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Spend your holiday season with The Current

Jay Gabler and Andrea Swensson are JUST A LITTLE excited for their annual Christmas edition of the Local Show (Nate Ryan/MPR)
Jay Gabler and Andrea Swensson are JUST A LITTLE excited for their annual Christmas edition of the Local Show (Nate Ryan/MPR)

by Jay Gabler

December 16, 2016

Happy holidays! If you're feeling like some seasonal music, The Current's got you covered. Though we've been sprinkling holiday tunes into our mix all month, we'll get more seriously festive starting at 10 a.m. on Dec. 23 — when we go all-holiday on The Current, through Dec. 25. But wait! There's more.

  • Starting on Saturday, Dec. 17, our Rock the Cradle stream gets festive with 24/7 holiday tunes. Counting down to 2017? On the evening of New Year's Eve, we'll have hourly countdowns on Rock the Cradle so you can celebrate no matter what your time zone is (or how early your kids need to get to bed).

  • On Thursday, Dec. 22 from 10-11 p.m., Jake Rudh will host his annual Transmission holiday special with festive tunes from the '70s and '80s.

  • On Friday, Dec. 23, Jade will devote Tonal Recall to your favorite holiday jams from the '90s (yes, including that one) from noon to 1 p.m. A week later, instead of looking back on 2016, Tonal Recall will explore how musical trends shifted between 1990 and 1999.

  • Dance your way into Christmas Day with DJ Shannon Blowtorch's mixtape of holiday tunes, from 12 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Dec. 25.

  • At 8 p.m. on Dec. 24, and then again at 8 a.m. on Dec. 25, we'll broadcast this year's New Standards holiday show.

  • From 6-8 p.m. on Christmas Day, Andrea Swensson and Jay Gabler will co-host a very special Local Show full of holiday music made right here in Minnesota.

  • If you're feeling like having a little less rock and a little more Bach, our colleagues at YourClassical are also curating a 24/7 stream of holiday music — and there's a full slate of seasonal programming on Classical MPR.

Before you know it, it will be time to count down the year's Top 89 songs. Don't forget to vote for your favorites, and we'd love for you to weigh in on your local favorites as well. Happy holidays and happy new year, from all of us at The Current.

Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment
This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.