posted, the Big Bands (Glenn Miller, Les Brown) and the crooners (Sinatra, Dino, Como, Cole) have been well represented.
IMHO, the approach here is to include a reportoire of Traditional Christmas music beyond the just the staples we all know and love. I wasn't expecting a replay of WPAT or Joe McCoy's WCBS-FM. Listeners are getting to chance to not only hear the artists and music they know and love, but also to hear music recorded during the 40s, 50s and 60s they might not be familiar with.
One criticism: so far there hasn't been enough instrumental Christmas music. I've heard more of Henry Mancini than Percy Faith. The only recording by the Master I've heard so far was "Away In A Manger" from the iconic "Music Of Christmas" album.
Just my personal observation, no controversy intended.
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Motown Mike
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7#
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Rank:Silver
Posts:70
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/20/2009 14:22:09)
I, too, wish they'd include more instrumentals in the Holiday Traditions playlist. Keep in mind, however, that the dedicated beautiful music/easy listening channel, Escape, is likely to be playing a great many of those tracks following its return from a temporary pre-emption (from 12/7 through 12/19) for "Radio Hanukkah".
Like many of the old Bonneville FM stations of which it is a spiritual successor, Escape typically airs a 36-hour "Christmas Festival of Music" marathon on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I guarantee you'll hear plenty of music from Percy Faith, Bert Kaempfert, the Hollyridge Strings, etc. during that time.
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RazzleberryDressing
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8#
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Rank:Silver
Posts:80
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RE:Holiday Music on Satellite Radio
(Date Posted:11/21/2009 16:46:46)
Mike,
Marlin Taylor from "Escape" on Sirius/XM has confirmed that we will be getting a nice ramp-up to Christmas once the channel returns after the Hannukah pre-emption:
<<While you should be hearing changes with passing days, and while we still lose the channel for 12 days - from Monday, 12/7 through Saturday 12/19 ... the full Escape traditional Christmas programming will be in place for the week of Christmas.>>
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