Blog Posts

Scheduling Update

12/15/2017

Hi All!

Sorry for the short notice, but we have a scheduling update for this weekend (and next weekend)!

Wolfman Jack's Christmas Party, a two-hour Christmas special that Wolfman Jack hosted, featuring some of his own holiday thoughts and skits, along with some of his favorite seasonal songs, will air Saturday at 10:00pm (Eastern) as originally scheduled.

It will air again on Sunday at 7:00pm (Eastern).

Leading up to Wolfman Jack's Christmas Party this Saturday is a very special treat from Casey Kasem. We'll be airing Casey's original Christmas Countdown from 1971, featuring the top forty Christmas songs of all time (at least up until that point).

Casey's 1971 Christmas Countdown will air again on Sunday evening at 9:00pm (Eastern).

And next weekend, we'll have another Countdown for you. Casey will count down the top Christmas songs once again, but this time, it's from 2005! You can catch this one Saturday and Sunday, starting at 6:00pm (Eastern).

Hope you get the chance to enjoy these fun shows! And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

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Wolfman Jack and Christmas Countdowns

12/14/2017

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Hi All!

We're very excited to be adding some fun shows for this weekend!

First, we invited you to Wolfman Jack's Christmas Party! This is a two-hour Christmas special that Wolfman Jack hosted, featuring some of his own holiday thoughts and skits, along with some of his favorite seasonal songs!

You can tune in to Wolfman Jack's Christmas party Saturday night at 10:00pm (Eastern). And if you aren't able to catch it this weekend, we'll be airing it again next Saturday at 7:00pm (Eastern).

Leading up to Wolfman Jack's Christmas Party this Saturday is a very special treat from Casey Kasem. We'll be airing Casey's original Christmas Countdown from 1971, featuring the top forty Christmas songs of all time (at least up until that point).

You can tune in to the Christmas Countdown this Saturday at 7:00pm (Eastern). We'll air it again next Saturday at 9:00pm (Eastern), so you'll have another chance to catch it next weekend!

And this Sunday, we'll have another Countdown for you. Casey will count down the top Christmas songs once again, but this time, it's from 2005! You can catch this one Sunday starting at 6:00pm (Eastern). And we'll air it one more time, next Sunday at the same time!

Hope you get the chance to enjoy these fun shows! And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

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Ryanhood and Lance Gaglon

12/5/2017

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Hi All!

We just finished moving the Sounds of Christmas to a new platform. Live365 didn't allow listeners from outside of the U.S., so we moved somewhere else, and now anyone can listen, anywhere in the whole world!

Right now, you can tune in by clicking on our tree on the front page. Hopefully, our app will be available soon (free) in the Google Play and Apple Stores.

We also are so excited to welcome two new members of the Sounds of Christmas family - Ryanhood and Lance Gaglon. They join Rick Lang, Classical Blast, Laurie Berkner, Katie Garibaldi and Kenny Davies in helping keep the Sounds of Christmas up and running.

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this very early part of the season with us!
And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

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The Sounds of Christmas 2017

11/20/2017

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We’re back!

Christmas music officially began on the Sounds of Christmas a couple weeks ago. I know not everyone was ready for it, and you may still not be ready for it, but whenever you are, we’re up and rolling and ready for you!

Things are a little different once again this year. Live 365 is back, under new ownership. I'm not sure if you really need to know that, but for those that like to ask how it all works, there's your answer.

If you're listening in the United States, you really won't notice a difference. Just click on the tree on the front page of our site, and a player will pop up. If you'd prefer to listen on your phone, table or other device, just grab the Live 365 app (free in the Apple and Google Play stores). Open the app, and search for Sounds of Christmas.

Since Live 365 has just returned (with no owners and management), they're still working the kinks out of things. Most noticeable of these is for those listeners outside of the United States. If you click on our tree on the front page and try to listen through that pop-up player, you'll get a notice that Live 365 stations are not yet available in your country. The only solution I've been able to come up with is to pass along a direct link to our stream, which should allow you to listen from anywhere. Just click HERE and you'll go to a mostly blank page that is our stream. Click the play icon and you can listen. It's not an ideal solution, but it may be all we're able to do this year.

I’d like to thank the wonderful artists that have helped us get rolling as we cruise along in our eleventh season – Rick Lang, Classical Blast, Laurie Berkner, Katie Garibaldi and Kenny Davies.

By the way, you can find each of them on our front page, with links to their websites (or where you can grab their latest holiday release). Please check them out when you get a chance, especially when you hear their music this season!

As of right now, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to do some of the things we have done in previous years. At the moment, Live 365 doesn't have the mechanism to let you vote on songs, so we may not be able to do weekly top ten lists. I’ll let you know for sure as soon as I can, so check back!

I also don’t know if we’ll be able to do our special daily hours, including the request hour and the new music hour. Again, please check back and I’ll let you know as soon as I can!

