The official Christmas FM thread

Yep last year they were around the 300k mark (or maybe even a little under) and we said then it would be a big ask to hit the overall 1m target across the 3 years. I wonder had hey hoped to get back on track and be at 660k after 2 years or just aim for 330k? We'll find out soon enough I suppose.

Good question.

How many people would cop it though? I know we donated 3 figures to both this year and even we never put much thought into the charities themselves. I genuinely never copped both were for the same charities.

If they fail to hit the 3 year target I reckon that strategy will be dropped and they'll return to a different charity year on year.

In fact I reckon they'll do that anyway.

I know I've said it a few times but I would love to see their figures for Jan - Oct. Pure curiosity of how many people are listening to Christmas FM online , and I mean the proper one not the classical one!

I wouldn't underestimate the amount of people that log in reasonably regularly for a listen. Even if it's just for a few minutes at a time.

Suspect Christmas FM will have the larger audience once it launches. The heavily driven charity element will make it hard to match imo.

324k raised.

On a slightly more anorak note...

I believe that is Paul Shepard, one of the owners, in the red cardigan. I think that the person third from the left holding the cheque is Katie Harrington, (not the boxer!). Does anyone know who any of the others in the photo are?

I think the cost of living the last 2 Christmas's has seen charity donations down across the board (heard something along those lines on newstalk only last week) so unless something spectacular happens its a fair old sum to make up. Though I suspect they'll get close enough to it even if they do just miss out.

Either way for a station that's only on the FM airwaves for 30 days it's still a fabulous achievement to raise as much as they do for charity.

True.

Many will be stuck in higher fixed rate terms now though. I know loads who panicked & locked in long term fixed rates that will stay high when the cuts do come. That cost wont be diminishing for everyone, not in the short term anyway.

Anyway, things getting more expensive has always been the way of things, thats not likely to change in my lifetime either.

I'd start the online DJ's as per normal from Nov.1st (I know they start anyway, but the presence is nowhere near as strong as when live on FM) & start the fundraising at that point also. It might be a small amount up until the live launch but every little helps.

Though I appreciate getting the DJ's in that early may be an issue

Random countdown stat.....

43 weeks today is FM launch day for Christmas FM.

Its weird, despite January flying by it feels longer than 5 weeks since the FM broadcast finished up.

WFH today & feeling a little down in the dumps so stuck on Christmas FM classical to try & cheer myself up a little (It being my usual go-to when in need of cheering up) and nope, still too early for me. Christmas might feel longer than 6 weeks ago now but still not long enough to really get any buzz from even the classical music.

Will leave it another few weeks now.

Would love to give it a go myself, but just don't have the time unfortunately.