NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To celebrate its annual switch to festive music of the Christmas season across its stations nationwide, iHeartMedia today announced the new iHeartRadio Holiday Special, a virtual concert hosted by Mario Lopez. This 30-minute special event will feature Carrie Underwood, who released her first-ever Christmas album, My Gift, this year, and Josh Groban performing some of the most popular holiday classics, and will broadcast across iHeartMedia’s AC, HOT AC and Classic Hits stations nationwide and on the iHeartRadio app, and video stream iHeartRadio’s YouTube and Facebook pages on November 25 at 7pm local time. The event will also be available to watch in VR on the Venues app for Oculus Quest.
Every holiday season, iHeartMedia converts music radio stations in its key markets to all Christmas music through Christmas Day. Each year, these stations continue to have the largest audiences of all radio stations in each market – often doubling the audience size from non-holiday programming – making iHeartMedia the No. 1 holiday music listening destination.
This season, iHeartMedia’s annual station flip to Christmas music kicks off today, November 6 at 5pm local time, with more than 80 stations across the country broadcasting the season’s festive music from today’s biggest artists including Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé, Mannheim Steamroller as well as Holiday classics from Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and more around-the-clock.
“The anticipation and excitement surrounding our stations’ flip to Christmas music is a staple of the holiday season for our listeners across the country, and we are thrilled to celebrate this festive occasion with our first ‘iHeartRadio Holiday Special,’” said Tom Poleman, Chief Programming Officer for iHeartMedia. “Given all the country is going through, we know everyone needs the uplifting spirit of holiday music. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the sounds of the holiday season for our music fans than with an intimate performance from Carrie Underwood and Josh Groban across our stations and on Oculus and iHeartRadio’s Facebook and YouTube pages.”
Proud Sponsors of the iHeartRadio Holiday Special include TLC, with more to be announced.
About iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) is the number one audio company in the United States, reaching nine out of 10 Americans every month – and with its quarter of a billion monthly listeners, has a greater reach than any other media company in the U.S. The company’s leadership position in audio extends across multiple platforms, including more than 850 live broadcast stations in over 160 markets nationwide; through its iHeartRadio digital service available across more than 250 platforms and 2,000 devices; through its influencers; social; branded iconic live music events; other digital products and newsletters; and podcasts as the #1 commercial podcast publisher. iHeartMedia also leads the audio industry in analytics, targeting and attribution for its marketing partners with its SmartAudio product, using data from its massive consumer base. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.