Christmas music playlist ranges from sacred to secular

Posted: 12/16/05

Christmas music playlist
ranges from sacred to secular

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–It's that time of year again, when Silent Night or Jingle Bells greets you as you turn on the radio, walk into a shopping mall or head down a city street.

What you hear–whether traditional and religious or secular and contemporary–depends on where you are and on careful planning by the programmers, retailers and musicians who bring it to your ears.

There's even an organization that studies these musical matters.

Last year, Media Monitors began tracking the songs played by the 50 all-Christmas stations in the top 50 markets between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And though no religious tunes were part of its top 10 list of songs played on the mostly secular stations, a spokesman estimates that as much as 25 percent of the radio stations' Christmas library “may be religious in nature.”

He noted, however, that this could mean 10 different versions of Away in a Manger.

According to Media Monitors, the religious song heard most on the stations was Do You Hear What I Hear? performed by Whitney Houston, said Tom Zarecki, spokesman for the broadcast monitoring service based in White Plains, N.Y. It was followed by Josh Groban's rendition of O Holy Night and Bob Seger's version of Little Drummer Boy.

While largely secular radio stations aren't likely to play back-to-back religious songs, he said, there's likely to be one or two an hour.

“All programmers want to do is reach as many people as possible,” Zarecki said. “I bet there's no programmer that would ever want to be accused of removing all religious songs from a holiday format, because somebody would notice that … and that would be just an example of bad programming.”

Dana McKelvey, an “audio architect” with the Muzak music delivery company, said more mainstream retailers and restaurants are asking for holiday songs with religious references.

“Past years, they were very conscious of the uses of 'Jesus,' 'Jesus Christ,' 'O Holy Night,' anything that was directly related to religion,” said McKelvey, whose company is based in Fort Mill, S.C. “And this year, they're becoming more open to allowing that to play in mainstream stores.”

Religious retailers are even more particular, she notes: “They don't want just instrumental Christmas songs. They want songs performed by Christian artists.”

While a Baptist bookstore or a Catholic university store might play more religious music, it's understandable that large stores frequented by people of many faiths will play fewer sacred tunes for their customers, said Daniel Butler of the Washington-based National Retail Federation.

“You want them all to enjoy being in the store, but you don't want anybody feeling alienated,” said Butler, the federation's vice president of merchandising and retail operations. “So you tend to go with music choices … that will have a broader appeal with the customer base.”

Starbucks coffeehouses are featuring three holiday CDs that are being played and sold in their stores. Most of the tunes–which range from Elton John's Christmas Party to a compilation titled Baby, It's Cold Outside–are of the Rudolph and Santa Claus variety. But the compilation CD ends religiously, with Barbra Streisand's Ave Maria. The coffee company's version of the Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas includes What Child Is This? and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

While collections targeted for a broad audience sometimes include religious songs, even the most devout have long enjoyed some not-so-sacred tunes.

Richard Holz, music director for the Salvation Army's Southern Territory, said about 5,000 brass ensembles play from a standardized collection of Christmas carols, performing at kettles and other locations between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In the last decade, when the The Salvation Army Carolers Favorites was updated, it included more secular songs.

“People enjoy hearing Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” said Holz, who plays tuba outside an Atlanta-area Sam's Club as well as at nursing homes. “You have these standards that you play that you mix in with the sacred carols.”

Christian radio, too, delves beyond the religious regulars.

“We do not ex-clude the more, if you will, fun titles, less-religious titles,” said Chuck Finney, the national program director for Salem Communica-tions' 13 contemporary Christian music stations. “But we play the ones that are consistent morally with the true meaning of Christ-mas.”

So, between The First Noel and Mary, Did You Know? a listener might hear Have a Holly Jolly Christmas or White Christmas.

“We wouldn't play Santa Baby,” he said, referring to the sultry song performed by Eartha Kitt.

Ace Collins, author of Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, said a range of offerings–from O Holy Night to Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer–may be the most appropriate way to usher in the holiday.

“I think that's fair,” he said. “I think each of those songs brings to life the fabric of the season.”