The official Christmas FM thread

BTW, did anyone listen to the end of the live broadcast yesterday to see how they closed it out?

Well thanks to the timely reminder of Christmas FM in July, I got around to adding the few songs I liked & hadn't previously had in my personal christmas playlist last night... so I'm all set up & ready to go come Christmas FM launch 2020. Changed out a couple of the older ones I found myself skipping through more regularly last year too, it needed a freshening up to be fair.

Still cant get over how much I ended up enjoying that last week despite my feelings at the start. Hopefully a good omen for Christmas 2020.

One other thing, does anyone have any good playlists of traditional carols being sung by choirs etc? Not just the religious churchy type ones, but with some of the more traditional carols as well?

Loughc wrote: »

I feel like we should have heard about the ChristmasFM charity partner by now....

Yeah, was looking through older posts yesterday & noticed that they'd already announced it this time last year.

Loughc wrote: »

It’s an excellent choice and given the year the elderly have had and the needless loss they suffered due to the coronavirus it’s a fitting selection.

Agree 100%.

Loughc wrote: »

It’s an excellent choice and given the year the elderly have had and the needless loss they suffered due to the coronavirus it’s a fitting selection.

Hear hear.

DvB wrote: »

I see Christmas FM have confirmed they'll be doing Halloween FM this year again also. Great stuff.

Ah brilliant I’ll tell the smallies tomor morning at breakfast - they love Christmas fm and love Halloween in general so this is great

Any updates on the day Christma FM launches this year? IIRC last year it was Thursday 28th (& ran until the 27th Dec IIRC, though open to correction on that) So suspect it'll be Friday 27th, cant see them launching on a Saturday somehow which is the day the 28th falls on this year.
I know its based around the limitations of their licence which is for 30 days? (open to correction on this also) so if they lauch on the 27th they'd be finishing up on St Stephens day which seems a tad abrupt!
Hoping 27th Nov - 27th Dec myself anyway (though that would be for a day longer than last year which doesn't sound right)

Lord Spence wrote: »

Personally come st stephens day I stop listening to Christmas music, Christmas for me is the build up, always find the days after a bit of a come down. But November up to the 25th of Dec are the best days of the year by a long way

That seems to be the general media approach to Christmas music also. I've been on here a few times bemoaning the fact Christmas music seems to stop on the stroke of midnight on the 25th December (or maybe the 26th, but no later) as I always remember growing up the music lasting up until new years at least.

In reality the Christmas period seems to have shifted somewhat from that I remember/experienced as a child. Back then it started in early December & ran through until little Christmas on 6th Jan. Now it seems to start Early/Mid November & stops on St. Stephens Day with New years an afterthought or suchlike.

TRS30 wrote: »

Agree DvB. Not sure the reason why, could be because Christmas has become more and more commercial and a lot of industries rely on the Christmas period to make most of their income so are starting earlier and earlier. Is hard to maintain at 100% for more than 7/8 weeks so if things start in earnest early Nov then by Christmas itself, people are worn out with it.

That's it exactly. I remember reading an article about the 'Christmas Creep' being firmly the responsibility of commercialism & the retail sector in particular & with fatigue setting in after a few weeks maintaining it from early November into the first week of January was pushing it, hence many deciding come the 26th thats that. It started in the states and has migrated over here & to the UK in the last 10-20 years. I still suspect in my lifetime (assuming I have a few years left in me) that we'll see shops opening on Christmas Day which for me will be the real rubicon moment. I just genuinely hope it never happens.

DvB wrote: »

..... that we'll see shops opening on Christmas Day which for me will be the real rubicon moment. I just genuinely hope it never happens.

While I am all for choice, progression etc. I'm a big believer that Christmas is for relaxing/family time etc. If I had my way, shops would close mid day Christmas Eve and not open again till the 27th. Give people who work in retail a break.

It's as massive and as Irish traditional as the toy show now in my opinion, hopefully keeps going for generations to come. It's going to be even more needed this year.