More Than Ever, Music Is Essential

• Starting Monday, May 4 at 1pm, Minneapolis Public Radio Triple A KCMP (89.3 The Current)/Minneapolis-St. Paul will kick off its annual 893 Essential Song Countdown, a tradition that is beautifully timed with MPR’s Spring Member Drive.

Right now, all music is essential, and we rely on it to power us through this challenging time by making us feel connected. That’s why this year’s countdown theme is “893 Songs That Bring Us Together.” To create this massive countdown playlist, The Current asked listeners to vote for up to 15 songs that make them feel connected to each other and their community. The response was powerful: the station received nearly 4,000 unique songs.

RAMP caught up with The Current’s longtime musical Ringmaster, Jim McGuinn, who explained how this year’s 893 songs were compiled. “It was a blast to wade through the entries for this year’s countdown — these are the songs people need, want, crave; the songs that unite, the songs the we can sing along to, the songs we can laugh at together. We will be ‘Rick-rolled,’ we will play classical music on The Current, and there will be a LOT of amazing songs and artists that fill our hearts with song… 893 songs, as a matter of fact! It’s going to be a fun week to listen, and to share the music of and for our community of Current listeners!”