We are bringing back a Thanksgiving tradition - "Alice's Restaurant"! This Thursday, at 2:00pm (Eastern), we'll be airing the latest version of Arlo Guthrie's song, a recently-released 50th anniversary edition! This will be the only airing of it this year, so if it's been part of your Thanksgiving tradition, I hope you can tune in!

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this very early part of the season with us!
And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

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This Is Halloween

10/10/2017

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Like most families, Halloween and Christmas are big at our house. Lisa and the kids are on the Halloween side, while I'm with Santa.

I learned long ago not to try and convert any of them. I think what happened at Disneyland once illustrates it best. In one of the studios at California Adventure, you can use this machine to determine which hero or villain you are.

I was Tarzan. All three of them were villains.

Oh, well. They love me, anyway.

So as we move through October, I'm in a mad rush to get my Christmas station ready to go. I turned it on early again this year, and I'm featuring Halloween songs up until November 1. Mostly, it's just for my family, while I kick the tires and otherwise make sure everything is set to go for the coming season. But I've found there are a lot of people that love Halloween, too, so I've expanded the playlist and hope you have a good time with the Sounds of Halloween.

This year, I'm planning to continue something I started last year, a little something extra for Halloween fans - War Of The Worlds!

On Monday night, October 30th, at approximately 7:00pm (Eastern), I'll be playing the original broadcast from 1938 of "War Of The Worlds" as performed by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre On The Air.

That will be followed by Jeff Wayne's updated version of his musical adaptation of "War Of The Worlds" (which features Gary Barlow from Take That, Joss Stone and Liam Neeson).

And on Halloween night at approximately 7:00pm (Eastern), I'll be playing Jeff Wayne's original musical adaptation of "War Of The Worlds" from 1978, which featured Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, David Essex and Richard Burton.

Every year when I do play Halloween music in the run up to the new season of the Sounds of Christmas, I get messages from people asking what exactly is Halloween music. The answer is anything having to do with Halloween, including scary things like ghosts and monsters, creepy stories and songs about trick-or-treating or candy.

Here's an example, the last dozen songs that played while I wrote this...

The Beach Boys "Monster Mash"
Echo and the Bunnymen "People Are Strange"
The Duponts "Screamin' Ball (at Dracula Hall)"
The Puppini Sisters "Spooky"
Cab Calloway and His Orchestra "The Ghost of Smokey Joe"
The Alan Parsons Project "The Raven"
Sofia Carson "Rotten To The Core"
The Buoys "Timothy"
Five Man Electrical Band "Werewolf"
Tom Petty "Zombie Zoo"
Lewis Lee "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes"
Santana "Black Magic Woman"

Are you getting in the spirit? For either of these holidays? I'm going to continue to try and prepare for both, as I munch on this candy cane while trying to figure out where Lisa hid the Halloween candy...

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Christmas Canon

4/6/2017

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We lose people all the time. I don’t say that to be flippant or unfeeling, but it is a sad fact of life.

This past year, on the Sounds of Christmas, I paid special tribute to artists that have passed away with special In Memoriam weekends. I don’t typically post about this kind of thing, other than a video on our Facebook page. Most singers and bands are known for their entire catalog of music, and their Christmas release or releases are usually a small part of that.

But that’s not really the case with Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Paul O’Neill, the mastermind behind TSO, passed away this week; he was only 61. He wrote, arranged and produced nearly everything that Trans-Siberian Orchestra ever did. By many accounts, 2016 was their most successful year, as they toured in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their first album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories.

While Christmas music only made up about half of what they’ve recorded and released, it’s still what they’re primarily known for. And since their tours were almost exclusively in November and December, this fact was hardly lost on them.

A singer or band that is mostly known for their Christmas music is very rare. Most artists don’t want to be thought of that way. Sadly, many of our most cherished performers from that past are only now heard when their holiday tunes get played on the radio.

While Paul had written, recorded and produced other works with TSO, and had plans for more, their initial success with their Christmas trilogy cemented their place in musical history. Never before had such a band exploded on the scene, launching into arenas instead of the usual route of smaller clubs. They were one of the top ten ticket-selling bands for the first decade of the 21st century.

As of this writing, I don’t know if the band will continue to tour under other guidance and direction. I feel very fortunate that I was able to see Paul’s band, more than once, during their Christmas tours. While I never got to meet him, he was kind enough to email me back, answering some questions and talk about the possibility of advertising on my station.

I’m grateful for the music he shared, and I look forward to playing plenty of it on the Sounds of Christmas, as I have before.

And the question Paul probably got most often was where the name for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra came from.

“In the 1980s I was fortunate enough to have visited Russia. If anyone has ever seen to Siberia, it is incredibly beautiful but incredibly harsh and unforgiving, as well. The one thing that everyone who lives there has in common, that runs across it in relative safety, is the Trans-Siberian Railway. Life, too, can be incredibly beautiful but also incredibly harsh and unforgiving, and the one thing that we all have in common that runs across it in relative safety, is music. It was a little bit overly philosophical, but it sounded different, and I like the initials, TSO.”

Rest in Peace, Paul. And thank you so much for the music!

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What's Next

2/27/2017

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Hi All!

