The Sounds of Christmas, my online Christmas music station, is up and running!

In fact, we already have listeners in 46 states, Washington DC and 45 other countries!

I realize that, with just over a week to go before Thanksgiving (here in the U.S.), not everyone is ready for Christmas music.  That's fine.  We'll be ready and waiting for you when you are!

For those who are ready, just click on this tree to go to the Sounds of Christmas website, where you can listen for free (and even pop the player up out of the page, so you can listen while you do other stuff online).

I know there are lots of radio stations all over that go "All Christmas" this time of year.  And they tend to play the same hundred songs over and over, which is one of the main reasons so many people say they're sick of Christmas music before the first of December!

Well, I have loaded almost two thousand songs into the station (so far), and there's plenty more to come.  You'll get more from Bing than just "White Christmas, more from Nat "King" Cole than just "The Christmas Song" and more from Mannheim Steamroller than just "Deck The Halls".

Plus, lots of new music, including the Polyphonic Spree, Scotty McCreery, Richard Kincaid, Judy Pancoast, Rod Stewart, Cee Lo Green, August Burns Red, Celtic Woman, Christina Perri, Colbie Caillat, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Rita Collidge, the Backstreet Boys, Chris Mann, Lady Antebellum, the Civil Wars, Blake Shelton, the Empty Pockets, Cheap Trick, Fun, Jim Brickman, Kem, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mikey Wax, Norah Jones, Olivia Newton-John (with John Travolta), Richard Marx, Tracey Thorn, Steven Curtis Chapman the Shins, Dropkick Murphy's, Rick Braun, Jason Castro and Paul McCartney!  To name a few.

Here's what I listened to on the Sounds of Christmas as I typed this...

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy "Christmas Is Starting Now"
Commodores "Deck The Halls"
Pat Boone "Old Fashioned Christmas"
Barry Manilow "(There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays"
My Chemical Romance "All I Want For Christmas Is You"
Bobby Vee "Blue Christmas"
AgesandAges "We Need A Little Christmas"
Mariah Carey "Charlie Brown Christmas"
Dennis DeYoung "When I Hear A Christmas Song"
Carpenters "Do You Hear What I Hear"
Slim Jim Phantom "Christmas Tree Boogie"

So if you love Christmas music, I hope you'll tune in!  And if you know someone who loves Christmas music, please send them my way!

Especially if they live in Alaska, Delaware, Maine or Wyoming (those are the four states I need to have all of America listening)!

Thanks so much!  And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

Now that the Sounds of Christmas is up and running, I'm trying to take care of all the behind-the-scenes things.

One of the questions I get a lot if about apps.  Nice to know people want to take me with them!

The easiest thing to do is to go to your favorite app store and just search Live 365.  It's a free app for your i-Phone, i-Pad, i-etc. as well as Android and other devices.

Once you have them installed, just search for the Sounds of Christmas.  It really is that easy.

By the way, I held off mentioning this until I had a chance to test drive it myself.  It worked flawlessly!  I used it while out doing laps, and this was in an area where I frequently have interruptions when I use Rhapsody and  Amazonmp3.  No stalls or interruptions from the Live 365 app.

I've used it several times since that initial test drive, and have yet to have a problem.  One of the times I opened it, my phone freaked out and froze, but I just uninstalled and reinstalled it and everything was fine.  I also got rid of another app that was enormous and has caused other problems before, so I'm inclined to think this had nothing to with the Live 365 app, anyway.

You can check out the details of the apps by clicking either of those pics above.  I'm so glad we have access to them this year, so you can listen on the go, or even in the car if you have one of those thingies that let you hook up your device to your car stereo.  Didn't mean to get all technical on you but I think you know what I mean.

Anyway, here's what I heard through my Live 365 app, streaming the Sounds of Christmas, as I wrote this...

