‘Tis the Season…for Holiday Programming

And before you start to groan and bemoan, keep this in mind: your listeners – your audience – LOVES what you do. (And now go ahead and groan a little bit because creating meaningful and interesting holiday programming is a lot of work.)
                                                     
When Suzanne and I first started working together back in January, we immediately started talking to stations around the country. What was working, we asked. What wasn’t. Where do you have gaps and holes in your teams? What kind of training or assistance or help do you need? And where are you finding it?

Neither of us were surprised when we heard this:

1. Our current teams are burned out.

2. We aren’t finding people to hire – no one is applying to our open roles.

After all, those are two reasons why we started working together as Whisper Speak Roar Media in the first place.

However, both of us WERE surprised to hear this: 

1. Hosting music on the air is a tough job. Programming music is a tough job. It’s not feasible to program ALL of the music and host ALL of the hours in one job. (Unless, of course, you want to work AT LEAST 18 hours a day.)

2. We wish we could be more creative when it comes to programming music but we just don’t have the time. 

3. We could use some help getting our music library organized and digitized.
   

And so we’re working on solving those problems, too. In fact, we’ll have an announcement next month that just MIGHT solve your programming needs! (So stick with us!)

In the meantime, how about some tips and tricks when it comes to creating memorable and relevant holiday programming this year? Let’s go! 

1. First things first: what are your NORMAL programming guidelines?
   This time of year is the perfect time to review your regular programming guidelines and principles and, if applicable, to edit them a bit. We might be diving deep into the holiday season, but your listeners ALSO want to hear the music they’ve come to depend on you for. 

   However!! This is also a great time of year to experiment with some things like…TEXTURE. I know you don’t usually program flute choirs or handbell choirs. But at this time of year, why not? Mix it up a little bit! Experiment a little bit! Brass quintets, more choral music, whistles, bells (not JUST handbells)...the holidays allow you the flexibility to share great music with your audience that you might not otherwise get the chance to share. Take advantage of this opportunity! 
   

2. Make sure you’re including ALL holidays that fall within this time of year. What an excellent time to take a look at a calendar and learn about holidays that might be less familiar than holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Hanukkah!
   We’ve found it’s helpful to create a holiday program planner in something like Asana (or another project management tool). A simple spreadsheet or document works well, too. The point is – get familiar with the dates of the holidays you’re going to represent with your music programming selections.
   

3. Once you know what holidays are approaching, it’s time to create a plan of attack.
   Does your station celebrate Christmas starting on the day after Thanksgiving? Do you gradually work Christmas music into your playlists starting December 15? How about Hanukkah, the winter solstice, or Kwanzaa?
   How will you work in music that’s inclusive of all winter holidays and how often will you be encouraging your hosts to discuss the holidays on the air?
   

4. Speaking of hosts: it’s challenging to host holiday music! There are usually fewer things to say about the composers and the pieces (especially if the music is familiar), so how are you going to help your hosts continue to be their timely, topical, and relevant selves on-air? Creating a list of guidelines, prompts, ideas, etc. might go a long way toward helping your hosts stay engaged with what they’re doing.
   

5. And now…it’s time to choose your music. You’ll want a balance of familiar listener favorites and new music that’s being written today, too.
   NOW is the time to keep your eye on your email inbox! Promoters and artists are sending their holiday albums and tracks to you; in fact they’ve probably been sending them to you since last month.
   Carve out dedicated listening time and start listening to what’s new. Your ears – and your listeners – will thank you.
   

6. Finally, ask for help when you need it! Suzanne and I have years of experience programming listenable, interesting, and heartwarming classical music for many holidays. If you need help, ask us! We’re happy to help you with your holiday music programming.

Like a lot of things, if you take the time to plan out something as potentially stressful as holiday programming, you’ll find that not only do YOU feel more confident about what’s going out on the airwaves, your listeners will respond positively, as well.

And now – you tell US. What are YOUR favorite kinds of music to share with your listeners at this time of year? We’d love to hear more about your choices for timely and relevant holiday programming!