It appears a record number of Upper Midwest radio stations may have flipped to All-Christmas playlists this holiday season, despite getting off to a later start.
136 Upper Midwest and Manitoba stations have flipped to All-Christmas in 2024, based on the current tally. That far surpasses the 119 known flips in 2023 and the 115 known flips in 2022.
Later Thanksgiving a factor?
With Thanksgiving falling later on the calendar this year, the flips came later in November — but then quickly grew to surpass previous years.
Here is the cumulative number of stations that had flipped to All-Christmas by key days or dates. (Again, this is cumulative, not the number that flipped on the date listed.)
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| Nov. 1 | * | 6 | 5 |
| First Friday of Nov. | 9 | 13 | 11 |
| Second Friday of Nov. | 17 | 20 | 20 |
| Third Friday of Nov. | 25 | ** | ** |
| Friday before Thanksgiving | 40 | 35 | 41 |
| Day before Thanksgiving | 48 | 43 | 45 |
| Thanksgiving | 71 | 62 | 64 |
| Black Friday | 114 | 93 | 92 |
| Dec. 1 | 122 | 104 | 94 |
| Seasonal total | 136 | 119 | 115 |
Note: the exact dates that some stations flipped is not known. They are listed with the earliest known date.
*Nov. 1 was the first Friday of November in 2024
**The third Friday of November was also the Friday before Thanksgiving in 2023 and 2022
New to the list this year
While a few stations made the flip for the first time this year, including Mankato’s “Kato Hits” (KATO-FM/93.1 New Ulm), at least seven of the stations on the 2024 list are new stations that signed on since last Christmas.
Wisconsin’s “Prayz Network” added three signals and “Good News Radio” added two signals in South Dakota. (“Good News Radio” has been retroactively added to the 2023 list.) Also, Wisconsin’s “The Family Radio Network” purchased an existing station in Milwaukee.
Additionally, new commercial stations KQYZ/98.5 (Emerado-Grand Forks) and WHBS/96.3 (Houghton) signed on with All-Christmas formats. (KQYZ actually signed on a few years ago with a much smaller facility and completed a major upgrade adding Grand Forks coverage this season).
These new stations offset a few that had made the change in previous years but, for some reason, did not this year.
Some markets love Christmas, others say “bah humbug”
Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis have four All-Christmas stations apiece, with a combination of commercial and non-commercial options. Listeners can find three All-Christmas formats in Appleton, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Eau Claire, Fargo, La Crosse, Mitchell, Sheboygan, and Wausau.
Conversely, there is a notable lack of major commercial radio stations carrying All-Christmas playlists in a few rated markets.
Two major commercial FM stations in Duluth that had carried All-Christmas formats in some previous seasons ceded the audience to Northwestern’s non-commercial “Life 97-3” (KDNW) and rimshot signal WKLK/1230 (Cloquet).
Green Bay hasn’t had a commercial Christmas format since “KZ104.3” changed format following the end of the 2022 season, but non-commercial “91.5 The Family” (WEMY) continues to carry the seasonal playlist.
How the total is calculated
For purposes of this list, a format is only counted once per market. For example, “Love 105” in the Twin Cities is actually heard on three signals but is listed once. Many of the stations that are All-Christmas also have additional translator signals that are not listed.
Conversely, satellite stations that extend the reach of a parent station into additional areas are listed separately.
It is likely that there are a few stations missing from these lists; the practice of switching to All-Christmas music can be hard to track, especially for stations that do not post their playlists online, offer a web stream, or promote their activities through their website or social media feeds.
The full list: 2024 All-Christmas Stations
Please send any updates to jonellis@northpine.com!