Holiday PPMs: Most Christmas Stations Underperforming Vs. A Year Ago.

If Santa looked at the top-five-ranked stations flipping to all-Christmas in the 20 non-embedded markets reporting on Days 1 and 2 of Nielsen’s Holiday survey PPMs — covering Dec.11-Jan. 7 — he might say, “Ho, Ho… Oh.”

While seven stations making the switch saw share increases from both the Holiday 2024 and December 2025 surveys, 12 stations only got that lift from December. It’s worth noting that five of these stations were in markets where more than one station switched from its regular format to all-Christmas.

Here are the markets where Santacasters grew share both ways: Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Phoenix, Tampa, San Diego and St. Louis.

For Days 1 and 2 in these 20 markets, the leaderboard shows 17 stations gone all-Christmas, with 15 crowns for AC, one for soft AC and one for classic hits. For the remaining three markets, it’s one crown each for news/talk, all-news and soft AC.

For a 14th consecutive survey, Hubbard Radio all-news WTOP posts a double-digit share, as it marks its seventh straight victory. Moving into second place is iHeartMedia AC WASH, powered by its all-Christmas flip, and also in the double-digit region for first time since the Holiday 2023 survey. With a 10.1 share, WASH is up 16.1% from both a year ago and the December book.

With its move to all-Christmas, Audacy AC “Magic 106.7” widens its lead over Beasley Media Group’s “98.5 The Sports Hub” WBZ-FM, from 4.1 share points in the December survey to 7.2. “Magic’s” up 31.1% from December, although off 12.3% year-over-year. iHeart news/talk WBZ-AM moves up to third, while Audacy’s sports WEEI-FM and hot AC “Mix 104.1” WWBX tie for fourth.

The only Day 1 or 2 PPM market without a full-time all-Christmas station in the top five is led by one that certainly played a few of those during the survey period: CMG soft AC “Easy 93.1” WFEZ, ahead of its urban AC sister “Hot 105” WHQT by just 0.8. Audacy AC “101.5 Lite FM” WLYF, which featured all holiday music on weekends, places third, up from sixth in December’s survey.

Hubbard AC “Warm 106.9” KRWM takes over at the top with its move to all Christmas music, ending news/talk pubcaster KUOW-FM’s 12-survey win streak. “Warm” gains 16.8% in share from December, while off 1.8% year-over-year. Crista Media contemporary Christian “Spirit 105.3” KCMS’ switch to faith-based Christmas gives the station an added 1.4 share points to go from fifth to third, for a 25% lift.

iHeartMedia AC Christmas convert “99.9 K-EZ” KESZ digs in for a third survey at No. 1, taking an 11.2-point lead over Maricopa County Community College classical “K-Bach” KBAQ, which jumps from ninth to second, up 2.4 points. KESZ is up both ways, 20% from December’s book and 2.4% from Holiday 2024.

iHeartMedia AC WNIC’s Christmas playlist added 2.5 share points to its December survey delivery, to take a 7.1-point lead over Audacy sports “97.1 The Ticket” WXYT-FM. WNIC is up 20.5% from December, while off 21% on a year-over-year basis.

iHeartMedia classic hits-turned-all-Christmas “Kool 108” KQQL pulls away from sports sister “K-FAN” KFXN, taking a 4.7-point lead vs. its half-point edge in December’s survey. “Kool” is up 21.3% from December, while down 10.3% from last year’s Holiday book. Contemporary Christian pubcaster KTIS-FM, also gone all-Christmas, gains a share point to move from fourth to third, up 14.9%.

In the only Day 1 or 2 PPM market where all of the top three stations made the switch to holiday music, CMG soft AC “105.5 The Dove” WDUV remains on top, 2.7 share points up on Radio Training Network contemporary Christian “The Joy FM” WCIE, holding at second, with iHeartMedia AC “Mix 100.7” WMTX up from fourth to third. For each, here’s the change from December 2025 and Holiday 2024, respectively: WDUV, up 20.9% and down 11.3%; WCIE, down 2.3% and up 53.6%; and WMTX, up 27.7% and 22.4%.

Yes, it was another year of all-Christmas songs for Bonneville AC KOSI, but it’s business as usual as that station racks up its 11th consecutive victory. KOSI’s up 11% from the December survey while underperforming vs. Holiday 2024, down 4.7%. Audacy classic rock “99.5 The Mountain” KQMT still ranks second, 6.5 points in back of KOSI, while Audacy urban adult hits "KS107.5" KQKS leaps from a tie for 14th to a three-way knot for fourth.

In its all-Christmas phase during the Holiday survey, Audacy AC KYXY stays ahead of classic hits sister “Sunny 98.1” KXSN, as it adds 2.6 more share points for a 23.4% increase from December 2025, while also up 23.4% year-over-year. At the other end of the top five, Grupo Imagen Spanish hot AC “Radio Latina 104.5” XLTN makes a rare showing in the region with a 1.5 share gain.

With its annual flip to all-Christmas, Audacy AC “Today’s 101.9” WLIF returns to the top spot for the first time since the 2024 Holiday survey, with a 2.4-share-point advantage over Urban One urban AC “Magic 95.9” WWIN-FM, ending its 11-book winning streak. WLIF sees a 28.9% lift from December, while off 8.7% year over year.

Audacy AC-gone-all-Christmas KEZK hits a 10-year high in the annual Holiday survey with a 17.6 share, up 32.3% from December and 1.1% from a year ago. As a result, KEZK’s lead over Hubbard rocker KSHE moves from just half a share point in December’s survey to 4.7 in Holiday 2025. Meanwhile, the other Christmas flipper in the top five, Gateway Creative contemporary Christian “99.1 Joy FM” KLJY, moves from fifth to third, up a full share point for a 17.5% boost.