Ding dong merrily on air for champion of seasonal staples

"Apologies to anyone who's getting breakthrough from Xmas FM. It's a network problem apparently. Trying to sort it out," tweeted RTÉ's Morning Ireland yesterday morning as people tuning into the most-listened to programme on Irish radio received "bleed" from Christmas FM.

The station was in testing mode earlier this week ahead of its launch today, as it returns for a sixth year.

Alongside ubiquitous festive hits by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, Wham! and Mariah Carey, co-founder Garvan Rigby says Christmas FM champions new recordings of seasonal staples and makes sure "Irish artists get a chance to get their songs on air" and seeks out "the best version of each song".

Although “crooners” get a look-in later in the evening, the station’s daytime playlist tends to favour more uptempo fare.

More maudlin efforts such as The Christmas Shoes by NewSong – about a young boy trying to buy shoes on Christmas Eve for his terminally ill mother – tend to get a mixed response. "That song is one our listeners either love or hate," says Rigby.

The station is funded by sponsors, which this year are Centra, Vodafone and the Irish Daily Mail, and raises money and awareness for charitable causes via listener texts and donations.

This year's chosen charity is Aware, the national organisation that provides support and information to people with depression.

Rigby and his fellow volunteers will be broadcasting from the Ballsbridge hotel in Dublin on various FM frequencies across the country and via Christmasfm. com until around 7pm on St Stephen's Day.

By that point, Rigby says, everyone involved has had enough of songs with bells on and “just wants to spend time with their families”.