It is, after all, that time of year

About three hundred radio stations nationwide have adopted temporary Christmas-music formats, and it's really not hard to understand why: it's different from the Same Old Stuff they put out 11/12ths of the time, and the playlists don't seem quite so restricted. Everybody and his elf has put out some sort of Christmas record — the Beatles recorded special seasonal stuff for their fan club — and while the hardy perennials still command their share of airplay, there's something new every year. Some acts seem to aim directly at the Christmas market. (I am, in fact, typing this while listening to the first Trans-Siberian Orchestra disc, Christmas Eve & Other Stories; thank you, Aero.)

That said, though, can we issue a fatwa against José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad"? I don't object at all to Spanish-language Christmas songs, but why is it always this one? Whoever is running the database for these things — oh, come now, everyone knows that computers program radio these days — needs to do some homework in the off-season.