The advent of Light Up Night means that all-Christmas radio formats can't be far behind.

Adult contemporary WSHH-FM (99.7) switched over yesterday, and it will continue with all-holiday music through Dec. 25 at midnight. The station will also air its traditional "36 Hours of Christmas," a commercial-free block of music starting at noon on Christmas Eve.

WSHH launched its first 24/7 Christmas format last year and listener feedback was positive, so they decided to run with it again. WSHH program director and morning host Ron Antill said Light Up Night is the official start of the holiday season in Pittsburgh, and so the station chose that date to start the music.

Adult contemporary WLTJ-FM (92.9) will go all-Christmas on Wednesday to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

WLTJ has been running all-Christmas music on its secondary HD channel -- which requires an HD receiver to tune in. The WLTJ's regular AC format will move to the HD channel over the holidays.

Oldies WWSW-FM (94.5) has traditionally launched an all-Christmas format on Light Up Night but didn't do so yesterday. The station is streaming Christmas music on its Web site, where it has been running a listeners poll seeking opinions on the Christmas format -- whether to keep it, when it should launch, what competitors' stations people switch to when they tire of holiday music, and whether or not to keep novelty tunes like "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." The results indicated that listeners wanted Christmas music early but also wanted to hear the WWSW's regular format, says program director Alex Tear. The station will phase holiday music in gradually, increasing the frequency as Christmas nears.

Typically popular among stations with strong female listenerships, all-Christmas formats have become a holiday staple at radio stations across the country. (Adrian McCoy, Post-Gazette radio writer)

Awards shows in danger?

Without the quips, inside jokes and skits that poke fun at stars behaving badly, awards shows would be little more than shiny trophies and long lists of names. That could be the case for some of the shows in Hollywood's awards season this year if the Writers Guild of America remains on strike for several months.

Things get under way tomorrow with the American Music Awards, which air live on ABC. The script was written before the strike began last week, but without writers to make revisions, it won't include topical quips from host Jimmy Kimmel.

December is nominations month -- and therefore writing time -- for the Grammys, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards, with the Oscars nominations coming Jan. 22.

Awards shows are likely to start feeling the pinch when nominations are announced because that's when writing typically begins, said Ken Ehrlich, who has produced more than a dozen Grammy and Emmy shows.

During the writers strike of 1988, the Oscars still went on -- but back then, the show's script had been written before the strike began and remained essentially unchanged throughout the telecast. Writers Guild members who appeared on the show were allowed to ad-lib but were cautioned against writing any new material.

It would be impossible, though, for an Academy Awards script to have been written before the 2007 WGA strike began, as the year's Oscar-qualifying films are still being released.

Nominees for the Golden Globe Awards will be revealed Dec. 13, and the script begins the following day, said executive producer Barry Adelman. (Sandy Cohen, Associated Press)

CBS wants dismissal

CBS asked a judge Thursday to dismiss a $70 million defamation lawsuit that veteran newsman Dan Rather filed against the network and its parent company, arguing that he waited too long to take legal action.

The former anchor's lawsuit claims his bosses made him a "scapegoat" for controversy that arose over a disputed story about President Bush's military service.

CBS's motion argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because it was filed in September, more than two years after he was removed from his "CBS Evening News" post.

All claims in Rather's lawsuit against the network and Viacom Inc. "are barred by New York's one-year-statute of limitations for defamation," CBS said in a 30-page reply motion filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court.

CBS's court papers also contend that claims relating to breach of the newsman's contract should be thrown out "as CBS did not breach any obligations to Rather."

CBS issued a statement after filing the motion, saying the company was "mystified and saddened by the baseless and self-serving allegations and distortions of fact raised in his [Rather's] lawsuit."

Rather's lawyers, Martin R. Gold and Edward J. Reich, in a statement said: "It is unfortunate that CBS is trying to delay discovery of the facts and the trial of Dan's claims. We are confident that the court will reject these tactics."

Rather's lawsuit says he was made a "scapegoat" to placate the Bush administration after questions arose about a story he narrated that concerned the president's military service during the Vietnam War.

The lawsuit seeks $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. (Samuel Maull, AP)

'Baghdad Diary'

"Baghdad Diary" gives us two men, two cameras and the beginning stages of the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- the hopeful days when some Americans and some Iraqis thought toppling Saddam Hussein would swiftly transform Iraq and the world for the better.

Craig White was a cameraman for NBC News teamed with David Bloom -- both of them professionals chasing the biggest news story in the world.

Fadil Kadom was a cab driver in Baghdad who decided to chronicle the experiences of his family as they sought shelter from the U.S. "shock and awe" bombing attack that was the expected prelude to an overland assault.

His mother flees to Syria. Kadom decides that he and his wife and children will stay. He locks up his home and finds refuge for his family in a house considered far enough away from the target areas.

Meanwhile, 850 miles away, in the Kuwaiti desert, young American soldiers nervously wait for the invasion to begin. White and Bloom were embedded with the Army's 315th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. A youngish-looking officer, Col. Stephen Twitty, has taken a liking to them and provided unrestricted access to his troops.

"Baghdad Diary," which airs at 10 tonight on the History Channel, follows the progress of the journalists with their sophisticated gear and the cabbie with the camcorder given to him by a Norwegian reporter for whom he had worked as a translator.

"Baghdad Diary" is too late to be timely and too early to be a good retrospective. Some day, when the war is no longer front-page news, this well-crafted documentary will serve as a reminder of how a slow, bloody and complex campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people began as a plan for a quick knockdown of a tyrant. But that day is not today, nor does it seem close at hand. (Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times)