All right. This is getting out of hand. Someone needs to notify the moderator.
The purpose of my post was not to reminisce about crappy songs but to discuss why they are no longer played. Is it some sort of conspiracy. Are we subtly being inculcated with political correctness? Is religion slowly being sucked from the airwaves? What type of censorship is this and why is it occurring?
The answer to your question is rather complex.
Up until the 1930's, most Christmas songs heard on the radio were hymns and gospel songs such as "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night." By the mid-1930's, non-religious songs such as "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "Winter Wonderland" began to get airplay, and starting in the early 1940's, new Christmas songs by singers such as Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, etc. started to come out every year. This would continue until 1963, which saw the release of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Paper," Allen Sherman's "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas," Phil Spector's album "A Christmas Gift for You," etc.
For some reason, new Christmas songs by pop artists slowed to a trickle after 1963. Social and political turmoil, Beatlemania "acid rock," etc. may have diminished the public's interest in Christmas songs. Interestingly, one of the big Christmas hits from this period was Stevie Wonder's political tirade, "Someday at Christmas" (1968), a far cry from Andy Williams' "Do You Hear What I Hear?" from just six years earlier.
In recent years I have heard some new Christmas music by groups such as Mannheim Steamroller--but then again, there's that stupid song about a woman's encounter with a caribou that we have to endure every Christmas season.
Nonetheless, I am amazed at some of the songs I have been hearing in malls, department stores, eating places and supermarkets. For five decades, Eartha Kitt"s "Santa Baby" wasn't played anywhere, but nowadays, one can expect to hear it several times each Christmas season. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear "Hey, Santa Claus" by the Moonglows, once considered a highly sought-after collector's item, while eating at a restaurant.
Local favorites and snicker songs are purged in favor of songs that are popular and "uncontroversial".
No conspiracy, just a desire to avoid trouble.
Example, my local country station used to play, on opening day "Second Week of Deer Camp" by Da Yoopers. But the brass made them stop. Why? It seemed that the station was now on line and heard all over the world and our local humor was not going over well everywhere.
So it got dropped.
Mostly.
The Morning DJ's still hum the opening bars on opening day but they can't play the song.
Some guy listening in East Juhunga might be offended.