The number of Upper Midwest radio stations flipping to All-Christmas formats reached another new record high this year. The 2025 total was propelled by a half-dozen stations making the switch for the first time, several using the seasonal playlist to stunt, and existing services signing on several more stations since last year.
When did stations flip?
The season began slightly slower with four Upper Midwest stations going All-Christmas on Nov. 1, compared with nine flips on that day in 2024. But with Christmas conversions spread out over more than a dozen days in November, including some on seemingly random dates, the total number of All-Christmas stations in the region reached 58 before Thanksgiving. Turkey day and Black Friday added dozens more stations to the list, bringing the total to a new record high 156 by Dec. 11.
The biggest days for 2025 flips:
36 flips: Black Friday
33 flips: Thanksgiving (including many which changed over in the evening)
12 flips: Friday before Thanksgiving
12 flips: December 1
7 flips: First Friday of November
7 flips: Monday before Thanksgiving
6 flips: Day before Thanksgiving
Stations that flipped later
While the vast majority of stations made the changeover on approximately the same schedule as last year, there were some exceptions:
- iHeartMedia’s “Mix 96” (KMXG/96.1 Clinton-Quad Cities) flipped on the first Friday of November, about a week later than last year.
- Saga’s “104.1 EZ FM” (KOEZ Ames-Des Moines) flipped on the third Friday of November, about a week later than last year.
- Alpha Media’s “Mix 103.3” (KFRX-HD2 and K277CA Lincoln, Neb.) had flipped on Nov. 1 last year but waited until Nov. 15 this year.
- Leighton’s “104.3 Cities FM” (KZLT East Grand Forks, Minn.) flipped on the first Friday of November 2025. That was about a week later than last year, when it faced Christmas competition from a station that had just moved into the market. That station has not flipped this year.
- Audacy’s “Mix 105.1” (WMHX Waunakee-Madison) waited until Dec. 1 to change the playlist, a full month later than last year, ceding the early-Christmas audience to competing iHeart station “Rewind 92.1” (WXXM Sun Prairie-Madison). WXXM flipped on the first Friday of the month, the same as last year.
Stations that flipped earlier
A handful moved up their changeover dates by a few weeks this season:
- The new “Kelo FM” on 95.7 in the Sioux Falls market flipped on Nov. 3 to coincide with a move of the branding from its previous home on 101.9. The switchover was almost four weeks earlier than last year on 101.9. (95.7’s official callsign remains KQSF as of Dec. 4.)
- Magnum Media started Christmas playlists about two weeks earlier on three stations: WSJY/107.3 (Fort Atkinson-Madison) and “Mix 96.1 & 97.9” (WLXR Tomah-La Crosse) on Nov. 2, followed by “B102.9” (WBOO Baraboo) on Nov. 15.
- The new incarnation of the “B” Adult Contemporary format in Milwaukee, now heard on iHeart’s “B97.3” (WRNW), flipped to All-Christmas on Nov. 3. Milwaukee Radio Alliance’s “B93.3” (WLDB) had made the changeover on Nov. 15, 2024.
Stations stunting for the holidays
- “Santa Baby 1180” on KZOT (Bellevue-Omaha), which dropped its previous format just before Thanksgiving
- K259CZ/99.7 (Grand Island, Neb.), which originates on an HD subchannel of KRGI-FM, having broken away from its previous simulcast with KMTY/97.7 (Gibbon-Kearney)
- KAKK/1570 and K229DJ/93.7 (Walker, Minn.), which returned to the air after an eight-month silence
First-time flippers in 2025
- “100.5 The Hawk” (KDHK Decorah, Iowa)
- KOZY/1320 and K226CV/93.1 (Grand Rapids, Minn.)
- “The Bear” KGHS/1230 and W237EX/95.3 (International Falls, Minn.)
- KQAD/800 (Luverne, Minn.)
- KHAS/1230 and K281CW/104.1 (Hastings, Neb.)
- The HD2 channel of KHTZ/106.9 (Minot, N.D.), which switched to commercial broadcasting this year
- Prayz Network’s WEQH/88.3 (Harmony, Minn.) and WEQM/91.5 (Melrose, Wis.)
- KDNW satellite KDGR/88.1 (Grand Rapids, Minn.)
Markets without a major flip
Duluth, Green Bay, Waterloo, and Nebraska’s Tri-Cities (Kearney, Grand Island, and Hastings) are again the only rated markets without a full-power commercial FM station carrying the seasonal format. Duluth, Green Bay, and Waterloo have non-commercial Christian FM stations playing All-Christmas. Waterloo and Grand Island also have HD subchannel-fed translators carrying All-Christmas, while Hastings has an AM station and FM translator making their first-time flip.
Familiar online issues
The same minor issues with stations’ online presence seem to pop up every year. Some stations list a playlist on their website that doesn’t match what they’re playing on the air. At others, the playlist stops updating when they flip over. Some change their website over to the Christmas theme days before they actually make the change on the air. Some never acknowledge the change on their website or their social media feeds, and figuring out when they flipped is impossible after the fact.
How is the total computed?
There are some judgement calls that must be made when compiling this list. To maintain consistency, I try to follow the same criteria every year. Some of the factors include:
- Stations are not listed if they switch less than a week before Christmas.
- Stations don’t count if they only go All-Christmas on the weekend.
- Stations which run formats mixing music and talk are included as long as all of the musical elements of their format are switched to All-Christmas.
- Exceptions are granted for weekend specialty shows.
- Translators are only listed if they are relaying an AM station or an HD subchannel, which is indicated in the notes column. They are listed as one station.
- Full-power stations serving the same market area are listed as one station. Specifically, this includes the “Love 105” trimulcast in the Twin Cities and WEVR in River Falls.
- Full-power satellite stations extending a format’s reach to an additional market area are listed as separate stations.
- The list includes the Upper Midwest region covered by this website: Iowa, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the bordering provinces of Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. (There’s only one Canadian station on the list this year.)
Inevitably, some stations may missed. The numbers above have already been updated twice and may be tweaked as more information becomes available. In some cases, I’ve updated prior-year lists upon learning that a station was missing or that a date was incorrect. If you see a missing station, please email [email protected].