Holiday Spirit Already Filling Airwaves Nationwide

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 21, 2006 -- Even though the holidays are officially a month away, radio stations across the country have already aired over 100,000 holiday tunes over the last 30 days (as of November 20), and are playing more each day leading up to Thanksgiving this week.

Mediaguide, owned by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), tracks radio airplay on over 2,500 stations across the U.S. Its current research reveals that over 80 American radio stations have already switched to 24/7 holiday music play lists.

Certain cities seemed to have decked their halls sooner than others in terms of their holiday-driven playlists. Leading the pack is Salt Lake City, UT, which has played over 4,500 holiday selections this month. Other festive markets include Detroit, MI, Columbus, GA, Chicago, IL and Kansas City, MO.

"It seems Santa Claus and all symbols of holiday cheer are coming to town earlier and earlier each year," says Steve Lubin, CEO of Mediaguide. "Mediaguide will be closely following these airplay trends, leveraging our proprietary audio fingerprinting technology to identify the nation's most popular songs throughout the holiday season."

One of the most-played songs since the end of October is Burl Ives's classic "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (written by Johnny Marks). Other often played songs over the past 30 days include Nat King Cole's rendition of "The Christmas Song" (written by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells), Bobby Helm's lively "Jingle Bell Rock" (written by Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe), and Brenda Lee's well-known "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (also written by Johnny Marks). ASCAP will release its annual list of the most performed holiday songs immediately after Thanksgiving.

Members of the press who would like to request a custom Mediaguide run of holiday song airplay on their region's radio stations can contact Kathleen Reynolds (CooperKatz for Mediaguide) at 212-455-8062 or kreynolds@cooperkatz.com.

About Mediaguide:

Mediaguide, which was launched in 2002, is a broadcast verification service, monitoring occurrences of music, advertising and speech, broadcast over all media in real-time. Today, Mediaguide provides the world's most comprehensive, accurate, timely, and reliable airplay data products. The company's information products, which span all media types, provide performers, publishers and the recording, advertising, radio, and television industries deep insight into what is being broadcast across America, in order to deliver better products that create broader consumer demand among audiences. Learn more about Mediaguide at www.mediaguide.com.