I am officially building my next online radio station.

For the last ten years, I’ve run the Sounds of Christmas, not just to play the hits, as traditional radio does, but to also play so much more from the rich and varied canon of available holiday music. Everyone plays Bing’s “White Christmas” but what about the dozens of other Christmas songs he recorded?

I’m going to take that basic philosophy to another segment of music that is getting overlooked.

I have just partnered with a group that manages senior living, assisted living and memory care communities all over the country. I’ll be creating an exclusive online station for them that caters to their residents, featuring the music of the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s – music that traditional radio stations completely ignore. In fact, my local oldies station rarely plays anything that goes back to the 1970’s. Their most recently-played “throwback” song was Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”.

I’ve been moved by the work that’s been done (and continues to be done) by the folks at Music and Memory, as they use music to help those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia regain themselves and their memory. If you’re not familiar with them, please check out this recent PSA from Elvis Costello...

You can also find our more about Music And Memory at their website here --> musicandmemory.org/.

I am not connected to that fine organization, and am not trying to align myself with them and their work. What I’m doing is simply trying to provide much-loved music to an important segment of our society that, all too often, gets cast aside.

I’m hopeful that this first station, once it’s up and running, will lead to many more. And if you know of an organization you think might be interested, please let me know!

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Changes

1/26/2017

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Unfortunately, the Sounds of Christmas is temporarily off the air.

I apologize. I had hoped to keep it on year-round. In fact, I still hope to. We will definitely be back this Fall. I hope that we'll actually be back on sooner than that. We just need to find a new home (and get everything transferred over).

I have severed my ties with SonixCast over what I believe to be dishonest, and amateurish, practices. I won't be posting details, but I strongly advise anyone considering using their services to think twice about it. If you have questions, feel free to contact me.

We are in talks with other services, and once they have been properly vetted, we will announce our new home and turn the station back on.

Thank you for your continued support! And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

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Thank You

1/1/2017

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Thank you.

I've been so excited to be able to run the Sounds of Christmas these past ten seasons, and I had to start this off thanking you for listening - whether you just found us this year, or you've been listening all along, or you're somewhere in the middle. I am so grateful that I was able to spend at least part of the holiday season with you!

For years, people have been asking us to stay on year-round. While we've been fortunate enough to have a growing audience over the last decade, I didn't really think there would be many who would really listen to a Christmas music station throughout the year.

Then I watched "A Christmas Carol" again, as I try to do at least once every December. And this part really struck a chord with me.

So we're going to do it. Instead of signing off after Epiphany this week, we're going to stay on year-round.

I'm sure there are some who will scoff at this. There might even be a few who are really annoyed at the idea of Christmas music all year long.

My hope, though, is that whenever you feel like you could use a dose of Christmas spirit, you'll remember that we're still on.

And if you like what we do, and feel so moved that you'd like to help, we'd be happy to have your financial support to help keep us going! You can just click below for our Paypal account, and put whatever you can or whatever you want to in our virtual hat!

I would like to also thank the artists that advertised this year, helping to get us on, and keep us on, for this tenth season! I'm adding links to each of their names, so you can click on any you like to check out their music (and if you're so moved, pick up a copy or download tracks).

Thanks to all in our Class of 2016, including Scott Taylor and everyone at Fetal Records, Louis Colaiannia and Brittany Dymond, Lauren Daigle, Jenny and Tyler, Kenny Davies, Frank Shiner, Israel, Laurie Berkner, Katie Garibaldi, the NOLA Players, Olivia Lane, Kevin Virnelson, Classical Blast, Dawn Foss, Danny Wright, the Laurence Juber Trio and David Markham and Truth Infusion Worship.

If you click on LINKS above, you'll also see all the artists that got us here. You can also click on any of them to check out their music (or books)!

And if you click on FRIENDS up above, you'll see some of the causes we support. You can find out more about each of them by simply clicking on their picture.

Thanks again for listening. I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year. May 2017 bring you all you hope for and more!

And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

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Coming In 2017

12/21/2016

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Hi All!

Exciting changes are on the way, and you can be a part of it!

SOC Music is about to become a hub for several new online radio stations. Some of these will follow formats, slightly similar to traditional radio stations, though much bigger in scope. And some will focus on a particular artist or group.

As we get ready to launch our new stations, we're offering two ways you can advertise and promote yourself, your brand and/or your music!

First, you can advertise. Through the end of next week, we'll be offering a special ad rate for anyone interested in advertising across all of our new stations.

The other way is to have your own station, playing nothing but your music! This will come with a dedicated website and an app (so fans can listen on their mobile devices).

For more details on either option, send me an email at ken @ soundsofchristmas.com (without the spaces)!

Looking forward to an exciting 2017, and hope you can be a part of it!

Ken

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Scheduling Update

Wolfman Jack and Christmas Countdowns

Ryanhood and Lance Gaglon

The Sounds of Christmas 2017

This Is Halloween

Christmas Canon

What's Next

Changes

Thank You

Coming In 2017

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