Ann and Nancy Wilson "Here Is Christmas"
Ringo Starr "I Wanna Be Santa Claus"
Tina Lambert "Hark The Herald Angels Sing"
60's Invasion "Incense and Chia Pets"
Cee Lo Green "What Christmas Means'
X "Jingle Bells"
Kylie Minogue "Let It Snow"
Perry Como "There's No Christmas Like A Home Christmas"
Thee Fine Lines "We Will Be Happy On Christmas Day"
Dennis DeYoung "When I Hear A Christmas Song"
Chris Mann "White Christmas"
Pomplamoose "Always In The Season"

Details coming soon about giveaways and the return of the All-Request show!

In the meantime, thanks so much for listening!

And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken

Just so you know, since I run a Christmas station, a lot of the blogs over the next couple of months will be about the station, Christmas music and all other things Santa-related.

Like this one.

My station is the Sounds of Christmas, and if you're ready for Christmas music, you can listen right now, for free, right here.

We went live late on Halloween night, so I as I write this, we've been on for about two and a half days.  During that time, I've loaded up our first thousand songs.

We already have listeners in 34 states, plus Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, New Zealand and thirteen other countries (even China)!

There's lots more to do, and once I get the rest of it all set up and working, I'll have details about requests, special shows and our CD giveaway (courtesy of Scotty McCreery).

In the meantime, in lieu of a playlist today, here are the top ten highest-rated songs (so far) on the Sounds of Christmas...

1) Annie Lennon "Lullay Lullay (Coventry Carol)"
2) Burt Reynolds "Frosty the Snowman"
3) Bing Crosby "White Christmas"
4) Anna Wilson "Yule Swing"
5) A Fine Frenzy "Christmas Time Is Here"
6) Scotty McCreery "Holly Jolly Christmas"
7) Darlene Love with the Brian Setzer Orchestra "Sleigh Ride"
8) Faith Hill "Little Drummer Boy"
9) Hey Monday "Mixtape For Christmas"
10) Johnny Mathis "The Christmas Waltz"

I try to update our top ten once a week, and since I'm adding so much music, there's a good chance next week's list will look nothing like this one.  With luck, by then we'll have all the rest of the states and a lot more countries, too!

Ken

As we shift into what's really my time of year, things are getting crazy-busy!

I re-launched my Christmas station last night, kicking off the sixth season of the Sounds of Christmas.  By midnight, we already had listeners in five states, Canada and Bangladesh!

If you're ready for Christmas music, you can tune in now, for free!

Just click that tree to go to the Sounds of Christmas page.

If you're nursing a Halloween candy hangover, thinking you need to do something about what's left of the pumpkin on your porch, and really not ready for Christmas music, yet, I completely understand.  And whenever you are ready, we'll be ready for you!

If you do want to listen, you can click the little box in the upper right hand corner of the player on the Sounds of Christmas page, and the player will pop out, so you can listen while you check email, update Twitter and Facebook and otherwise surf around the internet.

As I load up the first thousand songs, here's what shuffled out of my latest playlist, which is made up of much of the new music I'm adding to the Sounds of Christmas this year...

The Cast of "A Christmas Story - The Musical" "A Kid At Christmas"
Rita Coolidge "Let It Snow"
Colbie Caillat "Christmas In The Sand"
The Polyphonic Spree "The Christmas Song"
Francesca Battistelli "Marshmallow World"
Fun "Sleigh Ride"
Trans-Siberian Orchestra "Dreams Of Fireflies (On A Christmas Night)"
Rod Stewart "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
Tracey Thorn "Sister Winter"
Soctty McCreery "Santa Claus Is Back In Town"
The Piano Guys "Where Are You Christmas"
Katherine Jenkins "Deck The Halls"
Christina Perri "Please Come Home For Christmas"
Mikey Wax "Catch The Midnight Flight"
Steven Curtis Chapman "Christmas Time Again"
Paul McCartney "The Christmas Song"
Celtic Woman "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
Empty Pockets "What Christmas Means To Me'

I'm really excited about this new season, and hope you can listen whenever you're ready for Christmas music!

And may you always believe in Santa Claus!

Ken