CHICAGO — Like many Chicagoans, you may find yourself turning to WLIT 93.9 FM this time of year to enjoy the local station famous for focusing on Christmas music for several weeks. But did you ever wonder: Why does it seem like they’re playing the same songs all the time? When do they add new tunes to the playlist? And why does this holiday format start at the beginning of November but end on Dec. 26? Station manager and afternoon on-air host Mick Lee told Block Club there is definitely a method to the holiday music madness. “Our rule is always to play the most popular songs at least every other song,” Lee said. “You never want to go two songs back to back that maybe are a B- or C-level song. So you might have an A-level song, and then you go to a B-level song, back to an A-level song.” And what constitutes an A-level holiday song? Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is a given. “Just off the top of my head, the A-levels are like the Andy Williams ‘Most Wonderful Time,’ Wham ‘Last Christmas,’ ‘Felice Navidad,'” Lee said. “So a secondary song would be probably like ‘Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays’ from NSYNC. Or, you know, there’s a bunch of Amy Grant Christmas songs.” Lee went on to explain the reasoning behind the repetition of the most popular songs in the station’s programming. “The thing is, as much as we would love for our listeners to listen to us for eight hours straight during the work day, a lot of people punch around and go to different radio stations,” Lee said. “We want our listeners to tune in and hear the biggest song in the moment they tune in. So if they only listen for 20 minutes … they’ve heard the most popular, most in-demand song while they’re on their drive or while they’re sitting at their desk.” Clockwise from left: Mick Lee, morning show co-host/producer Jim Gronemann, 93.9 mascot Edison the Reindeer, LITE FM promotions director Echo Robinson, midday personality Robin Rock and morning host Melissa Forman. Credit: Provided/93.9 LITE FM – WLIT-FM The WLIT playlist gets revised each year, Lee said. “We do research every year so we can see what songs are trending in a more popular way versus ones that are maybe starting to get a little old or tired. And we come up with a formula based on that,” Lee said. “We have about 300 Christmas songs in regular rotation, but a lot of them get played a lot more often than other ones.” That list includes juggling various versions of the same song, like “Last Christmas” by Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Jimmy Eat World and the cast of “Glee,” in addition to Wham. When pressed for an example of a holiday song that has fallen out of favor, Lee provided, “The one I can think of the most is the Band-Aid song that used to be huge, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ You would hear it everywhere. And that has kind of faded a little bit. And I can’t tell you why.” The WLIT team also takes an annual look at newer, non-traditional Christmas songs to add to the list, like Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” or the Jonas Brothers’ “Like It’s Christmas.” But then there are those holiday oddities that are likely local-specific. “We also use our gut,” Lee explained. “We also know what works here in Chicago and some of the songs that are extra special. For example, ‘Dominick the Donkey.’ There’s people in other parts of the country that have never heard that song, but in Chicago, people have this warm nostalgia for it.” WLIT is also known for its timing of holiday music, which usually encompasses about two months, or 1/6th of the station’s broadcast output. For the past few years, the station has kicked off the holiday songs right on Nov. 1. This year, in honor of the kickoff of the station’s 25th season of holiday music, WLIT held a contest for listeners to guess when the kickoff would be; it wound up taking place the afternoon of Nov. 4. Granted, the beginning of November is a bit early for some listeners, many of whom are barely over Halloween, with Thanksgiving still weeks away. “Of course, there are people who love us the rest of the year and maybe think it’s a little too early, and we understand that. I mean, not everybody’s ready for Christmas music on Nov. 4,” Lee said. “We just hope that they will be ready for it on Thanksgiving, or when they’re getting ready to go shop on Black Friday, or even if it’s the first week of December — eventually, they come back around and they’re ready for it. Robin Rock and Mick Lee at WLIT’s annual Lurie Children’s holiday Radiothon in 2023. Credit: Provided/93.9 LITE FM – WLIT-FM “And so while we start early, our maximum listening audience really takes off in the first week of December, right after Thanksgiving. We see our audience double, triple, quadruple. It’s pretty awesome.” In fact, WLIT usually lands on the top of December’s local radio ratings by a wide margin thanks to its all-holiday stance. Nevertheless, the station shuts down the format on Dec. 26, when most people are still in the holiday spirit. While that decision may surprise some listeners anxious for festive music until New Year’s Eve, Lee said they have experimented with that deadline. “There was one year — it might have been in the late teens, 2017, 2019, something like that — we did try to go until New Year’s Eve. And we actually saw our ratings decline every day that it continued,” Lee said. “So we looked at it, we tried it and it wasn’t as successful as we thought it might be.” Still, holiday music fans may get a few extra days this year, Lee hinted. “I can tell you that we may go a couple days past Christmas this year,” Lee said. “But that’s not official, so we’ll have to wait and see how things go in the coming weeks.” > View this post on Instagram Interested in where all those holiday songs rank on the 93.9 list? This year, Lee is starting a new feature during his afternoon show, kicking off Monday. “It’s Mick Lee’s Top 25 Christmas Songs,” he said. “Every day at 5 p.m., I’m going to count down a song. So starting on this Dec. 1, it’s the 25th most popular song. Dec. 2, the 24th [most popular song], until we get to Christmas Day. On the 25th, I’ll play the No. 1 song. And I’m like, this is really stressful, because if I put the wrong song in the wrong spot, people are gonna have something to say.” Because if there’s one thing that people seem to be exceptionally emotional about, it’s their holiday music. “It’s a tough job,” Lee said. “But we’re constantly catering to the general audience to make sure we’re making as many people happy as possible.” Chicagoans can tune into WLIT at 93.9 FM, online or on the iHeartRadio app. * * * **Support Local News!** **Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, **an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? **Click here to gift a subscription** , or you can**support Block Club with atax-deductible donation.** **Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:** Listen OnApple PodcastsListen OnSpotify The Ultimate Guide To Shopping Local In Chicago For The 2025 Holidays Episode play icon The Ultimate Guide To Shopping Local In Chicago For The 2025 Holidays Episode play icon Hop On The Bears Bandwagon! They May Be Good Or Might Kinda Suck Episode play icon Breast Cancer Diagnoses Are Up — But More Women Are Surviving Than Ever Episode play icon “This Budget Is A Disaster” — The Committee That Told The Mayor ‘No’ Episode play icon No, Groupon Isn’t Dead. It’s Still Based In Chicago And Growing Again. Load More Search Results placeholder Previous Episode Show Episodes List Next Episode Show Podcast Information

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