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I think Christmas FM needs a thread so here it is! Anything to do it with from schedules, frequencies, different ways of listening, personnel, songs, etc.

Christmas FM will be on its fourteenth temporary license run on FM at the end of November! Of course, it is has a near all-year presence online. At the moment it is in the guise of Halloween, but then normal service will resume! Last year, Christmas FM commenced live broadcasting online a number of weeks before its 30 days on FM, and then again after the run on FM had finished. I would imagine the powers that be will do the same again next month.

The station was the brainchild of Garv Rigby, and has four principals: Garv, Paul Shephard (aka Ray Jackson), Walter Hegarty (used to call himself Greg Townsend) and Daragh O'Sullivan (used to call himself Stephen Davitt). All of them have significant pirate experience and all have them have been owner/operators of some pirates.

Many names have come through Christmas FM over the years, a lot from pirates, but in recent years newer people have been getting some on-air experience.

Christmas FM started as a Dublin station on temporary license. Gradually, it increased the locations around Ireland where it could be picked up. At this stage, its reach must be at least 60% on FM. No doubt it will add one or two more locations this year. Of course, adding the online aspect some years ago makes it even easier to pick up, not to mention that it can now go way beyond its 30 days temporary license on FM. There are other Christmas stations offered online as part of Christmas FM, such as Christmas Classics.

During the first few years, the presenters tended to come from the smaller pirates and community stations. Over time, as the name became more well-known, the station managed to secure some bigger names, such as Mike Maloney, Hugh O'Brien, Gareth O'Connor and Robbie Irwin.

The FM frequencies this year and the areas they will cover:
https://christmasfm.com/our-fm-frequencies/

Christmas FM is back tomorrow with presenters online, while it goes live on FM on the 28th November. So it is starting early again online this year, just like last year!

Has anyone here on Gubu listened to Christmas FM? There has been a lot more mentions of it on Boards.ie, admittedly mainly in the Christmas Forum rather than the Radio forum!

I was watching an episode of Top of the Pops from November 1991 yesterday on BBC4. It included a performance of Cliff Richard's Christmas song for 1991, called We Should Be Together (Christmas is mentioned frequently in the song). It is more of a romantically themed Christmas song than his previous years' Christmas songs - Mistletoe and Wine and Saviour's Day. Perhaps because it stalled in the UK at Number 10, unlike the other two which got to Number 1, it seems to have been forgotten about. I think I barely heard it before myself. I think it is worth a play on Christmas FM, as it is refreshing after the countless plays of Mistletoe and Wine, in particular, but both of the other two on music channels. We Should be Together is a pleasant little ditty!

There you go

No not one of his best.

The Continental Op wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:25 pm No not one of his best.

I never really was mad about Mistletoe and Wine and have grown to really dislike it over the years. I don't mind Saviour's Day - it has a different kind of melodic feel to it, although the lyrics can be hard to take for a pop song. However, We Should be Together is a novelty, because it has never got much airplay and it is very different, in terms of lyrics. I think the tune is okay, anyway!

Christmas FM have started testing on their FM frequencies in the last few days ahead of their official launch tomorrow at midday.

Its official FM launch got a mention on Virgin Media News today. Long-standing presenter Keith Shanley was interviewed as was one of its co-founders Walter Hegarty. Both were wearing Christmas jumpers! An unnamed female was also interviewed.

I earlier heard two radio veterans presenting on the station: Mike Moloney and Roger Lane.

As well as being on various FM frequencies around the country and being online, Christmas FM is now available on channel 900 on Virgin Media's digital tv platform.

I heard that new song by Ed Sheeran and Elton John - Merry Christmas - today on Christmas FM. My expectations had been very low when I first happened to stumble across it by chance on a music channel last night. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised - I'm not a big Ed Sheeran fan in particular, and I don't always like Elton's stuff, including his perennial Step into Christmas! I can see it becoming a fixture in their Christmas list.

Anybody listen to this year's FM run? It is finishing up this evening. But it will still be available online.