Pittsburgh-Area Radio Station Already Playing Christmas Music

WEST MIDDLESEX, PA — Barely a week into autumn, a station near Pittsburgh has flipped its format and begun to play nothing but Christmas songs. WWIZ-FM is now billing itself as "Christmas 104" and will be until the holiday actually occurs nearly three months from now.

"With the year we’ve had, we decided that we could all use a little Christmas, " the station announced on its website. "And the sooner the better."

"Some say it’s too early to start playing Christmas music. Between us, we would have started back in March if we could (have). Think of it as our way of speeding up the end of 2020."

The Christmas songs began playing as temperatures in the Pittsburgh area on Monday approached 80 and no chance of snow in the National Weather Service's seven-day forecast.

WWIZ, which typically plays oldies, did not flip to a Christmas format last year until nearly Halloween.

Two Pittsburgh radio stations -3WS and WISH - traditionally flip to Christmas music as well, though never this early.