Spend Christmas Eve With Oedipus
• Legendary rock programmer Oedipus, best known for his lengthy stewardship of the late, great WBCN/Boston, is once again hosting his beloved annual holiday radio show, Christmas Eve with Oedipus on NPR affiliate WGBH/Boston. The special will run Thursday from 6pm-midnight on 89.7 and worldwide at wgbh.org. Christmas Eve with Oedipus showcases the Christmas music you’ve never heard — rare tracks from rock, hip hop, classical, spoken word, ethereal, and more. Oedipus vets hundreds of Christmas songs throughout the year but doesn’t determine what he’s planning to spin until Christmas Eve arrives. For example, Oedipus was the first DJ to play “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses on Christmas Eve with Oedipus, but that song is now too well known and won’t make this year’s cut.
The tradition of hosting the Christmas Eve show began for Oedipus back in the ’70s at WBCN, when it was a challenge to find staffers to work on Christmas Eve, so he began to host the shift himself, an annual ritual that continued until the station’s demise in 1999.
Fun Fact: This marks the third radio reunion for Oedipus (left) and WGBH host/anchor Henry Santoro (right) — after WBCN signed off, Santoro invited Oedipus to continue his holiday show over on WFNX, and when FNX was sold, Santoro brought Oedipus over to RadioBDC, and now, Oedi & Henry continue to ride again, this time on WGBH, where Santoro will host Morning Edition Christmas Day from 5-10am.
At 6pm this Thursday, December 24, Oedipus will again pour a single glass of wine, light a candle in the GBH studios, and let the mood of the night determine his six-hour playlist before handing off the airwaves to Tchaikovsky‘s The Nutcracker at midnight on Christmas Day.
