Season’s greetings to one and all!
In all the years that I spun jazz and blues tunes as a volunteer DJ for Northstate Public Radio, I always enjoyed including holiday songs in my December playlists. Not wanting to overdo the festive tuneage all month long, I would start gradually after Thanksgiving with a song or two per episode and then gradually ramp up to a nearly all holiday song playlist in my last program before Christmas.
An example of this is my Christmas “Evening Jazz” episode from Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, as you can see in the provided playlist below from Spotify:
Thanks to an old playlist database that I saved, I was able to find the tracks from that evening to share in time for Christmas 2025. There are two song substitutions because Spotify didn’t have the tracks for “Feliz Navidad” by New York Latin Jazz All Stars or Al Jarreau’s version of “Celebrate Me Home.”
The 94-minute playlist for a 120-minute program is interesting to me because I didn’t think my breaks for song recaps, public service announcements and other continuity were too long, but it comes out to my speaking for about 11 minutes per hour (not counting the five-minute NPR newsbreak at 9:01 p.m.). Apparently, that’s slightly less time than the time used for shorter ad breaks on commercial radio. Although I would hope my information was more useful than ads, my focus was always on giving listeners the most music possible.
It was also a two-hour episode instead of the regular three as Friday shows began with a national program (like “Piano Jazz”). The shorter shows definitely pushed me to focus the playlist a little more.
This playlist reflects a moment in time as I tried to pick songs that I felt fit the season. Some of the tunes were newer and perhaps don’t stand the test of time but were selected because they sounded good to me in the moment or just to add some variety.
Other songs, like anything from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” are standards or are variations on classic tunes that mixed things up in a fun fashion.
I also have some non-traditional songs that I like throwing into a playlist because they spark joy. That includes “Hanging Up My Stocking” from the Squirrel Nut Zippers AND the original version of the track performed by the grandfather of the band’s drummer.
Ultimately, the holidays are a time to share comfort and joy with the family and friends in our lives. I hope that this holiday music playlist brings a little light into your celebrations.
